Finding the Few Critical Process Steps That Are Essential for Success

1
Finding the Few Critical Process Steps That Are
Essential for Success

• Bill Schoening
• 314-235-9651
• william.w.schoening_at_boeing.com

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Claims, Expectations Questions

• Fashionable to claim
• Organization is process based
• Assessed at Maturity Level 5 for CMMI
• (Flawed) Expectations
• High assessment scores lead to success
• Highly rated processes their implementation are
  sufficient
• Questions for a business seeking success
• Are the processes contributing to success?
• Do the assessments measure what contributes to
  success?
• Should there be more to our processes?
• Should we be measuring something else?

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Unmet Expectations Unintended Consequences

• ML 5 organizations failing to execute SDD efforts
  adequately
• Processes viewed as cumbersome and without value
• Loss of faith in systems engineering and its
  processes
• Critical steps bypassed, further speeding the
  decent into chaos

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Root Causes

• Processes assessment mentality has skewed how we
  measure success
• Assessments rely on audits of processes
  compliance
• Compliance easily observable for objective
  evidence
• Objective evidence most easily created for
  administrative activities
• Intellectual content is difficult to characterize
  and evaluate as objective evidence

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CMMI Risk Management Specific Practices

• Define Risk Parameters
• Establish a Risk Management Strategy
• Identify Risks
• Evaluate, Categorize, and Prioritize Risks
• Develop Risk Mitigation Plans
• Implement Risk Mitigation Plans

• Seldom ask
• Does the strategy make sense?
• Are the risks relevant?
• Do the mitigation plans actually mitigate the
  risks?
• Are we executing the plans effectively?

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Solving the Right Problem

• Identify the critical steps that should be in
  processes
• Focus energy on ensuring critical steps are
  carried out effectively

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What Risk Management Must Accomplish

• Identify significant risks
• Develop effective handling plans
• Effectively implement mitigation plans
• Other activities are secondary

Tough to audit compliance
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What Requirements Development Must Prevent

• Requirements are not viable
• Requirements fail to represent (or maybe even
  misrepresent) user needs
• Requirements fail to reflect significant changes
  in user needs during development
• Requirements developed without adequate regard
  for the scenarios in which the product or service
  is to be used, including relevant business
  processes and rules
• Other activities are secondary

Tough to audit compliance
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What Trade Studies Must Accomplish

• Well informed recommendation with adequate
  discovery in support of a quality decision
• Visibility into all supporting materials
• Well prepared to revisit decisions when
  additional information is received
• Avoid corporate memory associated with completed
  trade studies walking out the door as the result
  of personnel turnover
• Other activities are secondary

Tough to audit compliance
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What Is the Cause?

• CMMI is not the cause
• Our processes are not the cause
• Taking the easy way out is
• Performing admin tasks is not doing the work
• Measuring admin tasks and not intellectual
  content addresses the wrong problem

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What Do We Do?

• Focus attention on the critical steps
• Reduce emphasis on administrivia
• Train PMs, SEs and engineers about what is
  happening and what needs to change