SPIN(UK) 26th February 1998 SPI: How To Get Started - And Keep Going!

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SPIN(UK) 26th February 1998SPI How To Get
Started - And Keep Going!

• O X F O R D
• S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R I N G
• L I M I T E D
• 44 (0) 1993 700878
• seward_at_osel.co.uk
• M147/7/001, Issue 1.0

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SPIN(UK) 26th February 199870 Of SPI
Initiatives Fail - But 30 Dont!

• O X F O R D
• S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R I N G
• L I M I T E D
• M147/7/001, Issue 1.0

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Agenda

• 1. Conventional Wisdom
• 2. Common Causes Of Failure
• 3. Prerequisites To Improvement
• 4. What Could We Improve?
• 5. What Should We Improve?
• 6. How Do We Improve?

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Conventional Wisdom

• Start A Process Improvement Initiative
• Make someone responsible
• Pick A Model
• ISO 9000, CMM, SPICE etc.etc.
• Get An Assessment
• Strengths, Weaknesses, and Recommendations
• Close The Gap
• Implement the recommendations
• Write some processes and procedures
• Improvements Take Time
• But can you make this work and have you got the
  time?

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Common Causes Of Failure

• You Get Seduced Into Compliance With The Model
• You lose sight of the business drivers
• Someones bonus is on getting CMM Level 2
• You Try To Become Better Than You Need To Be
• You end up following a textbook or some guru
• You try practices you are not capable of using
• Lack Of Management Commitment
• Money is not commitment
• People do what their managers value
• Lack Of Quality Assurance
• Its not valued by organisations
• Its not respected by project practitioners

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Common Causes Of Failure

• Your Pilots Work But Roll-outs Fail
• Your roll-outs dont get the support the pilots
  did
• You Dont Get Buy-in From Practitioners
• You end up doing improvement to them
• You havent won their hearts and minds
• You Fail To Support The Projects
• The returns will happen long after the project
  ends
• Theres nothing to help them now
• You Dont Have Basic Disciplines In Place
• Your Business Doesnt Have The Time
• You cant wait 2 years for the benefits
• Strategic improvement is too long term

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Prerequisites To Improvement

• A Real Understanding Of Your Organisation
• Business Drivers
• Why does the business want or need to improve?
• Support From All Levels Of Management
• Visible Demonstration of commitment
• No Hidden Agendas
• The truth will come out
• Realistic Expectations
• What have other organisations achieved?
• Readiness And Capability To Improve
• Are you ready to make improvements?
• What are you capable of taking on?

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So how do you get to understand your organisation?
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What Could We Improve?

• Understand your organisation ...
• What do you want to know?
• What your business drivers are
• What needs to be improved
• What really happens
• An Assessment - The Recommended Way
• Strengths, Weaknesses, Recommendations
• Beware of compliance assessments
• Beware of shrink wrapped findings and
  recommendations
• Gut Feel Can Work Too
• Can be a good way to test the waters
• But can you be sure youre right?
• Beware of any one persons hobby horse

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What Could We Improve?

• Formal Assessment ...
• Style
• Investigative
• Collaborative
• Formal and rigorous
• Benefits
• The organisation learns about itself
• Communication
• Practitioner buy-in
• Relationships and interactions
• Output
• Many high level recommendations
• A lot of knowledge in peoples heads

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So what do you do with all this information?
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What Should We Improve?

• Developing a process improvement implementation
  plan ...
• To develop a coherent and effective
  implementation plan that uses the strengths of
  the organisation to implement a small number of
  effective improvements of clear measurable value
  to the organisation

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What Should We Improve?

• OSELs Process Improvement Planning Method ...
• Refinement
• Make some sense of the assessment findings
• Alignment
• Ensure the recommendations align with business
  objectives
• Delivery
• Relevant, feasible, and timely
• Use the organisations strengths

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Developing A Process Improvement Plan

• Refinement ...
• Review
• Group similar themes
• Discard poor or redundant findings
• Prioritise
• Theme
• Value
• Urgency
• How long it will take
• Can we play on our strengths
• Output
• A set of grouped and prioritised recommendations

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Developing A Process Improvement Plan

• Alignment ...
• Develop Objectives
• Weaknesses
• Recommendations
• Ensure Objectives
• Traceable to business needs
• Traceable to weaknesses
• In line with priorities and perceived business
  needs
• Output
• A set of objectives
• Meet business objectives

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Developing A Process Improvement Plan

• Delivery ...
• Develop Plan
• Relevant
• To the organisation
• Feasible
• In line with the organisations capability
• Timely
• You need to get benefits quickly
• Helps those that provide input
• Projects and practitioners
• Output
• Process Improvement Plan

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So how do we implement improvements?
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How Do We Improve?

• Process improvement implementation ...
• Needs To Be Managed And Controlled
• Run like a project - Whats wrong with this?
• Keep It Simple
• Thats probably all you can do
• Needs Practitioner Involvement
• Buy-in
• Make it their improvement programme
• Build On Current Practice
• Start from where you are
• Dont design yet another process
• Above all, make it fast!

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How Do We Improve?

• OSELs Tactical Change Management Method ...
• Problem Identification
• Clear definition of the problem and objectives
• Solutions Generation
• Get the practitioners solutions to the problem
• Plan Implementation
• Very simple task level plan
• Perform Implementation
• Execute plan
• Management Review
• Check it has worked
• All these are time boxed

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How Do We Sustain Improvements?

• Education And Training
• Involve Those Affected
• Make it their programme
• Create an improvement culture
• Be Very Careful With Reward Mechanisms
• They usually do damage
• Make It Clear What Is Valued
• Leadership by example
• People will do what their manager values
• You Need Reinforcement
• Quality Assurance

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Key Points

• Focus On Business Drivers
• Ensure Fast Returns
• Do What Youre Capable Of
• Controlled Change
• Build On What Youve Already Got
• Basic Engineering Disciplines Are Critical
• Dont Ignore Basic Working Practices
• Your Learning Is Important