SPIN(UK)
26th February 1998
SPI: How To Get Started - And Keep Going!
OXFORD
S O FTWAR E E N G I N E E R I N G
LIMITED
+44 (0) 1993 700878
seward@osel.co.uk
M147/7/001, Issue 1.0
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
SPIN(UK)
26th February 1998
70 % Of SPI Initiatives Fail - But 30% Don’t!
OXFORD
S O FTWAR E E N G I N E E R I N G
LIMITED
M147/7/001, Issue 1.0
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
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?
7. How Do We Sustain Improvements?
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
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?
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
Common Causes Of Failure
 You Get Seduced Into Compliance With The Model
• You lose sight of the business drivers
• Someone’s 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
• It’s not valued by organisations
• It’s not respected by project practitioners
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
Common Causes Of Failure
 Your Pilots Work But Roll-outs Fail
• Your roll-outs don’t get the support the pilots did
 You Don’t Get Buy-in From Practitioners
• You “end up” doing improvement to them
• You haven’t won their hearts and minds
 You Fail To Support The Projects
• The returns will happen long after the project ends
• There’s nothing to help them now
 You Don’t Have Basic Disciplines In Place
 Your Business Doesn’t Have The Time
• You can’t wait 2+ years for the benefits
• Strategic improvement is too long term
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
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?
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
So how do you get to understand your organisation?
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
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 you’re right?
• Beware of any one person’s “hobby horse”
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
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 people’s heads
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
So what do you do with all this information?
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
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
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
What Should We Improve?
OSEL’s 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 organisation’s strengths
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
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
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
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
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
Developing A Process Improvement Plan
Delivery ...
 Develop Plan
• Relevant
–
•
Feasible
–
•
In line with the organisation’s capability
Timely
–
•
To the organisation
You need to get benefits quickly
Helps those that provide input
–
Projects and practitioners
 Output
• Process Improvement Plan
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
So how do we implement improvements?
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
How Do We Improve?
Process improvement implementation ...
 Needs To Be Managed And Controlled
• “Run like a project” - What’s wrong with this?
 Keep It Simple
• That’s probably all you can do
 Needs Practitioner Involvement
• Buy-in
• Make it their improvement programme
 Build On Current Practice
• Start from where you are
• Don’t design “yet another process”
Above all, make it fast!
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
How Do We Improve?
OSEL’s 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
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
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
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›
Key Points
 Focus On Business Drivers
 Ensure Fast Returns
 Do What You’re Capable Of
 Controlled Change
 Build On What You’ve Already Got
 Basic Engineering Disciplines Are Critical
 Don’t Ignore Basic Working Practices
 Your Learning Is Important
Oxford Software Engineering Ltd.
Slide ‹#›