Key Points


  • Software quality problems are not unique or unusual, despite the design and intellectual predominance of the software development process.

  • Quality system best practices from manufacturing and hardware are largely applicable to software development environments as well.

  • DFTS requires major changes in the typical software development process. The underlying causes of failure for quality initiatives such as Six Sigma, BPR, and TQM are just as pertinent to a DFTS initiative.

  • All successful quality initiatives are led by the CEOs, who understand their business value, communicate them, and provide resources.

  • Before embarking on the DFTS initiative, an organization should assess its preparedness.

  • The PICS framework, a 15-step implementation process, emphasizes the importance of planning to prepare the organization for the major initiative. It consists of a variety of tools, systems, and models that constitute the subject of this book.

  • Even organizations with an established quality culture can benefit from the step-bystep PICS process. Time and resources spent on sound planning are essential and pay off in terms of successful execution. It helps implement the initiative soundly and ensure its long-term sustenance and continual improvement. The two feedback loops provide opportunities for learning, corrective measures, and continual improvement.

Step 1.

Creating management awareness and buy-in.It's important to recognize that top management is interested in long-term as well as short-term results.

Use Lewin's Force Field Analysis Model to understand social forces in play in a major initiative such as DFTS. It is desirable to introduce changes by strengthening driving forces rather than diminishing restraining ones.

Set up a "DFTS Steering Committee."

Step 2.

Communicating top management's consensus and commitment. The CEO should communicate the decision to launch the DFTS initiative, its rationale, and the broad objectives and expectations. There should be clarity on how the organization and individuals will benefit. The CEO also creates the steering committee.

Step 3.

Recognizing potential pitfalls of a DFTS initiative. Examining and understanding the potential pitfalls of a DFTS intervention is an extremely valuable exercise. It provides a cost-effective opportunity to foresee what problems could occur and how to avoid them. The most common pitfalls of a major quality initiative such as DFTS are lack of management support, middle management antipathy, empty quality slogans, lack of team cohesiveness, wrong implementation strategies, inadequate rewards and incentives for change, wrong success indicators, wasting resources on inconsequential issues, failure of communication, inadequate training, and no clue about costs.

Step 4.

Laying foundations for a quality-focused enterprise. This step includes awareness of shortcomings of current practices, contemplating and adopting Deming's teachings, organization-wide consultation and communication, and planning and inducting Deming's Principles.

Step 5.

Building the organizational infrastructure. A supportive organizational infrastructure consists of the following key elements:

Quality of leadership

Strategic planning

Operations and process management

Management information system

Accounting and financial management

Human resources management

Step 6.

Understanding the roles of the key players. DFTS requires the organization as a whole to be up to the task. It needs the involvement and commitment of the CEO and senior executives, including those from supporting functions such as finance, HR, and sales and marketing. Certain responsibilities can be modified, enlarged, or combined, depending on the organizational contingencies. But every software enterprise, irrespective of its size and needs, must address the issues implied by these roles and responsibilities. One important difference in the DFTS system is the need for greater depth of process expertise among software team members, team leaders, and the executive management team. Understanding these roles provides the basis for training and building the competence of personnel needed for the process.

Step 7.

Designing a supportive organizational structure. Software development is a creative process, but it also involves a lot of labor-intensive, mechanical work at downstream stages that must be carried out equally well. The software development process thus can benefit from creativity as well as standardization. Both are needed to meet customer requirements. The structure must provide for both. But it can hardly suffice by itself. It must be supplemented by effective communication and documentation to handle coordination between customers and various personnel involved in different phases of the development process.

Step 8.

Establishing effective communication. There are two kinds of communication challenges in a DFTS process: communication between the users/customers and the organization, and communication within the organization. The executive leadership should understand the critical role of communication and ensure that the organization has a sound communication plan in place.

Step 9.

Creating an appropriate reward system. A reward system encourages individuals and teams to believe and behave in a manner that helps the organization achieve its most crucial goals and ambitions. As such, it is more than salary, compensation, and monetary incentives. There is no one best way to reward people. A reward system's effectiveness depends on the type of organization, its culture and beliefs, the goals of the reward system, and the desired actions, beliefs, and behavior that need to be reinforced. Involvement, commitment, and a stake in the outcomes are essential ingredients for high performance.

Step 10.

Establishing Cost of Software Quality. CoSQ serves the following purposes in a software quality initiative:

Helps you focus on activities that discover and correct the root causes of software defects.

Helps you determine how the development process can be improved to prevent further defects.

Provides a vehicle for communication across all functions supporting the project, regardless of the organizational structure.

Communicates in a language that's easily understood: dollars.

Step 11.

Planning and launching organization-wide learning. This is the first part of organization-wide learning. It involves supportive roles such as the senior executives, ECs, and various personnel in sales, marketing, finance, and HR. These personnel provide help in software development, documentation, costing, customer liaison, and training and other HR-related matters.

Step 12.

Implementing the DFTS model. This step involves learning and applying the DFTS model to an actual software development project. It includes training the team members and leaders and having them use the DFTS model in an actual software development project. It consists of DFTS black belt training and master black belt training.

Step 13.

Monitoring and feedback for learning and improvement. Important issues addressed at this stage include the following:

Have we specifically met the customer's cost, quality, and delivery schedule, as measured by pertinent metrics?

How capable is our process, as determined by the process feedback loop, in meeting stated and unstated customer requirements, as determined by CAR?

What are the opportunities for improvement, as measured by the gap between the customer needs and process performance?

What steps should we take to improve the process capability before integrating the revamped DFTS process and expanding it further?

Step 14.

Freezing the improvements and gains. Here the organization takes necessary steps to solidify the gains from the DFTS initiative and requires a planned effort aimed at changing people's attitudes, behavior, and beliefs. A variety of measures, such as counseling, a reward system, and training, can be deployed to encourage people to embrace the change. Freezing the gains invariably necessitates new roles, rules, and leadership that is visibly and vocally supportive of transformation.

Step 15.

Integrating and expanding the initiative. It is critical that an integration plan be prepared and updated as the first project is being implemented. The first project provides a unique learning opportunity that should be properly documented and can help develop a repertoire of best practices. The CQO and ECs should work closely and set up a DFTS integration and expansion task force when the first project is being planned. The best guarantee of subsequent success is successful and systematic implementation of the first project, and learning from it. It is therefore critical that the organization mobilize its resources, including the most talented people to be involved in the first project. Finally, there should be a road map if the first project has not produced the expected results. Instead of indulging in blame and finding scapegoats, management should analyze the implementation process and find the root causes and take appropriate measures. It is important to remain steadfast in the face of temporary setbacks.




Design for Trustworthy Software. Tools, Techniques, and Methodology of Developing Robust Software
Design for Trustworthy Software: Tools, Techniques, and Methodology of Developing Robust Software
ISBN: 0131872508
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 394

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