Often when I provide initial consulting for an organization I am frequently shown procedures when I ask for processes, or shown a schedule when I ask for a project plan. As a result, this month's blog presents some of the basic terms of process improvement.
Policies, Processes, Procedures, Projects, Plans, Products, People -- Huh????? What's with all the words that start with P? Don't be fooled by simple alliteration. This is complex stuff and can lead to long, boring and unproductive meetings if you try to wing it. As a consultant, of course, I encourage any of you wishing to attempt process improvement to seek professional help (and I only mean that in the nicest way). For those brave souls out there charged with doing this on your own, here are some definitions to help clear the fog.
Policies -- The vehicle whereby senior management communicates their commitment to the new way the organization will do business from this time forth. Policies emphasize the connection between the organization, its business goals and objectives, the individual projects within the organization, and how they all work together. They also put forth a guiding principle that the organization can follow and achieve. One overarching policy statement is usually sufficient if it references an organizational process document. Try to avoid writing a separate policy for each process.
Sample Policy Statement -- We are committed to the effective management of our software development activities as the key to improving quality, productivity, and predictability for the benefit of ourselves, our business partners and our clients, customers and users. To support this goal, all software projects are required to comply with the Company's Software Process Framework (SPF), which outlines our software project development and management processes. Reviews, audits and assessments will be used to verify compliance and as the basis for improvement. Training and tools will be provided as needed to enable and assist in compliance.
Processes -- Process is a tool whose purpose is to assist an organization in improving its performance in critical business areas. The process is the means by which you achieve a business end; it is not an end in and of itself. The process is not the product. Too often an organization will set up a large process improvement group and this group becomes a goal for the organization and they lose sight of the fact that the organization needs to perform the work, and the process is just a tool. Processes should be written at such a level that a skilled practitioner in the art should be able to pick up the process and have a good idea of how the organization does business. Processes are the ordered steps followed by people, using tools, in accordance with standards, to convert inputs (either given to them or derived by them) into expected outputs.
Procedures -- Procedures are the lower level steps that guide practitioners in how to perform a specific task. For Example: the process might instruct the analyst to perform analysis using the one of the acceptable Object Oriented techniques. The supporting procedures might explain how to select from among the various acceptable techniques based on the complexity and criticality of the project, and might then further specify how to perform that technique or refer the practitioner to the textbook wherein the technique is further described.
Project -- A project is the means by which an organization accomplishes its primary objective of producing goods or services in exchange for money (usually). Projects have a specific start and end and are undertaken for a specific purpose, therefore, a project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to provide a unique product or service.
Plans -- Plans are the glue that binds all of the components of an organization into a roadmap for accomplishing a project. A plan essentially states who will do what, by when, for how much, to what degree of quality, and in accordance with what standards, procedures and practices. Other nice to haves are a statement of purpose, a description of the organization (including detailed contact information) and its geographic distribution, a description of the roles and responsibilities of the personnel who will be participating on the project team, various subordinate plans (risk, quality assurance, configuration management, measurement, communication) and a waivers, variances, exceptions, and escalation mechanisms.
Products -- Products are those entities, artifacts, documents, etc. that are produced as a result of following a process or procedure. Products are the result of executing a series of task steps on the inputs. There is no sense in performing work that does not result in some sort of artifact that can be examined for quality or usefulness and, upon a satisfactory finding, used for a purpose. A product is a tangible artifact that your customer (either internal or external) expects you to deliver to them so they can use it (implies time, budget and quality conditions and constraints).
People -- It is essential that all participants on the project team know what roles they will be fulfilling, how long they will be fulfilling them and for what percentage of their time they will play each role. There are many roles on a project and all contribute to the successful outcome. Some roles to consider are: senior manager, resource manager, project manager, architect, analyst, designer, coder, tester (many flavors), quality assurance, configuration management, trainer, measurement specialist, process specialist, customer, user, client, marketing, sales, accounting, help desk, field service personnel, installers, repair staff, system engineering, hardware engineering, etc. It is easily imaginable that all of these roles and more could be involved in a single software project. It is also easily imaginable that one person could be playing several roles on a single project. People are the resources that provide the energy that propels the project toward completion.
Now that you have the definitions, you may be wondering what the next steps are. Just remember, you don't have to go it alone. Please feel free to contact me regarding process improvement and project management consulting, appraisals, training, and staffing on an as needed basis via phone, email or onsite.
Until we process again,
Comments