Re: Killing software and certification

["Dan'l Miller" <optikos@verizon.net>]

On Wednesday, March 28, 2018 at 10:47:36 AM UTC-5, Jeffrey R. Carter wrote:
> I've seen S/W developed by a company that was CMMI Level 5 certified. It might 
> have some use as fertilizer. That's what you get when you certify processes.

(sigh)  Not all certification programs are bona fide quality-management regimes.  And not all bona fide quality-management regimes are rigorous.  There exists a pecking order.  Don't go with certification programs from which all the other hens have picked the feathers off.  The following lengthy humorous example is likely to be certifiable as CMMI Level 5 without—not only ever mentioning such rigorous quality-management regimes as AS9000 in aerospace, DO-178B/C in realtime systems, or IATF 16949 in automotive—but also without even developing any executable software at all.  CMMI alone is worthless at assuring any definition of goodness of executable software ever gets designed, implemented, and released, as shown below.

You need to couple CMMI Level 4 or 5 with one of the industry-specific quality-management regimes that actually have required content with teeth pertaining to realtime software/hardware systems.  Even then, some degree of mind-games can be played with an AS9000 in aerospace or TL9000 in telecom or IATF 16949 in automotive.  If the process does not require, say, DO-178B/C or some other form of actual rigor, then that organization is trying to get by with their analogue of saying that rubbing their tummy and patting their head is the key to good quality.  The awesome part of AS9000, TL9000, and IATF 16949 is that each manufacturer & subcontractor is required to divulge (some of it publicly) data that reveal how serious they are taking it versus how much they are playing mind-games merely to look good (fraudulently?) with mere wallpapering the front-door vestibule with certification papers along with the obligatory wall of granted-patent wooden plaques.  The embarrassment resulting from someone who cares combing deeply through the publicly-disclosed quality-management data is usually enough of a whip to crack over an organization to put at least some major effort into scoring well against their peer-group of competitors in the publicly-reported data, so that they are not in last place or not in the bottom half when compared to their AS9000/TL9000/IATF16949 peers.  Personally, I am most intimately familiar with TL9000's rigor in this regard.

Maturity Level 1 - Unmanaged chaos

We record videos of us playing around. Er, only sometimes.  Other times we record over yesterday's video.

Maturity Level 2 - Managed

CM - Configuration Management

We store those videos here in an organized fashion in ascending chronological order per employee with backups so that no such video is ever lost or unplayable.

MA - Measurement and Analysis

We count how many times per minute each person in the video rubbed their tummy.  We measure the time duration from the completion of the prior video to the commencement of the subsequent video.  We measure how many likes these videos receive on social media.

PPQA - Process and Quality Assurance

We have a person who makes sure that we do what we say we do.

REQM - Requirements Management

Each person's playing around shall be rubbing their tummy and patting their head in the video.

SAM - Supplier Agreement Management

We require our suppliers to submit videos of them rubbing their tummy and patting their head according to this process.

SD - Service Delivery

We post these videos on YouTube for the public to have their LOLs.

WMC - Work Monitoring and Control

We train our managers to make sure that each employee is doing what we say herein.

WP - Work Planning

Each employee is required to estimate the production time of the videos described herein.

Maturity Level 3 - Defined

CAM - Capacity and Availability Management

We estimate how many such videos we can make per day and per year, given staffing levels.

DAR - Decision Analysis and Resolution

We put in place a committee to decide what defines actual tummy rubbing and head patting or lack thereof.

IRP - Incident Resolution and Prevention

We watch the videos to assure that tummy rubbing and head patting is occurring concurrently.  We retake videos where the person's tummy rubbing and head patting lacked concurrency.

IWM - Integrated Work Managements

Each person must record their video in their cubicle as a normal part of their daily work activity.

OPD - Organizational Process Definition

We wrote this here document that states everything that we promise that we do regarding these videos.

OPF - Organizational Process Focus...

Our organization is totally focused on making these videos as described herein according to the OPD's document.

OT - Organizational Training

We require each employee to be trained regarding how to operate the video-recording equipment.

RSKM - Risk Management

We monitor how full the recording medium is on the video-recording equipment.

Maturity Level 4 - Quantitatively Managed

OPP - Organizational Process Performance

We have a department that looks at spreadsheets that monitor the degree of compliance to OPD's document is occurring.

QWM - Quantitative Work Management

OPP's data is fed back to our managers to manage employees greater fidelity of compliance to OPD's document.

Maturity Level 5 - Optimizing

CAR - Causal Analysis and Resolution

We identify all the reason(s) for noncompliance with OPD's document.  We perform root-cause analysis thereon to identify top-priority issues to fix versus cascading ramifications.

OPM - Organizational Performance Management.

We adapt this process to attempt to preclude the reason(s) for noncompliance with OPD's document that OPM found.