"We do everything, but if you ask me for documents,
we don't have them", "Quality. it's just documentation, documentation and more
documentation", these are some oft-repeated statements when one is asked to
comment on process and quality.
For a moment, lets imagine a
world in which the following scenarios are common -
‘There are no mark sheets, no written exams in schools to
grade one's performance', 'there are no medical prescriptions given by doctors
to buy medicines ‘, there are no documented procedures to get your home
registered ‘.If,as in the above cases,
transactions are primarily oral, without any documentary evidence, it
would clearly result in CHAOS!
Prima facie, everybody would agree that there is definitely
a need for documentation in many aspects
of our routine operations. However, when it comes to applying this logic to following
quality processes in organizations one frequently encounters resistance from
practitioners.
Some of the typical reactions are:
Given this background, is maintaing process compliance sans
documentation a reality?
Are the international standards and frameworks like ISO,
CMMI, and PCMM just emphasizing pure documentation?
Certainly not - as
it all depends on how
they are approached. Most practitioners
would agree that a few fundamental activities that cannot be waived off are :
- Alignment
of Project goals to business objectives
- Team communication
- Adequate
resources
- Proper
training
- Risk
management / configuration management
With this backdrop, does the intent of such models getting
lost in the mirage of ‘Just Documentation'? What makes demonstrating process
compliance along with documentation a challenge?
Different Insight
Looking at this aspect from an
organization behavior and human psychology perspective helps one to get a
better insight.
One fundamental hypothesis that
supports this argument is:
‘Level of Process Compliance is
directly proportional to the Need / benefit derived for an individual and
indirectly proportional to the efforts it takes for adhering to process
compliance.'
Focusing our discussion to software process environment,
the activities in a Quality Management System (QMS) can always be segregated
into activities that vary from highly critical to mere improvement oriented.
One representation to map this is
the ‘Do-Do'matrix presented below:
The next table depicts a generalistic view of how things
are perceived from a practioner point of view. This may however change from
organization to organization and even within individuals.
Motivation of a person to do things / drive such
initatives in the team is the key to understanding this dynamic.
Other factors that influence one's motivation to comply to
all processes are:
- Direct
benefits
- Senior
Management commitment to process compliance
- Organization
culture - shared beliefs, values
- Peers
reaction
Why Documentation?
Some of the strong reasons why documentation is an integral
part of the process compliance are:
- Documents
and records are snapshots of history and
performance
- Nobody
can remember everything - at the end of the day a tiny human mind is not a
super computer with super processing capabilities and Tera bytes of memory!!
- As
is said in a Chinese proverb - ‘ I hear, I forget; I see, I remember; I do,
I learn;' ,in management doing by writing is essential. Writing helps
to structure one's thought-process in a systematic manner
- It's
a legacy, it's an asset that one gives back to the organization
- Its
all about building culture, discipline to one's self and organization
So how can we address
these issues?
Approaching this issue from a P-P-T framework
(People-Process-Technology), following are the aspects that need to be
considered:
People
- Constantly trying to push lots of activities to ‘Will
Do' Zone - the zone where Practioners realize the importance and see
direct benefit in what they are doing.
- This calls for investing in automation, training,
coaching, facilitation, negotiation and even implicit coercion to drive in
certain disciplinary activities like configuration management
- Rewarding people and recognizing their efforts generously.
From a process and technology point of view the key aspects that need to
be kept in mind are :
a. Business aligned processes
- Model Myopia : Not weaving around
everything to satisfy models or frameworks
- Clearly defining all
processes with a business intent
b. Documentation style
-
Making it more intuitive, visual and interactive
-
‘Picture is equivalent to thousand words‘
c. Self Selling
-
Should strongly establish the purpose and drive people to adopt them
d. Training
-
Constantly train the people to refresh their memories
e. Tools, Tools, Tools -
Technology
- Leveraging technology to
the greatest extent. In most of the cases, documentation and record keeping are
a burden simply due to the lack of proper tools.
Even an ill designed template
itself is a direct disadvantage for process compliance.
Conclusion
Nobody disowns or dislikes
anything without a reason. The same holds for driving process compliance. Documentation
itself is not painful. It is the way in which the entire package has been
designed and sold to the Practioners of the organization that matters.
In this exercise using the
‘Do-Do‘matrix as reference to analyze the process compliance could help
organizations to identify actions aimed towards improving process compliance. At
the end-of-the-day, it's the people who drive the processes along with a strong
understanding of people's behaviour and perception that is indeed a key driver
in sustaining Process compliance.
So next time, if a question
arises as to whether or not, process is all about documentation, then hang on
and think for a second !!
O.S. Balaji is a Quality Management
professional with rich experience in process definition, process
consulting and implementation of Quality Management Systems across
diversified industries. He has worked along in implementation of
Quality management systems and process improvement frameworks compliant
to ISO 9001:2000,CMMI, BS 7799 , TS 16949:2002 .He has experience in
Software testing and configuration management, is a graduate in
Engineering and has a diploma in Business Management, is a certified
Internal Quality Auditor for ISO 9001:2000 (IRCA- UK approved) and a
trained Six Sigma Green Belt. He has published articles related to
Information Security in Software applications, Handling Internal
Quality audits and Defect Prevention. He is currently working as Process Consultant in WIPRO Limited, India.
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