Methods to the Madness: The Project Portfolio

Greetings!


It is great to be back - and happy holidays to you! I can't believe it has been almost 7 weeks since my last article. So much has been happening that time has literally flown by.


First, I have successfully completed the certification process for the American Society for Quality's 'Certified Quality Manager/Organizational Excellence'. Humbling experience though .... the BOK to master for the exam was almost more than my little ol' brain could hold.


I also took on a new position that has really taken my complete focus just to get my head around.


All in all - my head hurts ....But it's all good!

Anyway, a topic immediately came to mind upon starting my new role. The idea of the Project Portfolio. I am also a member of a SCRUM Club (no, I'm not Australian sportsman) and this was a large part of a recent topic at one of the club's meetings. it was very interesting to note how few managers responded in the affirmative that they indeed managed, or even subscribed to the idea of a project portfolio.

For folks that may not be familiar with this gem of a tool, it is simply the art and science of prioritizing your projects. Sounds simply - huh? If this is the case, then why don't more folks enlist its benefits? This answer is not so simple, but it does many times revolve around what I call the 'spinning-plates-on-sticks' syndrome. We live in a multi-tasking society. We feel we can, if we are efficient enough, take on as much burden as we choose - with success - and without consequence.

Reality check time. As much as we would like to think we can keep all the plates spinning, projects, unlike the plates, are less predictable. Stuff happens that will steal more attention and resources that originally anticipated. Suddenly, and for some inexplicably, 2 or more projects are off track .... a chain reaction caused by attempting to keep multiple projects concurrently in the air.

Developing and managing a project portfolio provides the discipline to stay focused on the most pressing project. Notice I said project ... as in one, 1, numero uno, the big fish, the top dog .... anyway, you get the idea. A secondary project running concurrently will only deflect you from what the highest priority project is at the time. Unless there have been resources definitively assigned, issues with one project will cascade to the next. If you are running 3 or more projects at a time, you obviously find great joy in suffering or are working in a company that subscribes to the above syndrome.

I'm sure this scenario is nothing new to you Agile consultants contracted to manage quality improvements in the development, testing and release process.

If so,what is a PM to do??? As this topic hits somewhat close to home for me at the moment, and is a work in process, I would like to make this article a two-parter (bingo, a trailer ... just like they do at the movies :-)).

Next article: Methods to The Madness: How to reduce project scheduling overload - a case study.

Be back in a moment ....

Greetings!

Folks, I will be back to post additional quality articles very shortly .... I am currently in the midst of studying for the American Society of Quality's 'Certified Quality Manager/Organizational Excellence' exam and am tapped out for time at the moment. Once I take the exam (10/17/09), I'll be back with a few very interesting articles that I can't wait to complete an publish.

Have a great day!
Fran

Quality is Everywhere: Could this be the holy grail?

Greetings!

I like this weeks theme (Quality is Everywhere) for a couple of reasons - the topics are fun and it allows me to do something I like to do - which is to write this article even on weeks that tend to be just a wee bit active. Life is good!!

My son has been constructing a small music studio in his home and ordered some audio equipment as part of the project through a company called Sweetwater.com. Knowing my son, who also has some background in quality as a mechanical engineer, I have no doubt that this studio will be 'top shelf' once completed. The only request from Dad on this endeavor is that I get some free studio time for a project or two I am thinking about ... all part of the fun of having grown kids - you get to use their stuff for a change.

He contacted me after receiving the equipment to relay the story of what transpired during the ordering process. Apparently, when he placed the order through their on-line ordering system, the system stated that there was sufficient quantity in stock to complete his order - but in fact, the inventory counts were incorrect. As a result, the estimated delivery date had to be pushed out.

What caught my son's attention was the fact that they contacted him (not the other way around) to report that there had been a error on their behalf and would he please accepted a package containing two 'high quality' audio cables (free - and not cheap) with their most sincere apologies for the mistake. When he receive the cables, they had also packaged up some chocolate for his eating pleasure.

Wow! In one fell swoop they were able to proactively turn around a customer even before he realized the issue. For this effort, and the cost of the cables (and chocolate), they now have a very loyal customer who will be going back to order more equipment on a regular basis.

Quality is an experience and Sweetwater absolutely gets that point. The ROI for just this one interaction is big. My son is ordering more equipment, he has told his fellow music colleagues, and I'm even writing about it! Did I say Wow already? ....

I did do a little actual research for this article and I called Sweetwater and spoke to the Customer Service Manager Bob regarding the interaction. I asked him if they had standardized a procedure to reimburse customers when they make an error on the order. He said there is no specific rule. It is incident based and they only require that their staff 'do the right thing'. When he made that statement, certain phrases immediately came to mind: employee trust, employee empowerment, customer partnership, progressive, long term thinking, etc. They do have a continuous improvement mechanism in place to consistently review customer based issues. And, they are working to continually improve the systems and processes that are in place now to aid in the customer experience. However, the immediate quality experience the customer is treated to cannot be underestimated as the key business building tool.

Claes Fornell, in his piece The Satisfied Customer: Winners and Losers in the Battle for Buyer Preference states; "We might even have stumbled upon the holy grail for managers, as well as investors: Satisfied customers are economic assets with high returns and low risks. That is, you don’t have to take high risks to get high returns. This is contrary to what most financial analysts believe. It is also contrary to what many in business believe: ‘Be bold. Take risks. No risk, no reward. Nothing ventured, nothing gained".

There's 'quality gold in them there hills', and sometimes all one has to do to mine it is to turn the customer facing staff into true business partners.

Do you have other quality story you would like to let folks know about? Post a comment ....

Next article: Company road Trip

Company Road Trip: Training keeps you on track

Greetings!

One of the many reasons I like living in the Boston area is the veritable cornucopia of industry types that are doing business here - and hiding in plain sight doing it too. Oh sure, they may not all have the sexy names you would see when driving along Rt. 237 in San Jose, but who cares. Certainly their customers don't - but they do like their products.

I had the pleasure of sitting down recently with Rob Gagnon, an engineering manager at one such technology company north of Boston that manages the delivery of business applications across a company's IT infrastructure. If Rob is a typical example of the type of leadership talent that has set up tent at this company, they are a very fortunate company indeed.

In our hour long meeting, we discussed a number of areas, and Rob made it a point during our discussion to stress that a key goal of the quality group was to 'reduce uncertainty'. I really like that phrase because it addresses one core tenant of Quality - that it is 'an experience'. And what better way to do that than to build product confidence with the customer. So, how do they go about such a task? Rob's philosophy is to develop product excellence through - in a word - training.

Now, I know what you may be saying, that every company says they encourage training. True, it is a commonly pronounced anthem. However, they mean it here, and they achieve it through their consistent, and persistent efforts.

Rob insures that employees are bulking up their domain knowledge as part of the annual review process. However, it doesn't begin and end with issuing a check mark on someone's performance review. The company's new product engineers develop web based product training that quality engineers can become certified on. There is also classroom training (for customers) that the quality team is encouraged to take as well. They even offer brown bag sessions and seminars as the need arises. Again, they are consistent on their training methods, and persistent in its application.

Ok, so the quality group is well trained and current on product line technology developments. So what does that buy you?

Like all progressive engineering managers, Rob wants his development AND quality teams as far upstream in the development life cycle as possible. Think what a well informed quality engineer can bring to the table during the marketing requirements document phase. If this process is fully flushed out, the resulting quality of this effort just rolls down stream from there to the development plan (and yes, for your SDLC junkies, they do a combo Waterfall/Agile method which is very interesting, but could be a whole topic on its own).

Also, you don't want your staff speaking to your customer base if they are only superficially informed about your product. Again remember, they wish to reduce uncertainty with their customers and what better way than to have SMEs speaking with them. Ever see your customers speak with someone they feel is knowledgeable on their issues - they often want to adopt them.

Now, it's not to say that life is perfect. After all, what fun would that be! The company, like my golf game, has challenges it must overcome. Time to market and resource availability pressures can crimp even the best laid plans. And like most companies, they are not immune to these pressures. However, they do take on a very noble challenge from release to release - to work very hard at making sure, as Rob said; 'to put all the best practices into the box before it goes to the customer'. In other words, they take their test escape analysis process very seriously - attempting to turn lessons found promptly into improved quality release over release.

I would be remiss if I didn't point out an area of quality too often overlooked. The company's corporate office is elsewhere, and without a quality culture that encourages trust, good goal alignment and good communications (can't have the first two without the third), you've got ... well ... no trust, mission confusion and a rumor mill. Not exactly a recipe for success. This company gets it - the best ones always do. You had to look no further than Rob to see that this company values an inclusive culture, transparent communications and understands the importance of its role in helping employees be successful. Now that's a quality relationship.

Fran

Next article theme: Quality is Everywhere

Methods to The Madness: Qualitative vs Quantitative Approaches to QA

Greetings!

Isn't it interesting that in the professional discipline of 'Quality Assurance', we most often use quantitative analysis for tracking status of projects. Shouldn't it then be called 'Quantitative Assurance'???

Last week in my article I mentioned Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). I since had an excellent conversation with a colleague from a DoD company regarding their need for expertise in Change Management - do to a fairly large software integration project. They felt that employing the CMMI model during this project would be a critical success factor. That statement is music to my ears. However, they also felt that a training or HR resource would be needed to manage the effort. They are soooo very, very close on their actual modeling needs.

Some real quick background on this area. In the early 80's, the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) of Carnegie Mellon was approached, then tasked by the DoD to develop a model for engineering organizational development. The model design was to be a set of practices that could be consistently followed - with the ultimate goal of being able to produce high quality software in a reliable fashion. Software development at that time tended to be an adventure, and with the industry growing, any effort to bring a sense of order would taste like a cool glass of lemonade on a hot summer day. The original model was called the Software Capability Maturity Model (SW-CMM) - the predecessor of what is known today as CMMI. The model provides objective process standards levels - called 'maturity levels' - that would systematically guide organizations to higher levels of functionality - and thus higher levels of productivity (to learn more, please visit: http://www.sei.cmu.edu).

Many companies today, with the best of intentions, employ the model to develop their organizations - only to stall out at lover levels of the model. Why? Many companies do not realize that although the model takes into account many objective factors that can be quantified, it does not address the maturity level of their organizational culture (this means refinement of company people processes at the company - not that the company is being run by teenagers) . In effect, they are attempting to improve the quality of the organization with one tool - when two are needed. It's like building a house with a hammer - but no nails. (Note: Six Sigma initiatives succeed only when companies achieve a high level of model maturity)

Largely because of this reason, SEI has since developed a derivative of the CMM model called People Capability Management Model (P-CMM). Like its predecessor, the goal of the model is to provide a quantitative assessment of the maturity level of people processes within the organization, then provide a step level approach for bringing about a higher level of process maturity. Only when the P-CMM model is used concurrently with the CMMI tool, will the odds favor success. Companies have only a 59% chance for long term success with Change Management initiatives when using only CMMI - as opposed to a 79% rate of success when both P-CMM and CMMI models are used in tandem.

However, even though both models provide guidance on the implementation of quantitative analysis tools to measure progress and compliance results, a key success factor will also be a qualitative perspective that must be employed to determine the flexibility of the organization to correctly size rate and depth of implementation.

In this global, cross-functional world, no one department can tackle a Change Management project. The company I spoke with had it largely correct (sans integration of P-CMM). Although the initiative may be owned by Quality, a wide net of sponsors, stakeholders and teams members must be cast so the models can be effectively integrated for optimal result.

Change Management is an all hands-on-deck kind of thing that requires integrated, systematic approaches, multiple perspectives, quantitative analysis and definitely qualitative reflection regarding your most important asset - people.

Fran

Next weeks theme: 'Company Road Trip'

Company Road Trip: To LEAN or not to LEAN .... that was the question

Greetings!

I really love these road trips! You get a chance to get out from behind the laptop and off the cyber highway, and instead roll the tires, press the flesh and talk quality face-to-face. Todays virtual world has proven to be more efficient, but maintaining ones network and increasing their knowledgebase should include regular roads trips as part of the recipe.

I recently visited a major telecom company to discuss activities in the area of process improvements. Over several years, they had gone through a number of acquisitions. This is tricky business, and if not extensively planned for, can come back to bite the organization in later years in the form of disjointed tool roll outs, broken processes and organizational mis-structures. There are very valid reasons for this, and it usually has to do with limited budget dollars being spent on what is considered critical path projects that will contribute directly (ROI stuff here) to future revenue growth.

I met with a person responsible for hiring a senior level process improvement director. Two major questions I had for her were: 'What changed that you want to hire this person now?' and 'What key skills are you looking for in this role?'.

The answer to the first question was not the result of some 'ah-ha moment' they had, but rather pure economics. Consumers are spending less on their services, and the need for a more efficient business process strategy that could be supported by a lean organizational structure was in order. The answer to the second question was most enlightening.

They felt having someone with a Six Sigma background was a must. As they paraded a number of Six Sigma Black Belt candidates through their doors, they were uniform regarding one particular query to the hiring manager: 'Is there executive level sponsorship for the initiative?' The answer was:' No, that's what we would hire you to do - champion this initiative and be responsible for its outcome - as the executive leadership would not have the time to be involved'.

Anyway, they felt hiring a Six Sigma Black Belt maybe was not the way to go, and that smaller incremental process improvement steps - say via the LEAN methodology - would be the way to proceed. At last update, this was still in discussion.

Now, I know what you're thinking, but I'm hear today to say kudos to the company for making process improvement a priority. They recognize the need - a big first step for them - even if they are not quite sure at this time what is the best strategy.

This is where quality folks can really add value. As much as a quality professional's role is to improve products, services, processes, etc, understanding your audience and providing appropriate information to help them traverse knowledge gaps is a real winning strategy.

Imagine if those candidates for the role mentioned above researched the company and came equipped with say - a CMMI model as a learning tool - and provided some background on the model, where they feel the company fit into the model and a vision for future development. Powerful stuff - knowledge that companies could benefit from and it shows impressive thought leadership from the candidate.

Fran

Next weeks theme is 'Methods to The Madness: Qualitative vs Quantitative Approaches to QA'

Methods to The Madness: Finding your way along the test case audit trail

Greetings!

First things first. Finding a clear trail from a functional test case back to the original business requirement from whence it came can be, at times, more difficult that finding a seat at the movies after the lights go dim. There ... I said it. It's an ugly truth, but one that is prevalent - even if test managers do not always wish to expose this gap.

Also, I am not saying that all industries have ambiguous compliancy models in this area. Certainly FDA compliancy standards wield a sharper edge than say ISO standards. Please don't misunderstand, the ISO is a fine organization and the standards they promote are ones that I have always attempted to follow as a QA Manager. However, the risk of non-compliance with ISO is not the same risk type as non-compliance with say - the FBI or FCC - which I have had the pleasure to partner with regarding compliance standards.

Why is it then that the test case audit trail can often be ambiguous or even disjointed? There can be any number of reasons or combination of reasons. Lack of tools and time-to-market pressures are two mentioned often. However, I have seen tools that many times are available but are not used effectively. And, there are always pressures to work quickly. So, what's a QA group to do?

The complexity of SDLC (choose your methodology) precludes a desire to come up with a one-size-fits all solution or have one root cause. I have found that listening to the folks developing the test plans/cases for clues is a great place to start. Some good questions during these conversations that come to mind would be: do they understand and are comfortable with the organizational mechanics of feature development, do they have a good handle on the feature they will be testing and do they know about point-of-origin and justification for the feature? Many times the test group for the release may not have been effectively integrated into the process .... regardless of what the Gant Chart states.

Managers would be wise to be actively involved in the release planning process to ensure that resources are scheduled in the requirements gathering phase - then make sure it happens. The QA folks hold much historical information on feature testing and can contribute greatly during the feature requirement and functional specification development phases.

Also, be sure to explore with the QA group available options to link your test cases directly back through the functional specification to the business requirement. If there is a in-house tool, champion its use. If not, and budgets are tight, champion an effort for using another method. I've seen Excel do a decent job - as long as cross functional groups have ID'd their respective requirements. Consider it a critical path activity.

The key point is that when QA understands the direct relationship between the tests they are executing and the origin of the business requirements, they will have more confidence to champion and chart product quality not only in terms of test pass/fail rates, but also to speak more broadly throughout the organization regarding overall product quality.

Early resource involvement and becoming a champion for a quality process that casts a wider communication net adds value to any organization. And, you'll make the compliance folks very happy!

Fran

Next weeks theme is 'Company Road Trip: To LEAN or not to LEAN .... that was the question'

Quality Sphere
- version 1.0 -

Greetings!

This is the very first article of what will be a weekly series of articles delving into the subject of Quality. I would like to use this first edition to explain why I am writing the articles (the typical stuff: my background, reasons for the article, hopeful benefits and what you can expect). I promise to keep it short and the boredom level hopefully low.

My background:
I am a quality and technical program management professional with over 14 years of functional and project management experience in the area of quality ranging from start up organizations to fortune 100 companies.

Reasons for the article:

• Most notably, I am in transition from my current role(translation: the fortune 100 company I worked for had to contract their workforce), but am looking forward to sharing information I gain along this transition road - and it's a great way to stay connected and informed.
  

• I volunteer for a networking group and on several occasions folks made a reference to the term 'quality' as one entity. So, on several occasions I have said (nicely) , " The quality profession is not homogeneous. True, the world of quality may have a generically common thread of purpose; however, depending on the industry the applications, tools, methodologies and expected outcomes could differ greatly.
  

Hopeful benefits:

• My genuine hope for this article series is not only to keep abreast of the profession, but to also inform and entertain. And on a good day, and through on-line discussion, come up with an insight that may change the way we view our practice of quality. That would be exciting! .... so article comments are most welcome.
  

What can you expect:
The weekly article will have one of three themes (at author's discretion as to when the theme appears):

• Quality is Everywhere: I find this area fascinating. The more you become attuned to seeing quality, or the lack thereof, the more you then see it - whether on the supermarket shelf, in a software test plan, production line adjacencies, your local town hall or in a customer service process. It's like one of those pictures you stare at - at first you see nothing but lines, then a figure suddenly pops out from the page!
  

• Company Road Trip: This will be recaps of conversations I have had/will be having with management and other folks of import in various quality roles - whilst I am out looking for new opportunities . I have an exciting line up already of some really interesting companies in a wide range of products and services. Should be fun.
  

• Methods to The Madness: Discussion around a specific methodology or repeatable process to guide or measure that thing we call Quality.
  

Done.

Hopefully, I finished before you went into ADM (automated dose mode) ... just had to throw in one for all you acronym junkies.

Next week:
Methods to The Madness: 'Finding your way along the test case audit trail'

Fran