IDEAL Step 2 – Diagnosing
Step 3 – Establishing

Step 2 -Diagnosing

Step 3 – Establishing

Purpose

Purpose

Objectives

Education/Skills

Plan the Baseline

Present Findings

Develop Final Findings and Recommendations Report

Communicate Final Findings and Recommendations

Output

Establishing’s Overview

Establishing’s Objectives

Education/Skills

Entry Criteria

Exit Criteria

Task

  1. Strategic Planning Process Training
  1. Review Organization’s Vision
  1. Review Organization’s Business Plan
  1. Determine Key Business Issues
  1. Review Past Improvement Efforts
  1. Describe the Motivations to Improve
  1. Identify Current and Future (Planned) Improvement Efforts
  1. Finalize Roles and Responsibilities of the Various Infrastructure Entities
  1. Prioritize Activities and Develop Improvement Agenda
  1. Reconcile Improvement Efforts with the Baseline Findings and Recommendations
  1. Transform the General SPI Goals to Specific Measurable Goals
  1. Create/Update the SPI Strategic Plan
  1. Approve the SPI Strategic Plan and Commit Resources to Action
  1. Form the Technical Working Group (TWG)

Determine what baselines are required

Describes the method used, the participants, data sources, areas of investigation, and strengths and weaknesses that have been found

Perform the baselining activity to get a picture of the organizations current strengths and weaknesses.

Produce Findings and Recommendations report

Prepare to develop the SPI strategic action plan

Understand the working of the current processes and the organizational interactions

Gather information on the current strengths and opportunities for improvement in the organization

Build involvement, from the senior management team down to the practitioners, for process improvement tasks

Detail the starting point for measuring improvement

All aspects of the baselining activities are taken into account and have been planned for.

Conduct Baseline

The activities needed to accomplish the baselines

Baselining team selected

Roles and responsibilities. Train baselining team in appraisal method

Gather actual information regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the organization processes

Policies, procedures and guidelines used in its software development activities are readily available

Interview members of the software development staff and mgmt staff

Review and analyze policy, procedures, and guidelines

Provides a lasting representation of the organizations current state.

Set of recommendations to go along with the findings

People will be wondering about all the activity that was occurring during the baselining

It is recommended that the results of the baselining activities be communicated to the entire organization

Contribute to building sponsorship and support for the SPI program

Baseline Findings and Recommendation Report delivered to the MSG and accepted.

The draft of the SPI strategic action plan is initiated.

The management steering group (MSG) has the responsibility for creation of the SPI strategic action plan.

The MSG begins by determining what kind of strategic planning process it will follow

The SPI strategic action plan will be based on the results of the baselining efforts performed in the Diagnosing phase of IDEAL, the organization improvement goals, and the resources available

Develop or refine a SPI strategic action plan

SPI should provide clear business reasons for conducting the SPI program and should be clearly and measurably linked to the

Revisie the organization’s vision and business plan

Develop/update a long-term (three- to fiveyear) SPI strategic action plan

Measurable goals for the organizations SPI program

Integrate the baseline findings and recommendations into the SPI strategic action plan

Integrate the SPI strategic action plan with the organization’s business plan, mission, and vision.

The SPI infrastructure is in place and operating

The MSG has decided that the SPI strategic action plan needs to be updated

Baselining activities have been completed

The SPI strategic action plan is complete and approved.

The organizations vision, business plan, and SPI strategic action plan are synergistic

TWG is established

Choose a consistent approach to planning for the SPI program

Develop skills in building a solid planning foundation

Train the MSG and SEPG in the process and methods.

Clearly link the SPI strategy to the organization’s vision and direction

Review and possibly modify current vision

Generate new vision if one does not exist or if the existing one is not adequate.

Identify goals and motivations for the SPI program

Clearly link the SPI strategy to the organization’s business plan

Review and possibly modify current business plan

Generate new business plan if one does not exist or if the existing plan is not adequate

Identify goals and other (possibly competing) initiatives

The SPI program need to be driven by the current business needs and understood and agreed to by management

It will be difficult to clearly demonstrate to senior management that the initiative is achieving real value for the organization in business terms

The key business needs have to be clearly defined, measurable, and understood to provide a common view to the SPI teams

People typically repeat past behaviors, including those that lead to success and those that do not.

Ensure that mistakes are not repeated that may have caused similar initiatives to fail in the past.

Review past change and/or improvement efforts and identify successful practices to leverage and unsuccessful practices to avoid.

People must understand why the organization is spending so much time and effort on a SPI program

Organization must evaluate all of the initiatives under way and determine how much it is investing in each one and in total.

For an organization to get the best results, the cumulative impact of all improvement efforts should not be overwhelming to anyone

Define criteria to be used to select improvement action items from a list and launch them

Define a process to apply those criteria

Document the criteria in the “Improvement Agenda” section of the SPI strategic plan.

Definition of the roles and responsibilities of the infrastructure, may now be outdated

Finalize roles and responsibilities for the SEPG, MSG, and any other SPI management and coordination groups

Define typical roles and responsibilities for TWGs in terms of their responsibilities, authority, reporting requirements

Incorporate baseline results into the SPI strategic plan.

Reconcile baseline results with all other existing and/or planned software improvement activities

One general goal could have been to make software projects more predictable in terms of cost and schedule

The transformed goal could be to improve that measure such that 80 percent of all projects complete within 10 percent of their original estimates, within 2 years.

The plan has been reconciled with the baseline results, and the goals transformed, the plan has to be put together, edited, and finalized

Complete SPI strategic plan written

The action plan that is developed needs to be communicated to the organization

Build consensus and commitment to the plan

Approve SPI strategic action plan

Build a team from people with diverse backgrounds who all have a stake in the area of improvement and TWG established

TWGs are the solution developers for the SPI program

Document, Assess, Improve current processes.

Develop plan to pilot improved process

Pilot the new improved process.

Strategic plan, Team skill, vision development, Sponsorship, Facilitation, Business plan.

Interviewing skill, data reduction skill, Baselining method, Team skill, Change management

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