Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Because of the collaborative working relationship between engineering per-
sonnel and customer personnel, it was not unusual for changes in
requirements to flow in during a design review. I knew that the organization
didn't want to overly restrict this process because this rapid response to cus-
tomer needs had become instrumental in building a rapport with the
customer. This was a large part of why this organization was expanding and
positioned to win a number of new large jobs.
I understood this point. I explained to GEAR that they could still have a process
that allowed for very rapid approval of requirements changes, but it was essen-
tial those requirements were analyzed for impact and approved before work
was initiated in order to manage their cost and schedule more effectively.
7.14 Requirements Change Approval Alignment with
Real Work
Requirements change approval that meant flow down to engineering work
became a high-priority area during the early process improvement effort.
This was because of its criticality in
helping GEAR prepare to manage a
large complex effort to a fixed cost
and schedule.
It was evident from observing this
organization how they had gotten
into cost and schedule difficulties in
the past frequently agreeing to more
work than they had estimated in their
pricing. This occurred because they
wanted to give their customer the
best product possible. However, they
were failing to raise the risk they were
taking in engineering at the project
management level.
Pause, Reflect, and Glance Forward
Can you observe the repeating pattern
at GEAR? GEAR's repeating specific
weaknesses are different from what
we saw at NANO, but it is worth not-
ing how repeating specific weaknesses
can oftentimes best be observed in
times of crisis.
This fact also provides insight we can
use in helping us know when to be on
the lookout for our own repeating spe-
cific weaknesses…
…And, as we will see later in Part V, it
can help us identify the most useful
“checkpoints” to help us move our
organization forward toward real sus-
tainable performance improvement.
Engineering had a history of making
decisions on technical work without
returning to program management
for approval. Without proper analysis
