CMMI and Understanding Requirements We have recently been involved in a LinkedIn discussion about understanding requirements.  We have had several quick blog posts on requirements over the years.  For example, we have written about the connection of requirements and project management. We have also discussed how requirements grow over the course of the development of […]

I recently taught a class in preparation for the Project Management Institute, Project Management Professional certification exam.  We were going through example questions and the verbiage was very specific and pointed to a specific answer from the four choices available.  When the answer was not what was selected there was an obvious level of disappointment […]

Continuous Deliver and Embedded Automotive I have worked on projects that employed continuous delivery for embedded products. The embedded product was an automotive component.  The core of the software (the operating system) was specified using conventional approach. This operating system consisted of the maximum model requirements for this globally used component. The component looked and […]

Learning and Morbidity & Mortality I have been watching a hospital type show.  That show demonstrated something called a Morbidity and Mortality (M&M) Conference and it occurred to me that some adaptation of this approach would help organizations to bring the learning from the work to the entire company. Learning and Conventional Projects We have […]

Project Closure and Team Disband One of my favorites and often poorly executed part of a project is the project closure.  Project closure is not just a simple wipe our hands together and smile, then proclaim that we are finished with the project. It is not even handing the customer our results and patting everybody […]

Really, Eliminate Configuration Management? Anybody that believes they are saving project time, engineering time and money by eliminating configuration management does not understand how things really work.  This is especially true if the items you are eliminating the configuration management for, interface with other items.  Building a system or subsystems that comprise a variety of software components […]

CMMI Requirements Management We decided to continue with requirements management since there are some generic goals that are probably just as important as the previously discussed specific goal and practices.  This is especially true when we consider the long-term impact on our project execution capabilities. CMMI Generic Goals The generic goals associated with requirements management […]

Documentation and Rework Once, a long time ago, I worked at a company that was having some difficulty coordinating their development work.  The product that was produced was a complex arrangement of mechanical and electrical / electronic systems.  The company was ISO certified and had documentation describing how they would work, including configuration and change management.  […]