Getting out of “Compliance - Correction” syndrome leads to Project Success

After getting quality certification, one of the most important ways of pushing implementation is often verifying the success with periodical audit. “NC – Non Compliance” is a buzzword in software industry. You see various forms of audit - Internal, External, Statutory etc. These are conducted periodically. The frequency of such audits could be monthly, quarterly or annually. The non-compliance instances are discussed and actions are initiated. A lot of preparation is required before the scheduled audit. The audit report is prepared and it is sent to seniors. Normally, the success is judged based on % compliance. Bosses often ask for these reports for achieving higher compliance. Although an audit is important, one question keeps coming to my mind, “Does this add enough value for sustained improvement?” One may not have a very clear answer here as very often we come across high % compliance and on the other hand we also come across project failures. I’ll name this phenomenon as “Compliance -Correction “Syndrome.

Postmortem has its own importance and so is the audit. One can learn a lot from postmortem. Do you have a better way which can be used for sustained improvement and still one uses audit for some spot checks? Let us look at an analogy of One Way Street. Few of us must have been caught by the police while entering one way street from wrong side. Police imposes fine on violators. Normally, you find police standing on the other side of the road or at the exit point. The intention is to catch violator. Can we think differently? What about if police is deployed at the entry point? And he starts stopping vehicles entering one way street from the wrong side. This will certainly have an implication over the fine collection. I argue; it will have a better impact in bringing discipline and in bringing sustained improvement in behavior. Therefore, if the goal is not penalizing for doing a mistake you can always think of a better way of doing the same thing effectively.

I think we often miss the spirit of a quality standard. We start following in words and not in spirit. It is important to remain focused on the goal and look at the spirit of these quality standards. The moment you do that “Compliance” will have a lower ranking on your priority list. You will start thinking in terms of using quality for improvement.

I am sharing here an example from one of my project experience. We had a software project where we did not have conventional coding. The existing code was to be analyzed and appropriate documentation was to be created. Naturally, this project had a different lifecycle phases. At a higher level one can look at conventional Development Life cycle phases and customize the same to suit the specific needs of the project. The same was done here. All the quality steps like unit testing, review, testing was looked upon from project necessity perspective. All the stakeholders were taken in confidence and their concurrence were obtained on the customized processes applicable to the project. The team was empowered to tweak the process for better effectiveness as they proceeded on the project. Transparency, empowerment, and continuous learning were the buzz words in the project. The SQA played a role of reformer. He worked with project team to customize the process, remained an active participant throughout the life cycle. The result was phenomenal. Fortunately compliance in the audit process was 100%. Let us look at the results:

Test Cases Success Rate 95.74%
% Schedule Variance -15.38%
TDI’s to SP Ratio – Last Milestone 1.26 TDIs/SP

In the above table TDI’s to SP ratio is the measure of defect density and negative variance means savings. The defect density improved by 66% over the first iteration. Besides the positive metrics, the Client experience was superb.

I term this as an experience which is very positive. It is not oriented towards “Compliance-Correction” syndrome. Compliance here is a byproduct. One can repeat this every time irrespective of the type of project. I suggest the following steps:

1. Customize the Quality Steps looking at the type and need of the project. This step is critical. Look carefully at Design, Construction, Unit Testing, Review and Testing. Define the specific steps for each of them. Do not forget to make SQA as a partner here.

2. Work in a culture of transparency, empowerment and participation. This sounds a little theoretical. Believe me if you attempt it, you will find your own way for doing this. Success will teach you to follow this in all projects during your life time.

3. Listen to all stake holders. Be open for change.

4. The steps finalized as a part of customization, are not final. Tweak them as you progress based on your learning on the project.

5. Look at Customer Success Factor (CSF). It may be advisable to understand the personal success factors for the immediate customer contact and integrate those as a part of your project success. Define your measurements and success criteria in line with CSF to Monitor and control.

I have seen projects failing because the team simply does not do the basic simple steps as mentioned above. My advice is to remain focused, get out of “Compliance-Correction” syndrome and follow the above steps. You are bound to embrace success.