Process Improvement

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="3" width=200 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000" background="03cc8c00dkcfsz.png"> <div> <A HREF="http://www.mosaicinc.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.mosaicinc.com"><U><B><IMG SRC="18b54400.png" border=0 width="84" height="64" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="modelmain.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Defect Management Process"><U><B>Defect Management Process</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="dprevention.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Defect Prevention"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Defect Prevention</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="delbaselining.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Deliverable Baseline"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Deliverable Baseline</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="defdiscovery.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Defect Discovery"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Defect Discovery</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="defresolution.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Defect Resolution"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Defect Resolution</B></U></A></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c833ccff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Process Improvement</B></div> <div> <A HREF="mreporting.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Management Reporting"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Management Reporting</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="implement_process.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Implementing the Process"><U><B>Implementing the Process</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="critmetrics.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Define Critical Metrics"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Define Critical Metrics</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="ident_critical_rsks.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Identify Critical Risks"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Identify Critical Risks</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="iprocessimprvnts.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Identify Process Improvements"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Identify Process Improvements</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="developplan.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Develop Defect Management Plan"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Develop Plan</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="pilotproject.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Pilot the Defect Management Process"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ffffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Pilot the Defect Management Process</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="glossary.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Glossary"><U><B>Glossary</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="references.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="References"><U><B>References</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=60 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Process Improvement</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=388 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Defect Management Process</B></div> <div> <B><IMG SRC="14615a60.png" border=0 width="533" height="166" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> This is perhaps the activity that is most ignored by organizations today, but offers one of the greatest areas of payback.  NASA emphasizes the point that any defect represents a weakness in the process.  Seemingly unimportant defects are, from a process perspective, no different than critical defects.  It is only the developer's good luck that prevents a defect from causing a major failure.  Even minor defects therefore represent an opportunity to learn how to improve the process and prevent potentially major failures.  While the defect itself may not be a big deal, the fact that there was a defect <I><B>is</B></I> a big deal.</div> <bR> <div> Based on the study's findings, participants should go back to the process that originated the defect to understand what caused the defect.  Then they should go back to the validation process that should have caught the defect earlier in the process.  Not only can valuable insight be gained as to how to strengthen the review process, this step serves to make everyone involved in these activities take them more seriously.  This human factors dimension alone, according to some of the people the research team interviewed, can have a very large impact on the effectiveness of the review process.</div> <bR> <div> NASA, takes an additional step of asking the question:  If this defect could have gotten this far into the process before it was captured, what other defects may be present that have not been discovered.  Thus not only is the process strengthened to prevent defects, it is strengthened to find defects that have been created, but not yet discovered.  This aggressiveness should be mandatory on life critical systems.  The well-known "Thearc-25" case of a radiation machine that kept issuing "Malfunction 25" messages is one example where problems might have been caught earlier if this step had been pursued <A HREF="references_lev93.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="References"><U>[LEV93]</U></A>.</div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=32 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="defresolution.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Defect Resolution"><U><B><IMG SRC="0e711110.png" 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