Just do it.
I can hear all the developers out there shouting "Right on"
and "Cool, dude." I can hear all the managers groaning. Well,
maybe this procedure needs some work.
The procedure above may be effective but, probably, only for very small projects. It is useful in illustrating the extremes of the responses to the concept of using any kind of formal process. It is one extreme. Let's try the other extreme.
Universal Design Control Procedure #2: Every detail will be written down and reviewed by the manager. Now the developers are saying "I quit!" and the managers are thinking "It'll finally be done right!" (This just proves that developers are smarter than managers. Yes, I do read Dilbert every day.)
The role of management is to provide advice where asked for, guidance where necessary, and support for implementation of the procedures whenever possible, rather than imposing things onto their staffs without agreement.Allan Sayle
Why does this difference in response occur? After all, most managers were developers at one time. Perhaps, the developers are really saying, "Get out of our hair and let us work." Meanwhile, the managers may be thinking, "How will we know if it's on schedule and within budget? How can we provide support if we don't know what is going on?" Meanwhile, the customer may be thinking, "Gee, I sure hope I'm not wasting my money."
During the last few years we have witnessed the beginning of the transformation of the U.S. Corporation ... from managers who traditionally were supposed to have all the answers and tell everyone what to do, to managers whose role it is to create a nourishing environment for personal growth.There is a critical idea being exposed here. Neither approach will assure that the design will meet the requirements as required by ISO 9001. Neither approach will effectively use the resources allocated. In the first procedure above, the managers are not being used effectively because they are not contributing anything. In the second procedure the developers might as well let the managers do everything as they already are. There must be a reasonable middle ground.John Naisbitt
Both the developers and the managers may feel that they are able to adhere to the requirements of the project in creating the design. However, as individuals they will be less effective than groups at reviewing. The developer probably does not have the authority to allocate resources nor the wider view necessary to do it well. The manager probably is not able to spend the time needed to master the details controlling the issues.
The developers' response to ISO 9001 may stem from a belief, based in experience, that formal procedures are constraining and interfere with creativity. Yes, formal procedures are constraining; they are meant to be. It is necessary to meet the constraints imposed on the project. However, the procedures should not interfere with creativity. If they do, they are the wrong procedures. Instead, they should free up resources so that there is more opportunity for a developer to exercise creativity. The design control procedures should do this by enabling good communication and by allocating work to the proper resources.
The managers may be frustrated developers who have forgotten why things take as long as they do. They are focused on meeting the requirements of the project. They may not necessarily be focused on removing the impediments to the project. They may feel that a detailed design is necessary but they do not have the time or background to understand it. Their procedures may require lots of reporting so that the manager feels more secure about the progress of the project even if the reports aren't actually comprehended. Or, the managers may have thrown in the towel and hooked their hopes on the ability and professionalism of their developers. In this role, they contribute very little.
4.4.2 Design and Development Planning
The supplier shall prepare plans [...]. The plans shall [...] define responsibility [...]. The design and development activities shall be assigned to qualified personnel equipped with adequate resources. [...].
4.4.3 Organization and Technical interfaces
[...] interfaces between different groups [...] shall be defined and the necessary information documented, transmitted, and regularly reviewed.
ISO 9001 is a management standard. It is not a standard for software development. It is not a set of procedures that tell us how to do anything. It is not a competitor for, nor even in conflict with, the SEI Capability Maturity Model. It is a set of requirements that quality organizations satisfy. The requirements for design are: plan what you are going to do, assign responsibility, make sure that the resources are there, and insure that good communication occurs. These are the responsibilities of management. The responsibility of the developers is to understand the need for these requirements, help to develop the means to fulfill them, and to comply with the procedures necessary to meet them.
The distinction is crucial. [The developers] work in the [development] system; the manager works on the system.I am sure that most managers across the country would say that they are already doing these things. Good managers are. But, do these managers do the best job possible? How do they know? How does their staff know? Better yet, how does the customer know? And, if they don't know, how can improvements be made? This is why documented procedures are a requirement of ISO 9001. This is why quality records are required. They form the basis for continuous improvement.Glasser, Quality School: Managing Students Without Coercion, Perennial Library, 1990.
If an administrator confines his behavior to making decisions on the decision making process rather than making terminal decisions, this behavior will be more acceptable to subordinates.Griffiths