Documenting Your Processes

May 3, 2001

Location:

The May Twin-SPIN program was on the "Documenting Your Processes".

Many processes grow so large and unusable that they become what Dilbert calls "a big honkin' Binder".  Large processes or poorly defined processes usually become shelfware (i.e., they collect dust on a shelf) or they become unused "webware".  This presentation will describe a how to define short and concise processes in expert mode.  When a pilot flies an airplane, he or she doesn't pull out volumes of training manuals.  Pilots use "expert mode" checklists.  This presentation is focused on providing lessons learned in industry of "what works" and "what doesn't work" when defining processes in expert mode.

Speaker:

Mr. Timothy G. Olson is Founder and President of Quality Improvement Consultants (QIC), Inc.  Mr. Olson is a Juran Institute Associate, an Authorized SEI Lead Assessor, and a SEMATECH representative for software process improvement.  While performing quality consulting, Mr. Olson has helped organizations measurably improve quality and productivity, save millions of dollars in costs of poor quality, and has helped numerous organizations reach higher CMM maturity levels.  Mr. Olson was employed at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) for almost 7 years in the Software Process Program, where he was a lead-author of SEI Assessments, SEI Software Process Definition Training, and the SEI Software Process Framework.  Mr. Olson has also co-developed a Software Quality Course for the University of Minnesota, and is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Computer Science Department.  He is currently member of IEEE and ASQ, and he helped start-up two SPIN's in the Twin Cities, Minnesota area.