How mature is your virtual development process?
Dan Romanchik, Technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 8/1/2004
MSC Software has come up with an interesting idea. The Santa Ana, CA, company has taken the Software Engineering Institute's (SEI) Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and applied it to the virtual product-development process. Using this model, MSC (www.mscsoftware.com) can help companies pinpoint areas that need improvement and also help them make their development processes more efficient and repeatable.
I recently spoke with Robert Ryan, MSC's executive VP, about the model and how companies can use it to improve their processes.
Q You've adapted the SEI CMM for software development for measuring process maturity and using it as a roadmap for suggested improvement. At what level are most companies today?
A We really can't make generalities about the overall maturity level of product-development companies. What we do is evaluate a number of areas within the product-development process including CAD, data management, and different engineering disciplines like NVH, vehicle dynamics, and crash and then benchmark that against similar companies. Typically, companies score between 2 and 4 (out of 5) in any one area, though often we have seen companies excel in one area such as crash and have another area score well below where they would like to be. This does not mean that they are a bad company, but that certain parts of their development process are more mature, efficient, and effective than others.
The scores provide the roadmap to improvement. We take all of the self-assessments engineers do, score them, then work to match the scores to specific improvement initiatives.
Q What are the most important things companies need to do to make their virtual product-development processes more mature?
A There are four main areas that companies must focus on to improve their processes: knowledge capture and re-use, data flow within the organization, applying "lessons learned" for new products, and validating virtual tests with physical tests. The first step in any improvement process is to create repeatable processes and document them. This is the best way to get out of a "troubleshooting" mode and on the way to an efficient development process.
Once this is accomplished, you can simultaneously automate certain repetitive processes and establish internal benchmarking mechanisms to determine whether processes are being followed and how much of a positive impact those processes are having. This is what we call an "optimized" development process, and that would be the ultimate goal for any product-development organization: have established processes that are followed, benchmarked, reviewed, and optimized over time.
Q Are there examples of companies that have a mature virtual product development process? What sets mature companies apart?
A We have seen a number of companies who have scored in the high 4's in certain areas where they have decades of expertise such as crash testing of ride and handling, but we have yet to find a company that would claim to have a completely mature development process. What really sets the more mature companies apart from their competitors is their vision and passion for improvement. These companies, whether they are a small supplier or large OEM, understand the value of improving their product-development maturity.
