Are You Ready to SPICE Up Your Work Life?

by Rob Stites

(published in Spotlight Magazine, December 2010, ManTech International Corporation)

Over the last 2 years I have had a lot of SPICE in my life. It all began at a most unusual place—the 2008 World Congress for Software Quality Conference in Bethesda, MD. I met Dr. Linda Ibrahim, Chief Engineer for Process Improvement at the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as well as the international project leader for the new Enterprise SPICE® model for process improvement, at a casual luncheon while I was assisting on the volunteer staff during the conference.

Dr. Linda Ibrahim was one of the speakers at the conference and had served as a member of the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)SM Steering Group, which gave us an immediate connection. Because of this chance meeting and her recognition of my extensive experience in software process improvement, she invited me to join the SPICE User Group as a process author.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 15504 is titled Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination and thus goes by “SPICE.” This standard is aimed at creating a clear model for process comparison. SPICE is used much like CMMI. However, the Enterprise SPICE model does not currently support implementation of maturity levels as in the CMMI, but based on future stakeholder demand, that may be considered as an addition for future releases. The Enterprise SPICE model integrates practices from the widely recognized international standards and sources of best practice. The new model is unique in that all organizational (i.e., enterprise) best practices are documented in a single unified process model and a unified assessment model. Presently, for example, ManTech must train, implement, and assess according to three or four separate process models to cover diverse areas such as software development (i.e., CMMI for Development), Human Resources (i.e., ISO 9000:2008), and Information Technology (i.e., ITIL 3.0 or ISO 20000). The potential savings in time, costs, and effort by utilizing only one process model is obvious.

The Enterprise SPICE model has 29 process areas in three categories (vs. 17 process areas in four categories for CMMI - Level 3). The three categories are Governance/Management, Life Cycle, and Support. The model aligns the business and technical processes across all product and service lifecycles. The special application area provides a way of applying the SPICE processes in a particular context and facilitates the re-use of the models without recreating processes. An organization may select only those areas which are relevant to their enterprise or their specific focus so that improvement initiatives may be aligned across the entire enterprise.

My first step as an author was to join a collaborative Web site in which I was able to interact with 120 authors and process improvement experts from 31 countries. Our task was to initially develop a draft Process Reference Model (PRM) and then a Process Assessment Model (PAM) for each enterprise process using predetermined templates. ISO/IEC 15504-2 specifies requirements for conformance of the PRM and PAM models. My specific assignment was to draft one process, with which I was quite familiar—Supplier Agreement Management—since it is much the same as in the CMMI, and one process which was entirely new to me—Tendering—which guides the bid and proposal process.

Tendering is an important process that had not yet been examined to any great extent in the commonly used process models. We reviewed and referred to many existing process models while developing our new format. Once draft processes were created by the process authors, all PRMs were posted online for peer review. The advisory board consolidated review comments which were then emailed to each author for final deliberation, and then an “accept,” “reject,” or “discuss further” status was assigned by each reviewer. Final comments were collated by the advisory board and returned to the authors for updates to their processes. A very similar process was followed for creating the PAM.

I enjoyed collaborating with these men and women who practice what they preach. The leadership, communication, and organization of the effort were outstanding. This process model is a great addition to choices for process improvement because it covers all the main processes within any company. The Enterprise SPICE project is now entering the Deployment Phase which will focus on use of the model regarding training, assessment oversight, and corporate partnerships. Companies will soon begin to use the Enterprise SPICE model to unify their processes under one standard model and to save on implementation and appraisal costs. It may be awhile before the federal government catches on to the savings but you can be sure that this is the direction process improvement is heading. For more information, visit http://www.enterprisespice.com.

(Graphic prepared by Timothy V. Cox)