Quality Improvement: Software Life Cycle Management ...

Software Life Cycle Management Guidelines

... "Instituting organizational change requires aggressive executive leadership and commitment. Employees should understand that what they are about to go through is a sincere effort to make meaningful improvements that benefit their agency. Over the past 30 years, businesses and governmental agencies have made numerous attempts to improve organizational capabilities through quality improvement programs, such as Zero Defects, Quality Circles, and most recently Total Quality Management. The path toward meaningful quality improvement has been long and very expensive. In many cases, well-intentioned attempts have failed to improve quality and in the process have succeeded in making employees feel cynical about subsequent attempts. It is important to recognize that poorly planned attempts, without full executive support, are more damaging than not doing anything at all. Before embarking on this effort, senior managers must lay the groundwork for achieving success... " ...