Linked Knowledge Nuggets: arrow_forward "Combining ASPICE with functional safety requirements"
personAuthor: Process Fellows
When ASPICE meets ISO 26262, overlap is inevitable. Instead of duplicating effort, align processes, project planning and documentation: Define interfaces early between safety and other roles, use shared terminology, and clarify ownership of key artifacts like safety plans, requirements, and validations. One important key for success is an integrated process approach!
arrow_forward "Competitive despite processes!"
personAuthor: Timo Karasch
We live in tricky times. Cost pressure is constantly rising, complexity continues to increase, we have less and less time and our employees are groaning under all this pressure. And that's not all. Then the “quality experts” come along and demand “process-compliant implementation in accordance with applicable standards”. How are we supposed to manage this without losing out to the lurking competition?
So that we are not defenceless against these outrageous demands, I would like to try to give you a few powerful arguments. With a little finesse, we will learn in this webinar how we can use the following 5 theses to remain competitive despite processes:
standards block our flexibility!
processes slow us down!
projects only ever need more resources!
documentation is an annoying overhead!
more roles always means more staff!
school
Webinar recording and slides
arrow_forward "How to create process compliance without killing creativity?"
personAuthor: Process Fellows
A common misconception: process equals rigidity. In reality, frameworks like ASPICE offer room for tailoring. Instead of prescribing how to do things, they ask you to prove that you're achieving results in a repeatable, structured way. Creativity thrives when it’s grounded in clarity — not chaos.
arrow_forward "Process Improvement Starts with Listening"
personAuthor: Process Fellows
Don’t improve alone. Talk to the people doing the work. What slows them down? What helps? Let experience drive improvement – and ASPICE will follow naturally.
arrow_forward "Process debt is real – pay it off regularly!"
personAuthor: Process Fellows
Like technical debt, process complexity grows silently. Revisit ownership, simplify wording, remove dead templates. Keep it clean and aligned.
arrow_forward "Summary of the SPI manifesto"
personAuthor: Process Fellows
The SPI Manifesto (Software Process Improvement Manifesto) was created by a group of international experts during workshops held at the EuroSPI Conference in Alcalá, Spain in 2009 and officially published in early 2010. Its purpose is to define core values and principles that make process improvement initiatives truly effective and sustainable.
Key Motivations
Many SPI assessments fail to lead to lasting improvements.
Improvement actions are often not implemented or tracked.
Success is frequently limited to individual projects rather than scaled across organizations.
Core Values (excerpt)
The manifesto emphasizes on values and principles. Exemplary values are:
Practicality: Improvement actions must be realistic and applicable.
Sustainability: Improvements should be embedded into organizational culture.
People Involvement: Active participation of those affected by the processes is essential.
Transparency and Traceability: Actions and results must be visible and measurable.
Principles (excerpt)
Focus on real organizational needs, not just compliance.
Ensure management support and commitment.
Promote continuous learning and feedback.
Align SPI activities with business goals.
The SPI manifesto was created with the support of our Process Fellows Bernhard Sechser and Jürgen Schmied. The full content of the SPI manifesto can be found via the linked pdf file (see below).
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External link to SPI manifesto stored at EUROSPI website
arrow_forward "The power of process ownership"
personAuthor: Process Fellows
Assigning clear ownership to each process area leads to real engagement. A process owner drives improvement, supports teams, gathers metrics, and ensures process intent is understood. Without ownership, processes become orphaned and lose effectiveness.
arrow_forward "Too busy to improve?"
personAuthor: Florian Schmitt
Many projects nowadays have the challenge that they are not based on sufficient resources. Besides the omnipresent lack of skilled professionals, we often experience that companies decide to start additional projects, although the resources are actually not even sufficient for the running ones.
To find out why this happens so often (although actually nobody wants it), we will investigate the root causes and mechanisms of organizational psychology. We show the mid-term consequences, illustrated by practical examples, and conclude with a set of recommendations how to cope with such situations and how to avoid that they come up at all.
school
Webinar recording and slides
arrow_forward "What ASPICE does not cover?"
personAuthor: Process Fellows
ASPICE doesn’t replace engineering judgment, common sense, or domain expertise. It also doesn't define lifecycle models or toolchains. Use it for what it is — a scaffold, not a script.
# PROCESS PURPOSE
The purpose is to continually improve the organization’s effectiveness and efficiency through the processes used and to ensure alignment of the processes with the business needs.
# PROCESS OUTCOMES
O1
A commitment is established to provide resources to sustain improvement (Measure = An activity to achieve a certain intent.).
O2
Issues arising from the organization's internal or external environment are identified as improvement opportunities and justified as reasons for change.
O3
An analysis of the current status of the existing processes is performed.
O4
Improvement goals are identified and prioritized, and consequent changes to the processes are defined, documented and implemented.
O5
The effects of process implementations are monitored, measured and confirmed in relation to the identified improvement goals.
O6
The knowledge gained from the improvement is communicated within the organization.
# BASE PRACTICES
BP1
Establish a commitment. (
O1 )
Establish a commitment to support the process improvement staff, to provide resources and further enablers to sustain improvement actions. Note 1: The process improvement process is a generic process, which can be used at all levels (e.g., organizational level, process level, (Project = Endeavor with defined start and finish dates undertaken to create a product or service in accordance with specified resources requirements.) level, etc.) and which can be used to improve all processes. Note 2: Commitment at all levels of management may support process improvement. Note 3: Enablers for improvement (Measure = An activity to achieve a certain intent.) may include trainings, methods, infrastructure, etc.
BP2
Identify improvement measures. (
O2, O3 )
Identify issues from the analysis of process performance and derive improvement opportunities with justified reasons for change. Note 4: Analysis may include problem report trend analyses (see SUP.9), analyses from Quality Assurance and Verification results and records (see SUP.1), validation results and records, and product quality (Metric = A quantitative or qualitative measurable indicator that matches defined information needs.) like defect rate. Note 5: Issues and improvement suggestions may be addressed by the customer. Note 6: Sources for identification of issues may include: process assessment results, audits, customer's satisfaction reports, (Measurement = The activity to find the size, quantity or degree of something.) of organizational effectiveness/efficiency, costs of quality.
BP3
Establish process improvement goals. (
O4 )
Analyze the current status of the existing processes and establish improvement goals. Note 7: The current status of processes may be determined by a process assessment.
BP4
Prioritize the improvements. (
O4 )
Prioritize the improvement goals and improvement (Measure = An activity to achieve a certain intent.).
BP5
Define process improvement measures. (
O4 )
Process improvement (Measure = An activity to achieve a certain intent.) are defined. Note 8: Improvements may be documented in incremental steps.
BP6
Implement the process improvement measures. (
O4 )
Implement and apply the improvements to the processes. Update the process documentation and train people as needed. Note 9: Process application can be supported by establishing policies, adequate process infrastructure, process training, process coaching and tailoring processes to local needs. Note 10: Improvements may be piloted before rolling out within the organization.
BP7
Confirm the process improvements. (
O5 )
The effects of process implementation are monitored and measured, and the achievement of defined improvement goals is confirmed.
BP8
Communicate the results of the improvements. (
O6 )
Knowledge gained from the improvements and progress of the improvement implementation is communicated to all affected parties.
# OUTPUT INFORMATION ITEMS
15-51
Analysis results (
O2, O3, O4, O5 )
Results of analysis of an object or (Task = A definition, but not the execution, of a coherent set of atomic actions.).Identifies:
Object under analysis
Analysis criteria
Selection criteria or prioritization scheme
Decision criteria
Quality criteria
Includes:
Decisions and selections performed
Assumptions and constraints
Evaluation criteria, for example correctness, completeness or consistency to a work product
Examples and references:
Verifiability analysis results, for example when a test machine becomes defective
Results of a feasibility analysis
Used by these processes:
ACQ.4 Supplier Monitoring
HWE.1 Hardware Requirements Analysis
HWE.2 Hardware Design
MAN.5 Risk Management
MAN.6 Measurement
MLE.1 Machine Learning Requirements Analysis
MLE.2 Machine Learning Architecture
PIM.3 Process Improvement
SWE.1 Software Requirements Analysis
SWE.2 Software Architectural Design
SYS.1 Requirements Elicitation
SYS.2 System Requirements Analysis
SYS.3 System Architectural Design
15-13
Assessment/audit result (
O3, O5 )
Documentation of results of an audit or assessment (Activity = Execution of a task by a stakeholder or an involved party.).Identifies:
Gaps, potentials, weaknesses or non-conformances that require corrective actions
Scope and purpose
Context to the evaluations
Results, for example rating by percentage or traffic lights
Dates the (Activity = Execution of a task by a stakeholder or an involved party.) was performed
Requirements used
Includes:
Methods used
References to evidence
Assumptions and limitations
Organizational unit
Sponsor information
Assessment team
Attendees
Used by these processes:
PIM.3 Process Improvement
13-16
Change request (
O2 )
Request to change scope or impacts on planned activities or outcomes.Identifies:
Scope and purpose of the change activities
Originator of the change
Impacted operation environment
Process performance
Environment of usage for the process outcome
Infrastructure or resources
Documentation needs
Includes:
Impacted outcomes and achievements
Process objectives
(Approval = Written statement that a deliverable is fit for its intended use, compliant with defined criteria.) for implementation of a change
Limitations to be considered
Criteria to verify the fulfillment of the implementation
Used by these processes:
ACQ.4 Supplier Monitoring
MAN.3 Project Management
PIM.3 Process Improvement
SUP.10 Change Request Management
02-01
Commitment/agreement (
O1 )
Mutual arrangement between two or more parties regarding terms of a transaction or relationship.Identifies:
All involved parties
Purpose of the collaboration
Definitions
Confidentiality
Termination conditions
Includes:
Timings and durations
Resources, for example people and equipment
Efforts
Facilities
Responsibilities
Used by these processes:
ACQ.4 Supplier Monitoring
PIM.3 Process Improvement
13-52
Communication evidence (
O6 )
Evidence of interpersonal communication.Identifies:
Scope of information
Need for feedback, for example an expected confirmation within one week
Meta data, for example time when communication was done or how information was distributed.
Includes:
Personal information
Work-flows, for example within tools
Examples and References:
E-mails and other forms of memos
Verbal statements
Meeting minutes, for example in standups
Electronic media, for example webcasts, blog posts intranet forum
Chat protocols
Wiki pages
Photo protocol
Used by these processes:
ACQ.4 Supplier Monitoring
HWE.1 Hardware Requirements Analysis
HWE.2 Hardware Design
HWE.3 Verification against Hardware Design
HWE.4 Verification against Hardware Requirements
MAN.3 Project Management
MLE.1 Machine Learning Requirements Analysis
MLE.2 Machine Learning Architecture
MLE.3 Machine Learning Training
MLE.4 Machine Learning Model Testing
PIM.3 Process Improvement
REU.2 Reuse of Products
SUP.1 Quality Assurance
SUP.11 Machine Learning Data Management
SWE.1 Software Requirements Analysis
SWE.2 Software Architectural Design
SWE.3 Software Detailed Design and Unit Construction
SWE.4 Software Unit Verification
SWE.5 Software Component Verification and Integration Verification
SWE.6 Software Verification
SYS.1 Requirements Elicitation
SYS.2 System Requirements Analysis
SYS.3 System Architectural Design
SYS.4 System Integration and Integration Verification
SYS.5 System Verification
VAL.1 Validation
Used by these process attributes:
PA2.1 Process performance management process attribute
15-16
Improvement opportunity (
O2, O3, O4 )
Suggestion or idea of an improvement related to a weakness or a new capability.Identifies:
Related problem and cause
Value expected to benefit of, for example business opportunities or efficiency increases
Penalties of losses for not making the improvement
Includes:
Owner
Decider and approve
Evaluation of the improvement
Used by these processes:
PIM.3 Process Improvement
10-00
Process description (
O4 )
Description of a standard or a defined process.Identifies:
Scope, purpose and intended use
Activities including their description and dependencies
Entry and exit criteria such as input information needed and expected outputs for activities
Templates
Guidance documents, for example guidelines, work instructions, standards or method descriptions
Includes:
Roles assigned to process activities, for example as RASIC or to work products
Sequence and interaction of activities within the process
Sequence and interaction of the process to other processes
Tailoring guidelines
Used by these processes:
PIM.3 Process Improvement
Used by these process attributes:
PA3.1 Process definition process attribute
PA3.2 Process deployment process attribute
07-04
Process metric (
O5, O6 )
(Measurement = The activity to find the size, quantity or degree of something.) about the process' performance:
ability to produce sufficient work products
adherence to the process
time it takes to perform process
defects related to the process
(Measure = An activity to achieve a certain intent.) the impact of process change
(Measure = An activity to achieve a certain intent.) the efficiency of the process
Used by these processes:
PIM.3 Process Improvement
16-06
Process repository (
O4 )
Controlled storage location for configuration related artefacts of a process.Identifies:
Artefacts, for example process descriptions
Assets of the process
Access control
Changes to artefacts
Version information
Meta data, for example name, attributes, reference links.
Includes:
Storage and retrieval characteristics, for example in archiving processes
Status information
Used by these processes:
PIM.3 Process Improvement
06-04
Training material (
O4, O6 )
Resources created or used to support learning.Identifies:
Knowledge for operation, maintenance or development of (System = A collection of interacting components organized to accomplish a specific function or set of functions within a specific environment.).
PIM.3
Process Improvement
