What competencies separate the best consultants from the rest? There are three areas in which a capable consultant or advisor must excel in order to provide the best possible service to you. They are:
Domain Knowledge
Process Knowledge
Business Knowledge
Domain knowledge includes knowledge related to the product or service your company offers. The consultant gains this knowledge in a variety of ways: work experience in many different areas, working with different clients, and the ability to reason from first principles and draw analogies from expertise in one domain and properly apply it to related technical, product, or service domains.
Process knowledge includes knowledge of the CMMI® model, appraisal methods, and an excellent understanding of software engineering principles and practices. This understanding should extend beyond a "one size fits all" approach to process improvement. Organizations should build from their strengths rather than force-fitting a new set of processes on top of their existing processes and methods in an attempt to achieve compliance to a rigidly interpreted model.
Business knowledge includes knowledge and understanding of how business needs shape policy and product decisions, exposure to management teams that make these decisions, and longer term evaluation of the methods and techniques proposed as a consultant.
How does IPS satisfy these three dimensions?
Domain Knowledge
Ed Weller had 25 years of experience in hardware, test, software, and systems engineering prior to focusing on process improvement in the early 1990s. He was a Technical Fellow at the Bull HN Information Systems Large Systems Division (formerly Honeywell). This position required a wide body of knowledge in design and test across multiple disciplines, which has enabled him to evaluate and understand problems and solutions from a system perspective, rather than viewing a problem one-dimensionally as a development or test problem. His experience also included large (400+) and small (3-5) person projects, enabling him to understand and evaluate development processes in large or small projects. This broad set of experiences has expanded over the years as he has worked with companies in the financial, medical, defense, service, and high technology fields with a range of projects (long-term, large to short-term, small) and maintenance organizations.
Process Knowledge
Ed is a recognized expert in process improvement. He served on the SEI Measurement Steering Committee, the Embry-Riddle Industry Advisory Board, and the Software Acquisition Best Practices Initiative. His IEEE Software article "Lessons Learned from Three Years of Inspection Data" was awarded Best Article of 1993 honors by the IEEE Software Editorial Board. He has presented over 40 conference presentations and tutorials, and contributed chapter 40 "Applying Statistical Process Control to Software" in IT Measurement: Practical Advice from the Experts. He is an authorized instructor for the Introduction to CMMI® and is an SEI-certified SCAMPISM High Maturity Lead Appraiser, a required certification to lead Level 4 and Level 5 SCAMPISM appraisals for record.
Business Knowledge
The third dimension is the component that ties the first two together and is critical to the success or failure of any process improvement initiative. Without knowledge of how businesses operate and the imperatives and constraints they face, how can the consultant shape a program to meet the business needs? Ed has worked with division level and above senior management since the late 1970s. In recent years he has worked with senior executive management in financial, outsourcing, and high technology firms on an international scale. This experience allows a direct linkage between the business needs and the proposed course of improvement actions
