Processes
Its not enough to write a procedure. You have to engineer a process. In the development of a process you have to co-opt the basic structure of writing and then expand the the initial concept using tools. Processes are required to be vetted. Planning of a process takes on a different methodology than that of writing in that, yes you do have to plan. But it is a different type of planning. Writing requires that you understand the audience. Process engineering requires that you not just plan what you are trying to communicate it also requires that you understand the problem and its solutions. That is impossible from a singular perspective.
Stakeholders
The following is placeholder text known as “lorem ipsum,” which is scrambled Latin used by designers to mimic real copy. Nulla lectus ante, consequat et ex eget, feugiat tincidunt metus.
Specifications
The following is placeholder text known as “lorem ipsum,” which is scrambled Latin used by designers to mimic real copy. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos.
Traceability
The following is placeholder text. Mauris id fermentum nulla.
Supporting Materials
The following is placeholder text. Nulla eu pretium massa.
Technical Vetting
The following is placeholder text. Maecenas non leo laoreet, condimentum lorem nec, vulputate massa.
Document Writing
The best writers can just write. They release what they want to communicate through self exploration and brutal honesty. The tools described above are required to help define the process. But without some type of real description of the problem, its boundaries, and its parts, it is difficult if not impossible to come up with a solution.
The preparation has to be based on tools that you have used. You should be pulling standard methods and systems that you have defined before of the shelf and fitting them together. These are basic standards that we all understand, or should, intrinsically. Processes will erode
Typical process documents should be based of these building blocks.
- Understanding scope
- Understanding constraints
- Understanding frame of mind
- Application of logic through universal norms or application of written standards
- Review of documents / objective evidence on hand
- Questioning of fact
- Establishing perspective
- Factual understanding of risk
- Collection of objective evidence
- Allowance for the human elements including failings and foibles
- Questioning - What if?, Are we sure?
- Modeling
What you find in the end is that the journey that you are on in developing a process is a lot like all the others you have done through out your career. It is just the re-application of these tools along with perspective and experience. But the common thread in the journey as with most is that it all starts with the familiar question:
Wouldn't it be nice if we could....
Scope and Constraints