9.9.1 Manufacturing Analysis and Assessment
Manufacturing analysis and assessment is not a military-only activity although it is certainly part of the release of any kind of system. In the automotive world, this analysis and assessment, as well as the execution of manufacturing
development and design, are explicitly part of the advanced product quality planning process.
9.9.2 Verification Analysis and Assessment
The manpower to execute verification analysis and assessment should use a TEMP (also known as the product backlog for verification). We see no reason why the scrum approach can’t be used to deal with verification analysis and assessment. As with any case where we use scrum in a military or government project, we will have to synchronize the actions of the scrum teams with any other teams that may be working on the project, and, as with the waterfall approach, it would probably be best if we held meetings to synchronize all the teams. Verification analysis and assessment occurs when we take the results of our design and operational test, and subject them to more sophisticated analyses than simply reporting results.
9.9.3 Deployment Analysis and Assessment
When we perform deployment analysis and assessment, we are taking a look at how the final product could be distributed to the end customers. With military projects, the deployment may be global. The same thing is certainly true of very large trans-national corporations and even some medium-size corporations in the global marketplace. We should also consider the need for spares, updates, and upgrades in our plans for deployment of the product. Again, scrum teams can certainly perform the execution phase of this task, particularly since we are talking about analysis and assessment and not a large-scale consumption of resources.
9.9.4 Operational Analysis and Assessment
Operational analysis and assessment will occur naturally if we are looking at the behavior of the product: the quality and the reliability. The same thing will occur with civilian companies and nonmilitary government agencies. We already use scrum teams to perform reliability analyses and we anticipate no significant issues when the same approach is applied to challenges with quality. Usually, operational analysis and assessment will lead to some modicum of corrective action, and, if we are truly proactive, will move toward preventive actions as well.
Whether the customer is a government agency or not is not really germane to this kind of analysis and assessment. What is germane is a rapid and complete response on the supplier or contractor side. It is bad enough that the customer al-ready has an issue with the product. If the contractor is truly proactive, they will already have a failure reporting and corrective action system in place with suit-able verification and validation built into the process. The failure reporting and corrective action system can be maintained by a scrum with a rolling product backlog.
9.9.5 Supportability Analysis and Assessment
The concept of supportability implies we have a product that will be available for a substantial time. In the commercial vehicle business, we often expect to support vehicles for at least twenty years with contractually defined service parts. If the commercial vehicles will be used in developing nations, we can expect the vehicle to last another ten years. Such is also the case with military programs; for example, the B-52 strategic bomber first rolled off the assembly line in 1954. That means we may have had some of the aircraft in the air in one form or another for fifty-five years! When we use parts for half a century, the idea of supportability analysis and assessment seems more important. We see no reason why the scrum approach cannot be used for this particular activity much as we have described its use with sustaining engineering. We expect the usual improvements or reporting, accelerated tempo, and prompt execution.
9.9.6 Training Analysis and Assessment
Training is an often-overlooked part of large programs. Not only do we need to analyze and assess what training must occur, but we must also analyze and assess the benefits we presumably received post-training. If we assume we are using subject matter experts as members of the team, a scrum team approach will work for training analysis and assessment.
9.9.7 Disposal Analysis and Assessment
With military products, we may have some problems related to the final disposition of the product. For example, if we are dealing with munitions, we have a responsibility to dispose of the product safely. With informational products such as computers and computer software, we can have security issues while trying to dispose of the product.
In general, specific rules apply to products that have security issues. Appropriate disposition will most likely require a team of subject matter experts. Once we have those experts, they can become members of the scrum team to execute the disposition of these dangerous products.
We don’t often see disposal analysis and assessment in civilian product develop-ment. It would be simple to task a scrum team with this action at the beginning of a project. Since we deal with vehicle electronics, many of which still contained lead-based solder joints, safe disposal has become a regulatory issue. Most electronic firms in North America are engaged in a shift from leaded to unleaded solder formulations.
9.9.8 Environmental Analysis and Impact Assessment
In some ways, environmental analysis and impact assessments are a superset of disposal analysis and assessment, particularly in the age of “green” initiatives. We will
need subject matter experts on our scrum teams in order to execute these analyses and assessments. Once subject matter experts have been secured, we can temporarily form a scrum team to execute the analyses and assessments. They can disband at the completion of the task and reform as needed on other projects.
9.9.9 Life Cycle Cost Analysis and Assessment
Life cycle cost analysis and assessment will most likely be performed by the financial function of the organization—in many cases, the accounting department or the finance directorate. In some cases, life cycle costing is primarily a reporting activity.
However, the finance team will also have some responsibility for projecting future costs, particularly for long-lived products.