Engineers, Standards and Maintenance
by Ken Black
An engineer that can specify clear, concise and valid requirements is worth their weight in gold. Is this talent all science or is there some process involved? Military Standards And Specifications
The U.S. Department of Defense's decision last June to transition away from military standards and specifications to commercial versions is now old news.
This is good news but it could also be bad news. It is good news that the military establishment really can be flexible. The possible bad news is in the risk that many good standards and specifications will be thrown away - - - like the baby with the dirty bath water?
Part of the basis for this decision is the DOD's observation that the "Department of Defense Index of Specifications and Standards" contains 31,000 specifications and standards, of which many are obsolete.
While this is true, it is also true that it contains many government and nongovernment standards and commercial item descriptions, which are very effective and used every day by engineers throughout industry.
Instead of throwing it away and starting over, perhaps someone should have thought about cleaning the DODISS up. Better yet, why is a cleanup needed? What is the maintenance process? Who's in charge?
Everything changes, including standards. Standards that were the best yesterday may not be the best for today. Those best today may not be best tomorrow.
Ability to keep standards current (clear, concise and valid) will continue to be the major challenge.
Any standard, once created, must be maintained. Do first things first. CMII grads know what that is. Specifying clear, concise and valid requirements is what performance-based specifications are all about. Engineers used to do this routinely.
A performance-based specification can be interpreted as a way to tell (through documentation) a supplier what you want without telling them how to do it.
The process of telling suppliers what you want must include provisions for assuring that the results actually conform.
Conformance verification works both ways. Everybody wants it to be right the first time and every time. Evidence of conformance must satisfy both the supplier and the buyer. Sound like ISO 9000?
There are many ways to specify requirements. The engineer can "reinvent the wheel" with each new job, or the engineer may choose to reuse proven designs and/or processes.
The ability to reuse proven designs and processes depends on how well "standards" have been established and maintained. It has been said that "creative" people do not appreciate standards. On the other hand, it is said that the best engineers are those who take full advantage of standards.
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