The subject of IT Accreditation and Process Improvement has been on the agenda for some time in Australia and the discussion has been largely carried by the Australian Computer Society (history). The funny thing is that apart from a few press articles here and there the discussion hasn’t really entered the conciousness of most in the ICT business.

Having said that, in the cloistered environment of the Australian .NET Mailing list there has been a healthy amount of discussion about the pros and cons of striving for accreditation in the ICT sector, in particular in software development. A second discussion has emerged regarding the benefits of ACS membership, but first let me discuss accreditation from my perspective.

1. Accreditation

A lot of the discussion has been stired up by articles in the press which point back to this policy document on Software Quality Accreditation. From reading the document (recommended) it seems that the ACS hangs the policy on three key areas:

• Software Assurance Models
• Product Testing and Standards
• Accreditation of ICT Professionals

1.1 Software Assurance Models

Under Software Assurance Models the ACS has enumerated a number of models that are in use today including ISO 9001:2000, CMMI and ISO 15504. Naturally you can’t just slap the logo up on your site and say you are compliant, there are training and auditing costs that need to be considered.

For large consultancies this could be a significant cost, especially since they would in theory need to train all their staff up, but for smaller firms which operate on smaller margins it could kill their business (the double whammy of lost revenue for training AND the cost of the training itself.

If I wanted to be alarmist I could argue that it would harm competition but there wasn’t really a lot of that to begin with. No – the really annoying thing is that despite the fan fare about software assurance models, customers are still hurting because those organisations which have been accredited still seem to be able to make a dogs breakfast out of software development engagements.

Now – assuming my criticism is fair, what is the point of accreditation from a customers perspective? The software still cost more, or was delivered late, or had bugs, but on top of that you also had the flow through costs of your supplier having to go through the accreditation wringer.

1.2 Product Testing and Standards

I like to collect off the cuff quotes from people which I find funny. One such remark was this that I got from a long time member of the ACS. I don’t think they took it all that seriously but there is a certain amount of truth in it.

“If something is worth doing, its worth doing badly.” – Identity protected.

In section 3.2 of the document linked to above the ACS makes mention of the role that product testing plays in software development. In principal I agree but its going to be hard to come up with any useful tool to test a product for compliance – especially when the target industry for the software is probably going to determine what is really meant by quality and fit for purpose.

I think that testing is about risk, pure and simple. Many (most!?!?) organisations skimp on their testing because they’ve made a business decision consciously or unconsciously to reduce spending and hope that they won’t run into costly problems. Personally I think that is short sighted but the fact remains that it is a business decision.

Rather than take this approach I would rather see the ACS directly approach business that is funding software development projects and encourage them to actively seek and recruit testers – but not just any testers, testers like this and this. The difference is that these kinds of individuals actually FIND bugs, rather than write about them. Maybe the ACS is already doing this – but I’d have to be a member to know.

1.3 Accreditation of ICT Professionals

For individuals, section 3.3 of the policy document is probably of the most relevance. Unfortunately like the other sections there isn’t a lot of specific detail (1 page total) about what they propose although they do indicate that they feel that education based certification is part of the picture.

I feel that in general certification to date as failed to deliver true risk reduction to businesses engaging ICT professionals, so if that is part of the overall ACS strategy I fear that it will be ineffective. Ultimately however the success of the ACS policy depends on the consumers of ICT services. If the ACS set a useful benchmark then about 90% of ICT professionals would probably fail to meet it, and when those kinds of numbers are involved the population doesn’t rise to meet the bar, the bar gets lowered.

The reality is that successful IT organisations all share one thing in common – good hiring practices. Knowing how to hire good people is a competitive advantage for IT organisations and a hiring manager is about as unlikely to share that information outside the firewall as KFC is going to print the secret herbs and spaces on their napkins.

One thing that the policy did point out however is the importance of a Code of Ethics. But once again its one of those things that you’ve either got or you don’t, and ultimately if its not part of your make up then you’ll either end up fired, or CEO of a large multinational

2. ACS Membership

One of the splinter discussions that was raised out of the topic of IT Accreditation was the value proposition of ACS membership. First, let me state that a number of people that I admire greatly are members of ACS and I feel that the ACS is lucky to have them in their number, although that is probably not the way that they would put it.

The e-mail that sparked this entry was posted by Peter Griffith, although I believe it was contributed to by many at the ACS. Peter mounts a compelling case for ACS membership, and I am tempted to look at membership, but it costs a lot of money. I came close to joining the ACS when I went to a technical conference in Brisbane. But lets look at the benefits now.

2.1 Networking

This is certainly an important aspect of any community involvement, and as a former user group leader I can attest to its value. However even Peter makes the point that this benefit is what you make of it. I would like to think that an individual can create networking opportunities by themselves – mind you it can’t hurt to have more raw connections. Rather than listing out the various areas that you can get involved I’d love to hear more about in what capacity you get involved.

For example, in the technology areas if I chose to get interested in AI then is there a register of people I could get in contact with who could mentor me in obtaining a basic understanding, in what way is this better than the resources at my disposal via Google. How is the significant time I spend doing personal research into all aspects of IT recognised in the ACS so I can be graded?

2.2 Professional Development

I think that CMACS is where ACS could provide the most value to an professional who is already working in the industry. However it is important to note that there is an enrollment fee of $925 per subject even when you are already a member so I find it hard to see it as a true benefit of membership, more like a discount.

Having said that, I recognise the cost associated with production and delivery of high quality training material and I acknowledge that as a professional organisation the material may be more relevant to me as a professional than say a university course.

2.3 Publications

I actually had a browse through two of the specific resources that Peter mentioned. The “Journal of Research and Practice in Information Technology” and “Information Age”. Information Age read a bit like your typical IT magazine (thats probably intentional), but I found JRPIT to be quire interesting – the kind of depth I could get into (actually I plan to read through quite a few of the papers there over the next few weeks).

The proposed benefit here however is that you could possibly get your papers published – although these days I find it hard to think why I would do that versus spew the content out onto my blog, and given that just about anyone can create a blog these days and have it indexed by Google – what is the true benefit? Peer review?

2.4 Other Benefits

Some other benefits were listed, although they represent great value for money the are certainly secondary to the above.

3. Summary

Well, this has certainly been a long blog post. On the subject of accreditation I think that the ACS has some ways to go before they convince me that what they propose is a good idea. I would be much more receptive to them producing programmes for business leaders to help them understand some of the things THEY can do to improve their use of ICT.

On the subject of ACS membership – I would love to become a member of the ACS, but it is a lot of money to part with to do things that I think I might be able to do myself. The CMACS course fees were particularly disappointing – although I understand why they are so high.

Peter – thanks for going to all the effort to produce the value proposition, if the aus-dotnet archives had indexed that far I would have provided a direct link to your post. I would also like to extend an offer to you to reply to the points that I have raised – if you have a blog or website that you can post it on I will link to it, or alternatively you can e-mail your reply to me and I will post it here.

I think its a healthy discussion.