Hello, This week, the IPPD leadership met with our Government customer and the c

Question

Hello,

This week, the IPPD leadership met with our Government customer and the conversation quickly turned to simplifying and speeding up our SOI delivery. Next thing you know, they're talking about consolidating milestones and shortening review periods for several "low complexity" deliverables. I was aghast!!!. I thought Systems Engineers always followed process?  

So I need a little career advice. If my boss asks me to help change our Systems Engineering processes just for this process, should I refuse? I mean, wouldn't changing these SE processes result in chaos for future projects?

I would appreciate it you would send me one or two succinct paragraphs with a recommendation regarding what I should do.

Thanks,

The Intern

Explanation / Answer

Dear Intern,

I understand your concern about the change of SE processes. Also, I agree that the shortening review periods and consolidating milestones might impact badly on the quality of the project delivered. However, from management perspective, business needs shall also be looked upon as to quickly deliver the project. This decision certainly would have been taken after lot many meetings, opposotions and agreements. So, it would not be easy to refuse the change if the decision is taken. You may try convincing your manager if this much work seems impossible or too much to handle. You may request for few more days or extra resources or help.

Try to explain your manager about the future chaos, probability of getting bugs later on and problem in the maintenance, overall quality of the code and the testing will suffer.

Direct refusal of any challenge in the workplace gives a negative impression and is not recommended. Just make sure to put all of your concerns to your immediate manager and see if he also considers this as a risk so that he can escalate it further. If he assures you of the possibility of completion without issues, well and good.

All the Best.

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