DO-178 is the primary document used by aviation certification authorities throughout the world. The document is used to assess the adequacy of practices used in developing software for commercial aircraft. Certification is a complex topic, described in the latest version of DO-178 as follows:

Legal recognition by the certification authority that a product, service, organization or person complies with the requirements. Such certification comprises the activity of technically checking the product, service, organization or person and the formal recognition of compliance with the applicable requirements by issue of a certificate, license, approval or other documents as required by national laws and procedures. In particular, certification of a product involves: (a) the process of assessing the design of a product to ensure that it complies with a set of standards applicable to that type of product so as to demonstrate an acceptable level of safety; (b) the process of assessing an individual product to ensure that it conforms with the certified type design; (c) the issuance of a certificate required by national laws to declare that compliance or conformity has been found with standards in accordance with items (a) or (b) above. Read more »

The Council of Engineering and Scientific Specialty Boards is an accreditor of accreditation boards, and serves as an aggregator of best practices for developing certification criteria for assessing the competencies of individuals within engineering and scientific. They have identified 4 criteria for such certifications (and implicitly, for competency measures in general):

1. They must be useful to constituents
2. They must differentiate what makes the competency distinct and important
3. They must be relevant to the work which must be performed and the outcomes which must be achieved
4. They must connect with what we experience as individuals

To be affordable and effective, any competency endeavor must therefore be supported with educational offerings that reliably deliver on multiple fronts, providing: Read more »

Organizations often pursue competency-based management techniques in efforts to understand and secure a competitive advantage within the markets which they serve. The competency assessments which are initiated by such organizations will only be useful if the structure, definition and effective application of the underlying elements of these competency assessments are sufficiently robust across an industry.

A guiding principle for such organizations is suggested by the Software Engineering Institute's value proposition for the CMMI:

The quality of a product is largely determined by the capability of the process which is designed to produce it, and the maturity of the organization in implementing that process.

In the Harvard Business Review, Sep / Oct98, Vol. 76, Issue 5, p131-143, Michael Goold and Andrew Campbell describe 5 underlying characteristics which successful synergy efforts have been succesfully built upon. They include: Read more »

In the article, “Desperately Seeking Synergy”, Harvard Business Review, Sep / Oct98, Vol. 76, Issue 5, p131-143, Michael Goold and Andrew Campbell draw attention to important cautions regarding broad-based synergy efforts:

In our years of research into corporate synergy, we have found that synergy initiatives often fall short of management's expectations. Some never get beyond a few perfunctory meetings. Others generate a quick burst of activity and then slowly peter out. Others become permanent corporate fixtures without ever fulfilling their original goals.

If the only drawbacks to such efforts were frustration and embarrassment, they might he viewed benignly as "learning experiences." But the pursuit of synergy often represents a major opportunity cost as well. It distracts managers' attention from the nuts and bolts of their businesses, and it crowds out other initiatives that might generate real benefits. Sometimes, the synergy programs actually backfire, eroding customer relationships, damaging brands, or undermining employee morale. Simply put, many synergy efforts end up destroying value rather than creating it. Read more »