"ASPICE shows the cracks. Courage decides if you fix them — or paint over them."
The assessment is over. Results are in. 📊
The self-image many held — "we're doing fine" — just diverged violently from the mirror ASPICE held up. Some are still in shock. Others are already in damage-control mode.
At this moment, the spotlight moves to leadership. Because what happens next isn't about templates, or work products, or tailoring. It's about courage.
Courage to face the cracks in the walls and ask: are they just cosmetic, or do they expose shaky foundations? 🏚️
Without that courage at the top, ASPICE becomes theater. 🎭
Leadership decides whether ASPICE is a mirror for improvement or just stage lighting for a performance. (Gemini generated image)
🎭 The Illusion of Buy-In
On paper, management often loves ASPICE:
- Green dashboards. ✅
- Certificates on the wall.
- Steering committees full of slides.
But symbols aren't substance.
Lip service sounds like this:
"We want quality — but don't miss the deadline." ⏰
The outcome: a culture where theater flourishes. A developer learns to log a test as passed for a requirement never fully implemented — because raising a defect would "cause problems".
Lip service is not buy-in. (Gemini generated image)
⭕ Case in Point: The Hollow ASPICE Initiative
A classic scenario, seen in many companies: the assessment is over, results are in, and leadership steps in to reinterpret the pain away.
The Scene:
The assessment results meeting. Weaknesses are exposed. Ratings are lower than expected.
The Lines & The Translation:
- "We still deliver good software regardless of ASPICE results." → Classic minimization: refusing to confront that quality isn't as strong as assumed. Denying the relevance of ASPICE.
- "Do we even need architecture or detailed design?" 🏗️ → Classic short-termism: skipping rigor to deliver faster, at long-term cost.
- "Maybe we just go for low-hanging fruit to get higher ratings." 🍒 → Classic cosmetic compliance: gaming the assessment instead of fixing root causes.
These aren't isolated remarks — they are the classic refrain of leadership avoiding uncomfortable truths.
Cosmetic compliance never fixed a shaky foundation. (Gemini generated image)
🛡️ Why ASPICE Needs Courage at the Top
Real leadership buy-in isn't about budgets or dashboards — it's about courage:
- 🛑 Courage to say no: stop shipments when processes aren't followed.
- 🛡️ Courage to defend engineers: protect truth-tellers who escalate issues.
- 🛠️ Courage to fund the boring: reviews, tests, tool improvements.
- 🚩 Courage to accept bad news early: resist burying red flags under "green".
🤹 Classic Management Failure Modes
When courage is missing, familiar archetypes take the stage. Each looks convincing at first glance — but each quietly sabotages ASPICE from within.
- The Paper Tiger 🐅: Invests in glossy process documents but ignores execution — a facade of compliance that collapses in reality.
- The Deadline Dictator ⏰: Cuts corners under pressure, then blames engineers when ASPICE scores crash.
- The Outsourcing Optimist 🌍: Assumes suppliers will "handle ASPICE" without oversight.
- The Consultant Addict 💼: Buys glossy slideware instead of making structural changes.
Underlying all of them is a lack of trust in teams — as if engineers cannot be trusted to understand ASPICE without layers of theater above them.
Failure modes: different costumes, same play. (Gemini generated image)
✅ What Real Buy-In Looks Like
Real buy-in is visible, concrete, and behavioral:
👀 Leaders attend reviews and assessments — not just steering committees.
⏳ Resources are allocated: a percentage of sprint capacity is ringfenced for process and tooling.
🏆 Incentives are aligned: performance reviews reward long-term quality, not only short-term output.
🙋 Leaders model behavior: no "exceptions for me".
Buy-in means protecting truth-tellers, not punishing them. (Gemini generated image)
💰📈 Selling the Leadership Case
Why should leaders care? Because ASPICE courage pays off where it matters most:
- Predictability 📅: fewer late-stage surprises.
- Lower Total Cost 💰: catching defects early is exponentially cheaper.
- Reputation 🌟: quality becomes a brand advantage that survives beyond one project or one bonus cycle.
This isn't just a quality argument. It's a business argument. ⚖️
🚩 Closing Punchline
ASPICE fails without leadership courage.
Tailoring (Episode 6) and evidence (Episode 5) only work if management accepts the cost of honesty. Otherwise, projects drift into theater — the PowerPoint Project (Episode 8).
Leadership courage isn't measured in the color of your dashboard — it's measured in the number of times you chose a red flag today over a field failure tomorrow. 🚩
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