Shiny slides. Flawless templates. Perfect metrics. Then the assessor asks: "Why is this done?" — silence. 🤐
🚫📊 Slides don't ship cars.
That silence is the PowerPoint Project in action: compliance staged as spectacle — a polished performance for the assessor that masks fragile engineering reality. Yet too often, organizations fall into the trap of not achieving ASPICE, but staging it. 🎭
🎭 The PowerPoint Project 🎪
The tragedy of ASPICE done wrong is that it becomes theater. Processes don't guide engineers; they're performed for assessors. 🎬
A PowerPoint Project is one where success is measured not by stable code, but by beautiful decks and curated artifacts. Engineers know the gap. They shake their heads as evidence folders swell during assessment week, only to vanish right after. 📈📉
This staged compliance creates a false sense of security. Everyone applauds the maturity rating while defects slip silently into the product. ⚠️🚗
Front stage perfection, backstage chaos — the essence of the PowerPoint Project. 🎪 (Gemini generated image)
🕳️ The System That Allows It 🎯
Why does staged compliance thrive? Because the system incentivizes it. 💸
1. The Perverse Incentive ⚖
Assessments are sampling exercises. They look at a slice of the project.
When leadership defines success as "a green rating" instead of "a robust system", teams learn to curate the slice, not fix the system.
👉 This is the ultimate consequence of the courage deficit from Episode 7. Without leadership willing to hear hard truths, optics become safer than honesty. 🛡️
2. The Consultant's Role 🤵
And where there's demand, there's supply.
🚨 Snake-Oil Alert: The "Assessment-Ready" Template Pack 🐍
Some consultants sell compliance-in-a-box: pre-filled templates, scripts for engineers, and evidence packs that impress assessors — but reflect nothing of reality.
This is purchased performance. A hollow compliance shell that passes the day but poisons the culture. 💊
📉 Case in Point ⚠️
A braking control module project spends three weeks crafting immaculate documents for an ASPICE assessment.
The module is rated "Mature." 🏆
Two months later, in vehicle testing, the module fails under corner-case conditions — the very scenarios the staged evidence conveniently avoided. 💥
The PowerPoint Project is not just wasteful. It's dangerous. It hides risks until they become system failures. 🚨
🚩 The Tell-Tale Signs 🔍
How can you recognize staged ASPICE success? Look for these red flags: 🚩
- The Evidence Mirage: 🏜️ Folders magically appear for assessment week, then evaporate.
- The Clone Army: 👥 Work products across projects look identical - template clones with no engineering fingerprint.
- The Zero-Variance Metric: 📊 Dashboards that report flawless perfection - because issues are suppressed, not solved.
- The Silent Engineer: 🤫 Team members can't explain the "why" of their process; they recite scripts instead of sharing insights.
- The Tailoring Black Hole: ⚫ Steps are skipped with vague justifications like "no time" or "no resources" — with no rationale or review.
If you see three or more of these, you're deep in PowerPoint territory. 🎯
Red flags everywhere — but only the green slide makes it to the boardroom. 📊❌ (Gemini generated image)
🛠️ Grounding ASPICE in Reality 💊
How do you fight staged compliance? By turning the assessment into a mirror, not a stage.
Here are practical moves: 🎯
- 🕵️ Audit the Audit Prep: Track time spent on assessment prep. If it spikes before audits, you have a problem.
- 📂 Check Artifact Provenance: Sample random files from live repos, not curated folders.
- 👥 Separate Storytellers: Have assessors speak with junior engineers without managers present.
- 🔀 Demand Random Sampling: Assessors should pick work items from the sprint backlog, not pre-selected artifacts.
- 🎯 Reward Gap-Finders: Publicly thank teams that raise inconsistencies. Make honesty safer than theater.
Healthy system vs. staged compliance — the audit prep spike tells the story. 📊✅❌ (Gemini generated image)
📝 A Short Note for Assessors 👨💼
Assessors are not immune. Integrity cuts both ways. ⚔️
If you only look at curated samples, you reward theater. If you probe across levels, sample randomly, and speak with those doing the work, you expose reality. That's when ASPICE becomes a tool for growth. 📈
✨ The Positive Twist 🔄
The PowerPoint Project is not just a nuisance; it's a wasted opportunity.
But a reality-grounded assessment? That's a mirror that accelerates growth. 🚀
The ROI isn't a green slide. It's predictable releases, fewer firefighting costs, and a reputation for integrity that wins contracts. 💰📈
Don't build a stage.
Build a car. 🚗✨
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