F.2.1. Introduction to the Tactical Plan
Note here that there will be several types of tactical plans and related guidelines. The con-tent of the plans for the process group and the steering committee will differ to some excon-tent from that of working groups in technical areas. Also, the plans for technical areas will con-tain material to use in creating a detailed operational plan for a specific improvement effort in that area.
There may be quite a few tactical plans and instantiations at the operational level. These need not be kept in one document. Each working group can maintain its own, keeping the technical library and process group informed of the date and location of the latest version.
The content of the tactical action plan is divided in two parts (refer to Figure 3-1 on page 30):
Part 1
•Working group charter.
•Plan for the review and selection of appropriate technology.
•Plan for the development of an operational plan template that supports the technology and transition approach.
Part 2
•Template for the operational plan.
•Guidelines and examples for completing the template.
•List of completed templates.
•Lessons learned from projects using these templates.
•List of contacts in the working group(s) and in projects with relevant experience.
F.2.2. Tactical Planning for Technical Working Groups F.2.2.1. Technical Working Group Charter
Reference the agenda item in the strategic plan that will be implemented by this working group.
List the working group’s responsibilities and functions. For technical working groups, these typically are (at a high level):
•Screening new technology, or technology new to this organization.
•Making recommendations on new technologies to pilot.
•Planning, in harmony with the process group, for the transition of new tech-nologies from evaluation to pilots to broad usage.
•Participating in outside working groups (professional society or industry).
•Attending conferences and workshops related to this technical area.
•Organizing workshops and seminars inside the organization to pass along high-lights and/or technical details about new technology.
•Contributing technical evaluations or trip reports to internal newsletters.
•Consulting with projects beginning to use a new technology in the working group’s area.
•Reviewing papers for internal and external conferences in related areas.
•Working with the process group to design plans for improvement projects re-lated to this technical area.
•Assisting with the execution and evaluation of these projects.
•Preparing templates to be used for operational plans, along with guidelines for and examples of their use.
Describe the level of management commitment to these functions. Note the name of the management sponsor(s) if other than the steering committee.
F.2.2.2. Template for Improvement Activity Plan
Note that this template is to be used to guide the development of a plan for a specific im-provement activity, and that each template will differ, depending on the technical and ad-ministrative aspects of the activity.
Most templates will have the following entries:
•Statement of why the particular organization is adopting a new technology or procedure, citing related policy and needs analysis activities and reports, noting goals and objectives, and describing criteria against which success will be measured.
•Description of the technology or procedure to be adopted, along with a list of reference material and sources of expertise.
•Description of any enabling technologies or procedures required.
•Description of the source of technology or procedure itself and attendant ser-vices, such as education or training, consultants, and installation.
•Description of purchase procedures for both the technology or procedure and any enabling technology or procedure.
•Description of plans for tailoring the technology or procedure, and the technical or administrative environment that will receive it, as well as related materials such as user documents.
•Description of plans for educating management and practitioners about the new technology or procedure and the reason for its adoption; description of related training for those who will need new skills.
•Description of technology selection procedure, if applicable (some working groups may select two or three suppliers for a particular technology).
•Description of how the improvement activity will be evaluated, and how status of both adoption and evaluation will be reported.
•Schedule of all the above activities and a list of responsible individuals.
F.2.2.3. Guidelines for Completing the Template
Write guidelines for completing the template (a good way to approach writing these is to do the first several plans without a template, derive the template, and then convert the lessons learned in writing the plans into guidelines). Refer to the sources listed below for completed templates that can be used as examples. Note the possibility of doing this work in an im-provement project planning workshop.
Because each improvement activity is a project, the IEEE Standard for Software Project Management [IEEE-PMP88] is a useful guideline for creating improvement activity plans.
All sections will not apply, but most will, and the use of this standard helps prevent omission of key information.
F.2.2.4. Example of Completed Templates
Include here at least one example of a completed template.
F.2.2.5. List of Completed Templates
List the locations of completed templates created by similar improvement project work.
F.2.2.6. Lessons from Experienced Projects
Include here (if brief, otherwise list sources) descriptions of lessons learned by others in the process of planning and executing improvement projects.
Provide a checklist of questions to answer to capture lessons learned from this improvement project.
F.2.2.7. List of Contacts
Project Contacts: List the names, phone numbers, and electronic and physical addresses of others who have participated in similar improvement efforts and who are willing to serve as resources.
Working Group Contacts: List the same for working group contacts who can provide exper-tise or services in this technical area.
F.2.2.8. Record of Working Group Meetings
Include dates, chairpersons, attendees, minutes.F.2.2.9. Record of Working Group Activities
Briefly summarize each activity—workshop, newsletter contribution, demonstration, seminar.
Note for each activity the date, attendees, and the agenda (if the activity was a meeting).
Note any future plans.