implementing 12207, or we're implementing 15504," and you say, "Well, what are your objectives?" And they look at you like you're from Mars. "Objectives? You need to have goals?" So I think that's a powerful piece there. Peter, do you…Tell us, where can we get more information on these six steps?
Peter: Good question, Carol. The steps that Stan outlined, he may have gone through and you may not have picked all of it up, so we have prepared a presentation that we've given to some groups. And it abbreviates the discussion of the six steps, Carol. And it's a PowerPoint presentation, and we'll be glad to send it to anyone who will send a request to Stan. His email is stanmagee@mtn.net. That's one way of getting more information. And of course, as we've already mentioned, the new handbook is being published in third quarter 2001, which will refer to what Stan has mentioned that's called SPICE, which is an interesting name, but more importantly, it's the 15504 standard.
Carol: Okay.
Peter: So those are two areas.
Carol: Now, if people go out to the 12207.com Web site, can they email you there, Stan, as well?
Stan: Yes, they can. Just click on my email address there, and just send it in, and we'll send out to you a copy of this PowerPoint presentation. And use it however you like.
Carol: And all they need to do is put in the subject line "six steps…"
Peter: "Six steps" is all you need to say - subject line "six steps" and it's on its way.
Carol: Great. Well, that's very generous of you. Stan, I know that you and Peter have found a lot of mistakes in going around the country and around the world, talking about standards, implementing standards, you see mistakes that companies commonly make. Can you just kind of highlight those for us?
Stan: Yes, the most common one is that the companies try to eat what I call the elephant in one big bite. They think that they're going to go out and buy 85 standards, pour a little bit of water on them, and they'll be installed within 48 hours.
Carol: Wouldn't that be nice?
Stan: You cannot do this. You have to have a well-disciplined plan, and you have to have a reasonable schedule. And it takes anywhere from 18 months to 24 months in order to install a good software engineering process standards program. The other common mistake, as you alluded to, that the companies do not have a clear business objective for implementing standards. Such as reducing cost, improving quality, etc. The companies…A lot of them find that they do not have the support of top management. And every time that the company gets into a budget squeeze, unless they have the support of top management, this is one of the first programs that will go. Companies a lot of times do not report the progress they are making in installing software engineering standards. And this is an important thing, important piece of information that must get to everybody in the company, from the CEO down to the receptionist at the desk. The other important thing is to have adequate training. This is one of the major problems, that unless you have adequate training for all people that are involved in using standards, you will have failure. You've got to train, train, train.
Carol: That means that I can't go out and buy a book of standards, and maybe just buy 20 copies, pass them around the office, and expect people to
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