The problems encountered within the AirBus 400M program highlight the importance of deploying an effective infrastructure when developing high-integrity systems. The core of DO-178 is indeed really about:
the quality of artifacts (how good is a requirement/algorithm/test/etc.?)
the quality of relations between artifacts (can I justify the existence of an artifact by tracing it to other artifacts?)
the evidence a well-defined process has been followed (was I faithful to my plan?)
The major issue within DO-178 is thus to provide evidence of the points above at a reasonable cost.
The DO-178 standard enforces a requirement-driven process with a focus on verification activities: the connection with Test-Driven Development is thus evident, as explained in the Open-DO Concepts and Ideas.Â
So far, I’ve seen two major experiments to support lean and agile DO-178 certification/qualification.
The first is through the use of complete tools such as OSEE. OSEE is able to track each user activity along with the artifacts it involves: it is “basically” an Application Lifecycle Management System integrated with an Action Tracking System, an Automated Testing Framework, a Requirement Management System and advanced Version Control System. Evidence of the quality of artifacts and of their mutual relations is provided by checking that appropriate verification activities have been performed; on the other side, evidence that a given plan has been followed is provided by analyzing the flow of tracked actions against a user-defined workflow. OSEE has been extensively used at Boeing for the Apache Program.
An alternative approach can be applied for more lightweight processes, for example the qualification of a verification tool. We have been using an hacked version of FitNesse (a web-based tool for acceptance testing) to support:
requirements, test cases and (unit) tests management;
tracking of verification and quality assurance activities when needed.
We are able to track verification and quality assurance activities for each atomic artifact and we use our Version Control System to check that artifacts are modified following a precise order (a verification activity for a given artifact shall take place after the editing of the same artifact). This lightweight approach is effective, but so far we have applied it just for the qualification of verification tools.
Applying lean and agile methodologies to DO-178 certification/qualification requires investing on tools – but the reward is well worth the cost. What is your experience with this? Which tools do you use? Comments are welcome!
Here’s the fourth in a series of videos shot at the recent “Lean, Agile Approach to High-Integrity Software” Event. In this talk, Dave Jackson, Technical Delivery Manager
at Praxis, talks about how Praxis uses Lean thinking both inside and outside their company. Each week we will post a new talk from this event. Enjoy!
(Viewing tip: click the ‘HQ’ button on the video controller for better image quality, it helps a lot for the slides)
The talk is presented here is 4 parts.
Part 1 of 4To view parts 2-4 of this talk click the ‘Read More’ link just below… Read More »
Here’s the third in a series of videos shot at the recent “Lean, Agile Approach to High-Integrity Software” Event. In this talk, Emmanuel Chenu, software development coach at Thales Avionics, shares his experiences working with Agile development methods. Each week we will post a new talk from this event. Enjoy!
(Viewing tip: click the ‘HQ’ button on the video controller for better image quality, it helps a lot for the slides)
The talk is presented here is 4 parts.
Part 1 of 4To view parts 2-4 of this talk click the ‘Read More’ link just below… Read More »
Here’s the second in a series of videos shot at the recent “Lean, Agile Approach to High-Integrity Software” Event. In this talk, Jim Sutton, author of Lean Software Strategies and winner of the 2007 Shingo Prize presents a contrast and comparison of Lean and Agile methods. Each week we will post a new talk from this event. Enjoy!
(Viewing tip: click the ‘HQ’ button on the video controller for better image quality, it helps a lot for the slides)
The talk is presented here is 5 parts. You can also download the presentation slides if you want to follow along.
Part 1 of 5 To view parts 2-5 of this talk click the ‘Read More’ link just below… Read More »
The “Lean, Agile Approach to High-Integrity Software” event took place on March 26 at the Maison de la Chimie in Paris. In all, over 80 people joined us for a day dedicated to looking at ways in which Lean and Agile methods can (and are!) being used to develop software that requires certification – a very heavy process as many of you will know. The videos and slides from the workshop will be posted at a rate of 1 per week starting next week. Thanks to everyone that participated and made the day so valuable!
Here are the initial concepts and ideas behind the Open-DO initiative. Cyrille Comar gave this presentation at the Do-178C committee meeting in Cologne yesterday. It was a good crowd and a great presentation, lots of enthusiasm and excitement after. Thanks Cyrille!
Franco Gasperoni will be hosting an hour long masterclass dedicated to the Open-DO initiative at the upcoming Avionics event (March 11-12, 2009) in Amsterdam. In a talk written by Franco and Ryan Brooks from Boeing, he will look at the current software challenges facing avionics systems, the motivation for a communal Open-DO effort, how development and contributions to Open-DO could take place and will speculate on possible business models.
Read More »
This event in Paris will present real world examples that illustrate how ‘Lean Production’ concepts are being successfully applied to critical software development. In particular to applications that have to meet the highest levels of safety and security. The conference features a keynote from Lean guru Jim Sutton, Emmanuel Chenu from Thales, Alexandre Boutin from Yahoo, David Jackson from Praxis, and Roberto di Cosmo. Cyrille Comar will give the talk “Open DO: Towards a Lean Approach for Certification“.
To register for this event, please send an email to events@adacore.com.