Originally Posted by
tucumseh
Zulu
Thank you.
I have never criticised designers and, indeed, have supported them consistently in my many posts. If I caused confusion, I apologise. No designer is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. God knows I made a few howlers when I was one. But that is why the defences in depth (design reviews/configuration milestones) are mandated and I disagree with MoD's stated policy that they can be waived, at the whim of a non-engineer. It is a slightly different issue that he is also allowed to make a false declaration that they were held successfully, but I disagree with that as well. As always, I fully accept that many disagree with me, including the MAA and DE&S policy branch, but I'm glad you don't.
Thank you too. Your summary is spot on. Perhaps in future it might be preferable to use a term such as "design organisations" or "corporations" to differentiate between them and the poor s*d at the drawing board?
The business of "review held successfully" is a murky one: a review can be held during which a number of issues arise, items are minuted and actions/problems raised. Been there, done that.
Technically though, in accordance with the letter of the wording, the milestone of 'holding the review' has been met and typically a milestone staged payment is duly claimed by the supplier/design organisation.
Sadly, the fact that there are multiple outstanding issues doesn't stand in the way, and unless there's a robust way to capture those outstanding issues and ensure resolution, then the rot sets in from that point onwards.
On a number of occasions, whilst drawing up fairly large yet detailed project plans/estimates, I have been told to alter my wording from "Design Review Carried Out Successfully" or "Design Review Completed", to "Design Review Carried Out".
The nuance is, from a commercial viewpoint, quite clear....