| COTS Lessons Learned |
| Lesson Learned Statement |
Recommended action |
Date Added |
Details |
| Requirements drive selection criteria, especially initially. |
Compare the market against the requirements first. |
12/10/2003 |
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| Careful consideration must be given to the identification of selection criteria. |
Evaluate relationships between component and other subsystems; take into account demos and operational capabilities |
12/10/2003 |
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| Pilots and demonstrations are essential selection tools. |
Conduct pilots and demonstrations of all considered components |
12/10/2003 |
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| Product and technology maturity must be considered. |
Consider the maturity of the product, of the technology, and of the project personnel. |
12/10/2003 |
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| Avoid modification of COTS products, even with the vendor’s assistance. |
Do not buy the source code. |
12/10/2003 |
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| Naïveté is rampant and dangerous at all levels. |
Manage expectations well and stay alert for signs of failure |
12/10/2003 |
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| Effective teaming becomes even more important. |
Integrated Product Teams |
12/10/2003 |
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| There are real benefits to the use of COTS products. |
Don't give up |
12/10/2003 |
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| Management of expectations is critical. |
Make definitions and expectations clear up front |
12/10/2003 |
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| Technology capabilities can confuse program boundaries. |
Keep project scope clear |
12/10/2003 |
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| The evolutionary nature of COTS products has a profound impact on program cost, schedule, and risks. |
Make schedules very flexible and plan contingencies |
12/10/2003 |
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| In acquiring a COTS-based system, different techniques for estimating cost, schedule, and resources and assessing progress are needed. |
Estimate conservatively. |
12/10/2003 |
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| DoD regulations are not helpful when acquiring a COTS product. |
Reconsider the regulations to accommodate differences between COTS acquisition and software development |
12/10/2003 |
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| Managing in a COTS development environment is a new challenge. |
unknown |
12/10/2003 |
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| Requirements must be considered flexible, especially early in the acquisition of a COTS-based system. |
It is important to structure an acquisition to adequately define the requirements in the context of your business practices and the COTS marketplace. |
12/10/2003 |
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| Requirements need to be tightly controlled. |
Make it understood that new requirements will be incorporated only if they make commercial sense to the vendor. |
12/10/2003 |
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| CBS requirements must be managed in a consistent manner. |
Designate the requirements owners and put mechanisms in place for how new requirements are to be handled. |
12/10/2003 |
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| The use of COTS products has an impact on system architecture. |
Design an architecture that is flexible and makes requirements and constraints for COTS components explicit. |
12/10/2003 |
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| Document your CBS architecture well. |
Document the architecture well and pay attention to the needs of its users. |
12/10/2003 |
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| COTS products introduce a whole new set of configuration management (CM) challenges. |
Exercise as rigorous a CM policy as possible, and have conservative release estimates |
12/10/2003 |
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