We’ve been hosting informal digital get togethers, with old and new colleagues, industry contacts and really anyone who was up to sharing their views on translating the ISO 26262 into work products and processes. It has been quite interesting journey and while the community has been very keen in sharing solutions and lessons-learnt, they also did not hold back on what frustrates them most in every day work life. We listened, and then asked practitioners to rank certain issues.
Methodology
This is by no means an academic survey and the results should not be treated as such. What we actually did was to ask in an open environment during our meetings for people to write down what causes them a headache at work. We did this a few times between March – July 2021. We gathered more or less 150 responses. We took those responses and tried to find common themes, which we did. We then asked the same respondents as well as readers of our blog to rank them based on how much they affect them.
Here is what we learnt from 200 functional safety practitioners.
Issue #7 Relationship dynamics along the value chain
Put simply: In some situations customer – supplier communication issues exist and could potentially hinder compliance.
Issue #6 Tools
Put simply: There is a lack of good tools, integration of new tools and some really good ones have simply very high costs.
Issue #5 Completeness
Put simply: It is difficult to check for completeness and avoid duplication and contradictions.
Issue #4 Traceability and Consistency
Put simply: Beyond tools, it is difficult to manage conflicts.
we are almost at the “winners”…
Issue #3 Competence and Skills
Put simply: The lack of engagement and training internally in regards to safety.
Issue #2 Navigating Through Standards
Put simply: ISO 26262 is just one of too many standards with too many requirements, with some overlapping each other.
*drum rolls*
Issue #1 Internal Development Processes
Put simply: Product development always start earlier than the safety plan. Some teams work on silos.
So here you have it. We are confident the list is not exhaustive and some individuals experience some of these issues more than other and for you to be reading this, it means you are working hard to overcome them. Good luck and we hope to discuss more with you to the next meeting!