The Cybernetics of enabling competence in people Competence building to ensure quality and productivity in people in Software Industries

This paper addresses a framework to build competence in associates for building software solutions in IT Industry. The need is to address the ever changing technology and business environments that drive this industry. Competence is thus not static and needs to constantly evolve with these changes. In order to address this model for competence building, cybernetics concepts and principles were used. The subsystems which comprise competence building are - the Problem domain, the people Capabilities and the Solution. The author looked at the interactions between these aspects. That Systems act as a whole, is a well know principle of Cybernetics. The system consisting of the problem, people capabilities and the solution is the whole. The many visible and invisible relationships between the parameters that constitute these parts is dynamic. In this paper, the author brings in the understanding of how the various interrelationships between the component parameters are understood. It explains how the ability can be built in the people to effectively deliver focused solutions. It also explains how good productivity and short induction times can be ensured. Further, it clarifies how this approach ensures high correlation between training performance and project performance. Attempts to understand and define ways of doing these effectively are detailed. Results of Pilot studies carried out are reported.