ASPICE Literacy: Driving Quality Before Driving Cars 🏁
Before a car ever hits the road, its software travels a long and complex journey.
This journey of systems engineering involves multiple stakeholders — not just the OEM, but also Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers, consulting firms, and engineering service providers.
Cooperation flows across organizational borders, each player bringing their own strategies, priorities, and definitions of “quality”.
In this cross-company relay, alignment becomes more than a management buzzword — it’s a daily challenge.
The path to software quality in the automotive industry: a shared road. (Gemini generated image)
And in the automotive world, one framework keeps that journey safe, consistent, and predictable: Automotive SPICE (ASPICE).
With this new series, ASPICE Literacy, I’ll break down the standard into clear, practical insights — no jargon overload, no death-by-PDF/-PPT.
Why This Series?
After years in automotive software, I’ve noticed a few patterns that can’t be ignored:
1️⃣ High Team Turnover = Process Amnesia
The automotive industry sees a high fluctuation in team members — job changes, economic shake-ups, reorganizations. Knowledge walks out the door. Without established, consistent processes, each new arrival risks reinventing the wheel.
2️⃣ Education? Too Rare, Too Late
Standards like ASPICE, ISO 26262, ISO 9001, ISTQB are rarely taught proactively. Training costs time, money, and production hours, so most people learn either under pressure or in their free time. After a 9–10 hour day (plus commute), few have the energy left for self-study — and deep knowledge remains the exception.
3️⃣ Myths Multiply in the Dark
Where education is lacking, myths spread fast:
- “ASPICE is just documentation.”
- “ASPICE Maturity Level 3 means more templates.”
- “Testing alone will get us ASPICE compliant.”
These misconceptions make real process improvement harder. When misinformation spreads, management buy-in becomes a challenge, and finding people genuinely willing to learn becomes even harder — because effective learning requires a pre-judgement-free state of mind, something myths tend to erode before the first lesson even starts.
4️⃣ The Rise of the ‘Magic Elixir’ Consultant
Too often, ASPICE consulting turns into modern-day charlatanism.
A consultant shows up, sells a “shortcut to ASPICE maturity”, delivers a glossy report… and vanishes. Only later does the team realize there’s no magic elixir and no real shortcut to ASPICE maturity. When this reality sets in, the cycle often begins again: people jump ship, change positions or roles, and the hard-won knowledge is scattered — setting the stage for the next round of “quick fixes” that never fix anything.
From snake oil salesman to ASPICE consultant — some things never change (Gemini generated image)
The Goal of ASPICE Literacy
This series exists to strip away myths, guesswork, and snake oil — and replace them with practical, context-driven understanding of ASPICE.
We’ll explore:
- 🔍 What ASPICE really is (and isn’t)
- 🛠️ How it impacts day-to-day engineering
- 📈 Why it’s more than “compliance” — it’s a competitive advantage
- 💡 Practical tips to approach ASPICE compliance without slowing down innovation
Whether you’re a developer, tester, project manager, or just ASPICE-curious, this series will help you drive quality before driving cars. Because in the end, quality is built by people who understand the road they’re driving on.
Stay tuned for Episode 1: “What Exactly Is ASPICE?” 🚗💨
🔖 If you found this perspective helpful, follow me for more insights on software quality, testing strategies, and ASPICE in practice.
