CMMI Improvement
For process improvement using CMMI: You need to define a process to collect measurement data at project level, organization level (DTT) and align them with the business of DTT (Goals & Objectives);
I like to see evidence of:
- The use of Quantitative Approach to Decision Making (Managers use metrics to make decisions – evidence meeting reports, project log book)
- Organization wide participation in standard process (Number of projects follow the standard process as defined by SQA & SEPG evidence – compliance metrics by SQA
- Usage of Organization Repository (How many projects contribute and use “Reuse” assets? (Code, templates, checklists etc. in the Process Asset Library (PAL) and used in projects;
- Implement Defect Prevention (Number of gate reviews, number of defect found and correct – evidence: Inspection reports by SQA;
- Increasing Visibility of “What We Do Best” The sharing of “Best practices” among projects and amount of reuse assets increase in repository over time (Productivity measures);
- Improvement in quality deliveries to customer (Number of Bugs, error reports, post release defects decrease over time and customer satisfaction moves up)
Questions in the CMMI assessment to people in your organizations
- Are there tangible incentives or rewards for successful process improvement? (Who receive what when they improve?)
- How much does the sharing of best practices help the progress of process improvement? (People or projects donate “Best practices” to organization repository” and number of reuse of these assets)
- Does senior management actively monitor the progress of process improvement? (How many times, where, what meeting? – evidence of meeting report)
- Is there a feeling among the staff that process improvement gets in the way of the real work? (Is it? How does manager communicate and explain to them)
- To what extent are process improvement goals clearly stated and well understood? (Communication issue)
- How would you characterize the organization’s staff time/resources dedicated to process improvement since the appraisal? Is SPI effort go up or down?)
- Has there been involvement of staff in the process improvement effort? (Do you rotate people in and out of SEPG to do SPI?)
- Have the people who are involved in process improvement been respected for their technical and management knowledge, and their ability to get things done?
- Has there been clear, compensated assignment of responsibilities for process improvement?
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
