Real Process Improvement Using the CMMI

Now that you ve read this chapter, you have hopefully learned some new ways to think about process definition. Maybe you have even challenged some of the perceptions or closely held beliefs you have had about how processes are designed, developed, and implemented.

Here s the summary checklist of do s and don ts to serve as a reminder of the major concepts presented in this chapter.

Do

• Make the process what people do.

• Plan process definition activity as you would any other aspect of the process improvement project.

• Realize that process definition is a significant and critical phase of CMMI-based process improvement. It is an area in which many organizations overrun process improvement budget and schedule.

• Establish the process improvement team such that its membership is somewhat fluid. Plan to bring different skills and knowledge onto the team at different times to have the skill and knowledge needed for a particular phase, task, or activity.

• Understand the skills and knowledge needed to do process definition work and make sure those people are involved in this work.

• Specifically and overtly define the words and phrases that will be used to define, design, and implement the organizational processes. As much as possible, build consensus understanding, if not concurrence, on these definitions.

• Plan and allocate time, money, and effort to designing the process assets before developing them.

• At a minimum, design the content, format, quality, intended environment, and use for the process assets.

• Make sure the process definition activities and work focuses on designing and developing process implementation assets such as job aids, templates, forms, and checklists. These things, more so than processes or procedures, are what helps people improve the way they work.

Don t

• Don t make the written document the process.

• Don t let people jump into creating processes, procedures, and process assets without first estimating and planning this phase of the process improvement project.

• Don t assume that the right people to manage the organization s overall process improvement program or CMMI program (i.e., SEPG) are necessarily the right set of skills and knowledge needed for process definition or other life cycle phases of the process improvement project.

• Never assume that people have the same meaning for commonly used words and phrases. Misunderstanding, if left to be perpetuated in the organization s processes, will result in significant waste and rework later on.

• Don t let the process focus and definition people deliver only processes and procedures. Not only will this not improve the organization s maturity or process capability, it will alienate the user community because it does not help them do their work more effectively and efficiently .