Real Process Improvement Using the CMMI

When all is said and done, and your organization has established objective, fact-based criteria for selecting a CMMI or process improvement consultant or tool vendor, the ultimate selection criteria will come down to an answer to the question, Who do you trust?

If you re in the process business, you have undoubtedly heard that one of the biggest barriers to organizational change and CMM- or CMMI-based process improvement is that the stakeholders don t walk the talk; that is to say the people who have the most interest in the success of process improvement don t exhibit the behaviors or beliefs which they say are critical to success.

The same is often true of process consultants and vendors . It is not at all hard to find out if a potential consultant or vendor really understands CMMI and process discipline: if they understand it and believe in it, then you will be able to observe them live and breathe CMMI practices in their work. People who have really internalized CMMI incorporate its tenets into their daily lives almost at an unconscious (institutionalized) level.

So, when it comes down to your organization s leadership figuring out who they trust among CMMI consultants or tool vendors, they might consider figuring out who among the candidate consultants walks the talk. Some questions you should try to answer are:

• Does the consultant gather requirements for work before proposing a solution? (REQM, RD)

• Does the consultant base estimates (e.g., proposals) on historical data using proven estimating methods ? (PP, GP 2.2)

• Does the consultant develop realistic and manageable plans for the work they are going to perform? (PP, GP 2.2)

• Does the consultant monitor, track, and report progress and status against the approved plans? (PMC, GP 2.7, GP 2.8, GP 2.10)

• Do the consultants manage the versions or configurations of their own work product? (CM, GP 2.6)

• Does the consultant establish forms of objective reviews of their work against their own processes? (PMC, GP 2.9)

• Does the consultant manage its own risks? (PP, PMC, RSKM)

• Do the consultants include in their decisions and work the people and groups who will be affected? (IPM, IT, OEI, GP 2.7)

• Does the consultant collect and use measures of the work they perform to improve their service to your organization? (MA, GP 3.2)

• Do they ever ask you what they re doing well and what they need to improve? (MA, GP 2.7, GP 3.2)