Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
more project-specific information including the capabilities of the people cur-
rently assigned to the project. These Agile techniques can help a CMMI effort.
For example, refer to the Project Planning Process Area, SP 3.3, which states:
Obtain commitment from relevant stakeholders….
Agile approaches help to gain commitment of those who must perform, and
help us measure real work on projects more accurately. However, they don't
tend to provide much help when it comes to stepping back to ensure we have
the right measures across the organization and ensuring those measures are
aligned with measurement objectives derived from the organization's busi-
ness needs.
These are the strengths the CMMI Measurement and Analysis Process Area
can bring to help an Agile organization. The primary strength of Agile tech-
niques is at the project level. The CMMI ensures we are thinking about the
needs of the organization as well.
It is worth pointing out that you can evolve your measurement program as
BOND did. You can start with just a few focused measurement objectives
and a few key measures, and expand or modify them later as your business
needs evolve and change.
5.24 Training All Project Personnel in the Organization
When I say that the CMMI cares about the “what” and not the “how,” this is
not intended to imply you don't need effective
“
how-to” guidance. It means
that the CMMI is not dictating to organizations the
decisions
those organiza-
tions need to make related to the “how-to” practices. If the “how-to”
processes that work best in your organization are Agile, they will work for
the CMMI.
At BOND we recognized we needed “how-to” processes. We instituted a
next level of training at the technical leader level that discussed in greater
detail the Engineering Processes and the best “how-to” practices that were
being employed in the organization. Most of this information had been cap-
tured in engineering guidelines process assets. While they were the best
practices currently encouraged in the organization, projects were always
encouraged to consider new best practices and share their experiences with
the organization.
