Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
An example of a “must do” section in the design document template was
“Design Alternatives and Rationale for Decisions.”
Like most Agile organizations, good technical discussions were taking place
at white board sessions, but too often the
rationale behind decisions
was being
lost. Under the Technical Solution (TS) Process Area, SP 1.1 states:
Develop alternative solutions and selection criteria.
A question arises here:
Did the TS Working group at BOND require this section in the design tem-
plate just to satisfy this specific practice of the CMMI?
Hopefully, the answer is now evident to you that the CMMI was used to help
us ask a question with respect to what the organization felt was important,
and the conclusion was unanimous by the working group team that we
should capture our design decisions.
I have never run into an organization that didn't agree this was important,
but most often until organizations put this level of template and documented
process requirements in place, the personal discipline isn't there across the
organization to make this happen consistently.
I usually find examples where individuals are doing it already, but that is
because of their
personal process discipline
they brought to the job. As a result,
across the organization, consistency in this regard rarely exists prior to a seri-
ous CMMI process improvement effort. It is through aids such as design
templates that
CMMI helps Agile
organizations sustain their valued practices
through the stressful times.
5.26 Product and Process Quality Assurance
The purpose of Quality Assurance is frequently misunderstood. Because
“quality” is the responsibility of engineering, some believe additional prac-
tices addressing quality are not required. Others believe that the “quality
check” is where they are assured the product meets the requirements before
it goes out the door. Both these views miss the real purpose of the PPQA
process area in the CMMI model, which is to provide
objective insight
.
Organizations have multiple options in
how to
implement an effective PPQA
organization. BOND implemented one of the most unique and effective
