Bringing Process Maturity to an R&D Culture - Integrating CMMI and Agile Development - page 190

7.34 Recommendations at GEAR: First Step Is, Define the
Rules
Before you can put an effective quality compliance program in place, you
need to know what you have to comply with. At GEAR, I recommended clar-
ifying rules first, which included the process “ must do's, ” and the template
minimums. Without these items, a PPQA group doesn't know what to look at
to determine compliance. The process rules must precede an effective PPQA
implementation.
7.35 Recommendations at GEAR: Second Step Is,
Compliance Checks
One of the principles of the Agile Manifesto states:
Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment
and support they need, and trust them to get the job done. 10
Part of the solution to noncompliance issues at BOND was to establish a very
clear set of checklist items where one could easily say yes or no for each item.
While the PPQA audits had a mentoring/helping feel, we taught the PPQA
team that it was still their responsibility to complete the checklist, and if
there was noncompliance, dates had to be set and agreed to for correction. It
was the responsibility of the person taking on the quality role to do follow-
up checks.
When issues weren't resolved in a timely fashion, a report to Senior Manage-
ment was required. Regardless of the culture created through your PPQA
group (mentor, police officer, or combination), there needs to be a well-
defined checklist of items, documentation of the results, and communication
of issues to higher management. These are expected practices within the
CMMI PPQA Process Area.
As the maturity of your organization grows, so should the items the PPQA
group audits for. The PPQA checklists should always be aligned with the
processes that have currently been deployed. In other words, both at BOND
and GEAR, as we incrementally rolled out new or improved processes and
10. Reference Appendix A, Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto .