Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
On DART, I assessed my Systems Engineering commitments to determine if I
could take on the additional Project Manager responsibilities. Looking back,
I believe I made the right choice in offering to help. However, I could have
made better choices in assessing priorities and reporting impacts. I allowed
myself to get caught up in the emotion of the project rather than use objective
data to make effective decisions.
How could the CMMI have helped me? Generic Practice 2.3 of the CMMI
states:
Provide adequate resources for performing the [fill in process area]…
Generic Practice 2.4 states:
Assign responsibility and authority for performing the process…
So how does one determine “adequate resources”?
Many organizations that use the CMMI address these practices by develop-
ing well-defined and documented roles and responsibilities. Individuals are
then assigned roles as part of the project planning process.
If I had reviewed a documented list of responsibilities for the Project Man-
ager role—especially a list that would have given me all the tasks Carl was
doing on the project—it would have helped me more objectively assess daily
priorities and tasks that might have been impacted.
To a s s e s s i n a n o b j e c t i v e w a y h o w l o n g a t a s k w i l l t a k e , y o u n e e d t o k n o w a l l
the pieces of the task. You need to know the attributes of the task. The CMMI
Project Planning Specific Practice 1.2 states:
Establish and maintain estimates of the attributes of the work products and
tasks.
I now think of a list of responsibilities as attributes of a task.
Often we don't think this way. However, if something is a responsibility, it
usually takes effort to carry it out, and therefore it is an attribute to consider
during an estimation process. A CMMI guideline tip states:
Consider providing guidelines on how to estimate the difficulty or complex-
ity of a task to improve estimation accuracy…
Judy Bamberger's five metrics would fit well as an example of such a guide-
line along with documented roles and responsibilities. Agile practices
encourage bottom-up team estimates. The CMMI can help by reminding us
