Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
If I had involved Al earlier in the incremental planning to analyze those two
deferred subsystems, there is a good chance we would have recognized the
added risk in these systems and raised their priority earlier. This would have
given us more time to work this issue, by possibly acquiring additional
resources, which in turn could have led us to more accurate project reporting
earlier with a better overall project outcome.
CMMI Helping Agile Manage Scope
While the team members understood the value of managing a Product Back-
log and a Sprint Backlog, we had trouble keeping the real work we were
doing aligned with these lists. This was at least partially caused by not train-
ing all the team players, including Al and Mike, in the importance of the
Backlogs and how their collaboration activities should have been conducted.
We d e v e l o p e d t h e S c o p e d o c u m e n t t o h e l p u s m a n a g e t h e o v e r a l l p ro j e c t
requirements, but we failed to train the team members how to use it effec-
tively to bound their real work.
The CMMI contains a number of areas that could have helped us with this
challenge. First, the Requirements Development Process Area, SP 1.1 states:
Elicit stakeholder needs, expectations, constraints…
We d i d i m p l e m e n t p a r t o f t h i s p r a c t i c e t h ro u g h t h e S c o p e d o c u m e n t , b u t w e
fell short with respect to Generic Practice 2.5, which states:
Tr a i n t h e p e o p l e p e r f o r m i n g o r s u p p o r t i n g t h e r e q u i r e m e n t s d e v e l o p m e n t
process as needed.
This should have included Al and Mike because their collaboration activities
were a part of the requirements development process we were following. We
could have addressed this training need by taking the time to walk through
the Scope document with Mike and Al.
INSIGHT
Nothing in the CMMI says that training can't be informal and
just-in-time. This is often the most effective kind of training, especially
when first introducing an Agile approach in a traditional organization.
A related CMMI practice GP 2.7 states:
Identify and involve the relevant stakeholders of the requirements develop-
ment process as planned.
