Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
a few of the executives at this company also understood how the CMMI
could help them achieve their business goals by addressing known weak-
nesses within the company.
When this process improvement effort was initiated, the Vice President (VP)
of Engineering was adamant that any process changes resulting from the
effort must be clearly aligned with business goals. He knew the company
needed to make a number of very specific changes because the future needs
of his customers were changing. He also knew the right time to make these
changes was now when the company was successful, because if he waited
any longer the results would come too late.
To g e t t h e r i g h t p ro c e s s e ff o r t s s t a r t e d , h e t o l d s o m e o f h i s d i re c t o r s t h a t
when he looked at the company processes he couldn't tell anything about
what the company did. That comment led to a great deal of discussion as
to whether one should be able to tell what a company does just by looking
at its processes—and if so where in the process descriptions this should be
evident.
The VP also challenged the engineering organization with a series of ques-
tions. He asked:
• Why are our customers coming back to us now over the competition?
• What is the unique value this organization brings to its customers?
These questions led to an improved business value statement, which led to
more questions being asked by those reporting to the VP related to process
needs directly supporting customer value. The results of these discussions
were captured and communicated throughout the organization via a series
of presentations and open forum discussions deeper in the organization.
These presentations and discussions drove specific process improvement
actions that were reviewed prior to approval against the agreed-to current
business needs and future customer needs.
Understanding the changing business needs and resultant process needs
was not arrived at easily. Nevertheless, the investment in the time to allow
the people in the organization to attend presentations and discuss their real
process needs in light of the business direction and changing customer needs
helped the organization see clearly where they should spend their process
improvement dollars to best help achieve their goals. In this chapter, I share
specific process improvement efforts that resulted from this activity.
