Agility and the Higher CMMI Level Practices - Integrating CMMI and Agile Development - page 29

Section I
Key Case Study Points
3.3 Case Study Background
Many years ago, I assisted LACM in a discussion of their business objectives,
and during that process, we used the Goal-Question-Metric (GQM) tech-
nique [13] to help align their measures with their objectives. The company
had standardized processes and training in place with a strong emphasis on
product baseline management with disciplined change approvals. Their
business objectives included increasing off-the-shelf product sales, reducing
unique customer customizations, and meeting cost and schedule commit-
ments. The natural question that arose was:
Are they achieving their business objectives?
While isolated success stories existed, most managers in the organization felt
they had fallen far short of their goal. As an example, it was not uncommon
in Senior Management reviews to hear words such as:
Why are we making all these unplanned and unbid changes?
This case is not unique. I have observed variations of this pattern in multiple
organizations. To help understand why these cases commonly occur, let us
start with measurement fundamentals.
3.4 Measurement Fundamentals
A fundamental purpose of measurement is “ To g u i d e m a n a g e m e n t d e c i s i o n -
making ” [14].
But how do we manage our measurements to facilitate their use in helping to
make more effective decisions?
A second question is:
What do we measure?
Wa t t s H u m p h re y i d e n t i f i e s a n u m b e r o f t y p e s o f m e a s u re s , i n c l u d i n g
process measures (e.g., defects by phase responsible), product measures
(e.g., defects by product component), and resource measures (e.g., hours to
fix a defect) [13]. But Watts also tells us that these are foundation measures that