Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
3.22 Is the CMMI Measurement and Analysis Process Area
Inconsistent with the Agile Principle of Simplicity?
Referring back to the lesson of focusing on the “handful” of key priorities
that drive the business at LACM, this should not be interpreted as just affect-
ing a “handful” of people. Those handfuls of key priorities Senior
Management cared about translated into a
“
handful
”
of measures that were
reported at the periodic Senior Management briefs, but supporting that data
were measures that were being collected
deep into the organization
.
What is different is that through the improvement efforts at LACM, peo-
ple now understood how each measure at the lower levels supported a
higher-level business driver.
A question arises here:
Is there inconsistency between the idea of focusing on just a handful of key
priorities at any one time, and the CMMI Measurement and Analysis (MA)
Process Area?
If you read much of the popular literature on the CMMI, you might be led to
believe that when you use the CMMI, you will be forced to collect and man-
age as one text puts it:
A boatload of metrics.
The “boatload” of metrics perspective often results from process develop-
ment approaches that drive process definition to align physically with the
CMMI model. This in turn can lead to distinct measures associated with each
process area. This is not a requirement of the CMMI model, but rather an
implementation choice.
The CMMI MA Process Area does expect organizations to collect, analyze,
and store measurements, but doesn't dictate what those measurements need
to be or how they need to be stored or used. What it does say in SP 1.1 is that
organizations are expected to:
Establish… measurement objectives derived from… needs and objectives.
This decision is up to you. It is a choice every organization has, and the decision
should be made based on your business needs. Nothing in the CMMI Measure-
ment and Analysis Process Area (or in any other area of the CMMI model) is
inconsistent with the Agile principle of simplicity.
