Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
3.23 How LACM Handled Measurement and Analysis
from the CMMI Perspective
At LACM, a measurement process was written based on the business needs of
the organization. That process was mandated by Senior Management for all
projects. To tailor this process required an exception by the vice president.
15
In most cases, I recommend that only “what you must do” and not “how you
do it” should be placed in nontailorable process assets. But there are certain
processes in an organization where it might make sense to mandate “how to”
information. This is because of culture and criticality to the business. Mea-
surement and analysis is a good example in many organizations where
mandating “how to” might make sense.
At LACM, this measurement process identified those handful of key priorities
based on the business needs, and identified related measures for each. LACM
had a very good reason for making this decision. By placing the measurement
process at the mandated level in the process assets, they were making it very
clear what measurement data needed to be collected, and ensured that no data
was being required organizationally to be collected that didn't have a purpose
and wasn't being used effectively. This mandate actually helped to maintain
the “lean” data collection strategy throughout the organization.
3.24 Summary
In the LACM case study, I have shared practical techniques proven to work
that are consistent with both the CMMI model and Agile principles to help
an organization achieve business objectives. These techniques are specifi-
cally oriented toward an organization that already has formal processes in
place and might have achieved a formal high CMMI rating.
But what if your organization doesn't yet have formal processes in place and
you are a growing successful Agile organization? You know you need some
increased formality because you also know your current processes won't
scale—but you also fear losing the culture that brought you the success you
have achieved to date. So what do you do?
15. We will discuss at greater length the structure of Organizational Process Assets in the next chapter on
the BOND case study, and Tailoring later in the topic in the GEAR case study in Chapter 7.
