Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
By this time, I have in my notes a great deal of the information that describes
the process they actually do follow when doing their job. They, of course,
when asked that question assume I mean a documented process.
I assess what they tell me they do against the CMMI model, and against what-
ever written processes exist. I look at examples of the products they produce to
corroborate what they are telling me and what their documented processes say.
When I out-brief a client with strengths and weaknesses against each process
area of the CMMI model, each point I make is backed up with objective evi-
dence from what I heard in an interview and/or saw in documentation.
What I hear in interviews and see through documentation—along with my
own experience based on patterns I have seen in similar organizations—is
shared in my report and serves as the objective data that leads to my recom-
mendations. I always stress in my report that any weaknesses identified
against the CMMI model are “potential weaknesses” to the business.
My reports go much deeper with detailed examples than most traditional
gap analysis reports. This approach is counter to what is usually done partly
because of nonattribution concerns. It is important that I don't attribute spe-
cific findings to individuals in order to maintain an atmosphere in which
people are willing to talk openly about their jobs.
However, too often valuable findings are raised up to an abstract set of state-
ments leading to ultimate findings that become almost useless in helping the
organization focus on the specific priority improvements needed.
Furthermore, it has been my experience that when a gap analysis does not
provide specific examples with details backing up conclusions, Senior Man-
agers do not place much value in the report resulting in minimum value to
follow-on improvement efforts. See Table 4-1 for pros and cons of different
gap analysis approaches.
Table 4-1
Pros and Cons of Different Gap Analysis Approaches
Gap Analysis
Approach
Advantage
Disadvantage
Comment
Tr a d i t i o n a l
Learn “gaps” if
Don't gain insight
Behavior change
Documentation
you followed
into real processes
is the most
Focus
documented
followed by people
difficult process
processes
improvement
Continues
