In the last few years I have had the.. (clearing throat)... "Opportunity"... to participate in the implementation and operation of several CMM/CMMI-based software engineering initiatives. And while I truly enjoyed the work, there were a few moments when I was about to jump off a roof. Conceptually, the processes espoused by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) make a lot of sense. However, there was one common scenario that I saw repeated again and again by a number of different organizations, which often lead to disaster. The issue?... The application of large project processes on small projects. No matter which standard you follow, at some point your organization is driven to implement a 'common' organizationally defined standard that is to be implemented across all projects. Here is where things start to fall apart in many environments. Unfortunately, when some process improvement teams, process assessors, and/or management teams hear 'common', they hear... "We need 'one' process that meets all KPAs and everyone must follow that 'one' process". Here is where I come in... After seeing this several times, it was time I took one for the team. To that end, I tried to evangelize some ideas throughout a number of different forums... Here is a sample of some of that work... I hope it serves someone well.
Process Considerations for Small Projects.pdf (421.59 kb)
Tags: processes