What is the CMMI?

Written by Francis Dion


Continued from page 1

… Torepparttar quality assurance analysts: a. What isrepparttar 149270 object of Quality Assurance? b. How is it different from Quality Control? From Testing? c. Who, inrepparttar 149271 organization, knows aboutrepparttar 149272 Quality Assurance activities and results?

If people in your organization cannot answer these questions right away or if nobody knows what these roles are or who performs them, then your staff has an urgent need for some education in their respective trade. Why not start with a primer onrepparttar 149273 CMMI?

2. UNDERSTAND WHERE YOU STAND Are you doing better or worst than your peers and competitors?

When it comes to process improvement, are you "cutting edge" or a laggard organization?

How can you tell?

The CMMI is both complete and universally relevant, allowing for very precise and detailed benchmarking of process performance within as well as across organizations and industry segments.

3. GETTING A STRUCTURE, LOGICAL, TIME-PROVEN ROADMAP FOR IMPROVEMENT Rather than being a recipe to be followed blindly and faithfully,repparttar 149274 CMMI is a well-organized list of things that need to be taken care of in order to be systematically successful in your development projects. Aligning your improvement plan torepparttar 149275 CMMI levels ensures that you don't forget anything and effectively protects you fromrepparttar 149276 infamous "tunnel vision" effect.

4. POSITIONING YOURSELF AS A BEST-PRACTICE COMPANY If your organization develops products, you probably want your clients (be them internal or external) to look up to you as a disciplined, knowledgeable, reliable and trustworthy supplier. Adhering torepparttar 149277 principles and practices ofrepparttar 149278 CMMI will go a long way to achieve this, both in your clients' perceptions and in reality. Publicly committing to following repparttar 149279 CMMI is like saying "We will dorepparttar 149280 right things, and we will do them right".

CONCLUSION: Isrepparttar 149281 CMMI right for you? Unless you believe that common sense does not apply to your context, thenrepparttar 149282 CMMI is a powerful tool to guide your process improvements efforts. Whether yours is a mega-corporation with thousands of employees or a small outfit with just a handful of developers,repparttar 149283 CMMI can help you deliver better products faster.

Studies have shown that companies that invest 5% to 10% of their operating costs into process improvement typically experience a return on investment of 100%repparttar 149284 first year and upwards of 400% after 3 to 5 years. These returns on investments are based on reductions inrepparttar 149285 number of defects, faster time to market, improvements in estimation capabilities and better project control resulting in fewer schedule and cost overruns.

If you are underrepparttar 149286 impression that your company or organization is too small to benefit fromrepparttar 149287 CMMI, then consider this: Are you too small for your projects to be late? For your requirements to be vague and imprecise, resulting in a lot of rework and unsatisfied customer? Do you sometime worry that your team won't Be able to deliver in time forrepparttar 149288 next trade show, yet don't know how help them out? If you can relate to any of these situations, then look more closely into CMMI. It's no silver bullet, but you just might sleep better at night!

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For additional information: • The CMMI web site: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi • Some return on investment http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/00.reports/00sr003/00sr003chap02.html • Process Academy's web site: http://www.ProcessAcademy.ca

A PDF version of this article can be found at: http://www.dovico.com/documents/What-is-the-CMMI-process-improvement-v1-00-20030730.pdf

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Aboutrepparttar 149289 Author: Françis Dion is a software development and process improvement specialist. He is an authorized CMMI trainer as well as a certified process assessor and auditor. mailto:Francis.Dion@ProcessAcademy.ca.

Aboutrepparttar 149290 Sponsor: DOVICO Software has been a global market leader in timesheet and project tracking solutions since 1989, producing time related products that help clients attain CMMI standards. An example of such CMMI standards are Timing Devices through which end-users can track time associated withrepparttar 149291 phases they are in to meet PSP and/or TSP guidelines. To learn more about DOVICO's solutions, go to http://www.dovico.com

About the Author: Françis Dion is a software development and process improvement specialist. He is an authorized CMMI trainer as well as a certified process assessor and auditor. mailto:Francis.Dion@ProcessAcademy.ca.


Activities vs Results

Written by Graeme Nichol


Continued from page 1

Have you seen this in you company? I would be surprised if anyone says “No.”

So what can you do about it? LOTS. The most effective way to get RESULTS and not just activity is to ensure that everyone puts together an annual plan. The plan should outline what is expected of them forrepparttar year. It should also allow everyone to measure what is achieved against what was expected.

Annual planning should not be time consuming, it should take no more than a day to put together. For a straight forward role you should be able to put together a plan in a couple of hours. Atrepparttar 149185 end ofrepparttar 149186 process everyone should know what is expected of them and what they will be measured on. Hey presto you have a performance management tool as well!

To ensure success of your annual plans and ensure you get RESULTS out of your employees it is important that everyone updates their plan on a monthly basis. We have found time and again thatrepparttar 149187 best results are obtained when there is monthly follow up. This also need not be time consuming but it must be done.

Either put together your own annual planning process or use a simple and effective tool such as One Page Business Plan (www.onepagebusinessplan.com – takerepparttar 149188 system tour). We have been involved in business planning and project planning for many years. In every case results are improved whenrepparttar 149189 planning is done and followed up with on a regular basis.

Create effective and results driven plans.



Graeme Nichol (www.arcturusadvisors.com) has worked on four continents and 23 countires over the past 20 years. Graeme focuses on developing teams that produce results through being focused aligned, accountable and pulling in the same direction


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