CMMI Assessments: Motivating Positive Change

Contents Foreword. Preface. Acknowledgments. About the Authors. 1. Why Do Assessments? What Assessments Do The Four Principal Functions of Assessments The Analytical Function of Assessments Assessments Function as Fulcrums of Positive Change Assessments Transform Organizations by the Way They Work Assessments Educate as They Analyze, Motivate, and Transform Why Gaming the Results of an Assessment Doesn't Help (Though Many Try) Can Assessments Really Change an Organization? A Preview of an Extended Case History to Be Found in Part 12 Bottom-Line Profit and Cost Numbers: Assessments Pay 2. A Brief History of Process Improvement Methodologies and Assessment Methods. The Beginnings of Modern Software Assessment Methodology The SEI Capability Maturity Model The Three Principal Advantages of a Modern Software Assessment over Traditional Manufacturing-Based Audit Procedures A Second Path Toward Software Process Improvement Assessments: The History of SO-9000-3, Bootstrap, SPICE, and the CMMI The CMMI: An Enlarged Structure and Scope A Hybrid Assessment Approach: The CMMI SCAMPI Informal or Reduced Assessments: Class B and Class C Assessments 3. Assessments: An Executive Overview. What Are a Senior Executive's Responsibilities? What Are the Phases of an Assessment? Cost: How Much Time and Effort Does an Assessment Require? 4. Planning and Preparing for an Assessment, Chapter 1: Senior Management Responsibilities. Selecting a Lead Assessor Determining the Business Goals and the Organizational and Reference Model Scope of the Assessment Choosing an Assessment Sponsor Establishing Appropriate Organizational Understanding 5. Planning and Preparing for an Assessment, Chapter 2: Choosing a Time. Formulating an Assessment Plan. Appointing an Organization Site Coordinator and Organizing Logistics. Choosing a Time for the Assessment The Assessment Plan Managing Logistics: Appointing an Organization Site Coordinator Assessment Readiness: When Is an Organization Ready for an Assessment? 6. Planning and Preparing for an Assessment, Chapter 3: Creating an Assessment Team. Selecting Projects to Be Assessed. Selecting People to Be Interviewed. Defining the Final Assessment Products. Distributing Questionnaires. Selecting the Assessment Team Selecting Projects to Be Assessed Selecting People to Be Interviewed Defining Final Assessment Products Distributing Questionnaires 7. Planning and Preparing for an Assessment, Chapter 4: Assessment Team Training and Post-Training Activities. Assessment Team Training The Assessment Team's Pre-Onsite Organization and Activities Preparing Organization Participants for What Is to Come 8. Onsite Activities, Chapter 1: The Kick-Off Meeting and Other Presentations. Collecting and Managing Documents Throughout the Assessment. Problems Associated with Immature Organizations. The Kick-Off Meeting and Other Presentations Collecting and Managing Documents Throughout the Assessment Problems Associated with an Immature Organization's Desire to "Do Well" on an Assessment 9. Onsite Activities, Chapter 2: Interviewing. Interviewing: An Overview Interviewing Dynamics Assessment Team Roles During the Interview The Stages of an Interview Note Taking Different Interviews for Different Jobholders 10. Onsite Activities, Chapter 3: The Day-to-Day Consolidation of Data. Consolidating Data: An Overview Team Members Take Notes and Prepare to Construct "Observations" About Questionnaires, Documentation Reviews, Presentations, and Interviews Transforming Notes into Observations How Consolidation Produces Day-to-Day Alterations in the Assessment Plan Consolidation Is a Consensus Process Warning: Consensus Must Not Be Deferred Until the Final Stages of an Assessment A Lurking Disaster to Consensus: Misunderstanding the Model The Special Requirements of the SCAMPI Consolidation Approach 11. The Final Stages of an Onsite Assessment: Summing Up and Presenting Results. Consolidating Draft Findings Draft Findings Meetings: An Overview The Team's Final Consolidation: Ratings, Including the Maturity Level Rating CMMI Continuous Model The Preparation of Final Findings Presenting Final Findings Informally to Senior Management (Optional) The Final Findings Presentation Post-Final Findings Executive Session (Optional) Assessment Wrap-Up 12. How to Use the Results of an Assessment Productively. Introduction: After an Assessment Who? (Who Drives a Disciplined Post-Assessment Plan? Who Makes It Work? ) When Should Post-Assessment Planning Begin? How Ambitious Should It Be? What Does a Post-Assessment Improvement Plan Look Like? How Should It Unfold? In What Spirit Should It Be Undertaken? After the Plan: Managing the Introduction of Improved Processes Creating, Tracking, and Implementing a Post-Assessment Plan for Process Improvement: A Step-by-Step Case History of How Organization Z Transformed Assessment Recommendations into Action Items, Implemented Improvements, and Conducted Subsequent Assessments and Improvement Cycles over a Four-Year Period References Index.