- 4.1 What You Will Learn in This Chapter
- 4.2 BOND Case Study Background
- 4.3 What Is a Gap Analysis and Why Is It Crucial for Agile Organizations?
- 4.4 Keys to Conducting a Gap Analysis for an Agile Organization
- 4.5 Example of "Potential Weakness" Against CMMI in an Agile Organization
- 4.6 Running Process Improvement like a Project
- 4.7 TWG Approach for Agile Organizations
- 4.8 Revisiting the Goal and Challenges on the Process Improvement Project
- 4.9 Alternative Practices and Tailored Agile TWG
- 4.10 Returning to the Peer Review Example
- 4.11 Tailored TWG Techniques and Lessons at BOND
- 4.12 Preparation Work for Running Agile TWGs
- 4.13 Packaging of Processes
- 4.14 An Agile Organizational Process Asset Structure
- 4.15 Process Asset Guidelines Used at BOND
- 4.16 Different Organizations with Different Process Asset Structures
- 4.17 Agile TWG Roles and Responsibilities
- 4.18 Effective Techniques to Run an Agile TWG
- 4.19 Separating the TWG Work from the Lead Offline Work
- 4.20 What Do You Do When You Find a Gap?
- 4.21 Answers to Common Questions When Running an Agile TWG
- 4.22 Do I Need a DAR Process?
- 4.23 Do I Need to Verify Everything I Develop?
- 4.24 Do I Need to Make Sure the Steps in My Processes Are in the Right Order?
- 4.25 Do I Need to Make Sure Process Descriptions Are Not Redundant?
- 4.26 Can Requirements Be Captured in an Email or PowerPoint Slides?
- 4.27 Do Requirements Need to Be Captured in Single "Shall Statements"?
- 4.28 Formalizing Informality
- 4.29 Summary
- 4.30 Summary: How Agile Helps CMMI
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
4.2 BOND Case Study Background
In July 2007, I participated in a formal CMMI appraisal with the goal of achieving a full-staged (18 process areas) CMMI level 3 for a client I will refer to as BOND. I began helping this client years earlier when they had virtually no written processes, or training, and only 25 people. The company, which was started by two retired military men, had been rapidly growing at a rate of over 30 percent a year reaching over 150 people by the time of the 2007 appraisal.
The key challenge I was presented with at the onset was to help the organization add the needed process discipline the CMMI could bring to help them continue to manage their projects effectively as the organization grew. The owners also stressed the importance they placed on maintaining the successful Agile culture that they felt was an important component of their business success.
After I initially executed a gap analysis (I will explain what a gap analysis is shortly) against the CMM model for this organization in 2001, they attempted for a few years to move forward with their process initiative on their own, but were unsuccessful.
In 2003, I executed a second gap analysis (this time using the CMMI model). Subsequent to the presentation of my gap analysis findings to Senior Management, I was asked to become more involved in assisting the organization's process improvement effort.
They asked—as many clients do—if I had CMMI-compliant processes that could expedite their CMMI goals. I replied that I could help them develop their own processes addressing the areas the CMMI expected, and that I could share what I referred to as "starting point CMMI-based process templates." I also emphasized that we wouldn't achieve the goal they were searching for if we tried to use these process templates without taking the next important step. Now, let me explain what the next important step is and how we executed it to help BOND achieve their CMMI level 3 goal.