Reaching the Peak of CMMI: How Fast Can You Climb?

By , PPQC

Though these Critical Success Factors were major contributors to the LG Insurance Sector’s success in rapidly achieving Maturity Level 5, it is vital to remember that any CMMI Implementation calls for a plan to coordinate resources; pilot the improvements; analyze the results; and successfully deploy the new and/or revised process assets. Planning is vital to the success of any process improvement endeavor. The LG Insurance Sector wrote and executed a series of plans that they quantitatively managed and clearly communicated the status to both management and project staff.

Based on the success of LG CNS and the LG Insurance Sector, here are some practical approaches that can help any organization.

1. If you have a good working relationship with your customer, get them involved in your process improvement program. Educate them on what you are trying to achieve. Get their input on your Process Goals and Objectives.
2. Management commitment is essential. Senior Management must be a strong advocate of process improvement and daily demonstrate their continued support. They need to clearly state their expectations and follow through on them.
3. Communication of all process improvement efforts is vital. Increase everyone’s awareness of your process improvement efforts. Let everyone know who is on the SEPG and their roles. Provide feedback on the results of submitted improvement proposals. The greater the visibility of your process improvements efforts, the greater the buy-in from the practitioners.
4. Encourage and engender process improvement as a life style. Everyone should feel personal ownership of process improvement.
5. And by all means have fun with your process improvement program. Pick a metaphor such as golf, baseball, or football and embrace it in every activity. Have an opening day ceremony. Play silly games integrating the metaphor with your efforts. Hand out little reminders, gifts, and rewards. Though this suggestion may sound dumb, it does have a positive effect.

It is possible to rapidly implement the CMMI and still comply with the expectations of each of the High Maturity Specific Practices. When you commit yourself to a rapid rise, it means focusing on the goal, providing dedicated and committed resources, leveraging the success of others, learning from your mistakes, and having strong management support throughout the chain of command.

Henry Schneider is the President and Senior Principal Consultant at Process and Product Quality Consulting, LLC. He has over 30 years experience in software and systems development as a developer, systems engineer, project manager, trainer, consultant, and assessor/appraiser (ISO 9000/TickIT, SW-CMM®, and CMMI®) working for clients in the commercial, government, aerospace, product software, automotive, data communications, telecommunications, and information technology sectors. Henry is a Software Engineering Institute authorized CMMI High Maturity Lead Appraiser and Intro to CMMI Instructor, former Vice President for the Society for Software Quality, and on the editorial review board for ASQ’s journal, Software Quality Professional.
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