CMMI maturity level 2 and higher requires that organizations institutionalize processes so that in times of stress they are not discarded.

In an earlier post, I described how tools, such as integrated application life-cycle management (ALM) systems, and process and project portals, can substantially reduce the duration of appraisal process. Achieving institutionalization is another area where these tools are extremely beneficial.

First, ALM systems capture and automate many aspects of CMMI processes, hence, reducing the additional overhead imposed by CMMI related activities.  With minimal imposed overhead, there is much less incentives for the project team to discard the CMMI activities in times of stress.

Second, process and project portals, such as Osellus Process Central, substantially increase organization wide awareness of processes by providing central access to all organization’s standard set of processes (OSSP) and project-specific process, as well as, provide a forum where these processes are discussed by all.  Overtime, this result in processes becoming a part of the fabric of the organization and ingrained in project teams. It is unlikely that such teams would abandon processes in times of stress.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 at 8:11 pm and is filed under CMMI. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.