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 A process may act as a guide for project teams based on accumulated best practices from experience, but it may also serve to ensure that essential procedures have been followed. These may be application security practices, corporate governance requirements, or procedures mandated by an engagement. With the advent of process automation, teams can move from costly audits to on-demand compliance reports generated from real enactment data.
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Organizations that have implemented formal software development processes understand that no single process is suitable for all projects. Deploying process that is inappropriate for the project characteristics can add friction during execution instead of serving to guide projects forward. In contrast, processes that are adapted for a project context serve as a catalyst to help teams meet their development goals and satisfy the underlying business objectives.
A large enterprise may employ numerous methodologies, frameworks and proprietary processes spread throughout the organization in disparate formats. To leverage this wealth of process assets, an organization may wish to unify them into a single process architecture where common assets can be shared and extended. A well planned architecture allows mandated activities and best practices to be disseminated amongst remote teams and enables intelligent specialization of content to provide project-ready processes.
Putting processes into practice has been the most challenging aspect of the process lifecycle. Creating processes that are appropriate for the project context is a significant step in making this transition easier, but the method of process delivery is equally crucial to unlocking the value of a process. With standardized process representation and increasingly powerful development toolsets, new possibilities for automated process enactment have emerged.
For processes to remain relevant to the dynamic and evolving challenges facing organizations, they must not only include the contributions of process engineers and subject matter experts, but also adapt to the experience gained from enacting real projects. Relevant processes are not written in stone, but rather evolve by allowing participants throughout in the process lifecycle to play a role in refining process assets to best serve the organization’s goals.