The document discusses how applying systems thinking concepts can help address common problems that arise when using process improvement frameworks like CMM and CMMI. It describes two systems archetypes - "fixes that backfire" and "shifting the burden" - that are useful for understanding issues. For the "fixes that backfire" archetype, it provides examples of how overfocusing on maturity levels or process for its own sake can unintentionally worsen problems. Addressing only surface issues without a deep understanding of the root causes can lead to negative long-term consequences.
This document summarizes the challenges organizations face in implementing process improvement programs. It presents a causal loop diagram that shows how:
1) Efforts to improve process capability (working smarter) are undermined as organizations rely on increasing worker effort (working harder) to close performance gaps.
2) Increasing pressure to meet performance targets leads workers to spend less time on improvement activities and more time on direct work.
3) This sets up a reinforcing feedback loop where working harder becomes the norm rather than an occasional response, preventing organizations from fully benefiting from process improvement efforts.
Software process improvement ten traps to avoidbabak danyal
This document describes 10 common traps that can undermine software process improvement programs. It discusses issues such as lack of management commitment, unrealistic expectations, failure to implement action plans, and focusing too much on achieving a specific CMM level rather than business goals. It provides symptoms and solutions for each trap, emphasizing the importance of training, treating improvement as projects, and not expecting defined processes alone to make people interchangeable. The overall goal is to help organizations successfully improve their software processes and development capabilities.
This document discusses blending agile development methods with the CMMI framework. It begins by outlining two common myths about agile development and CMMI - that agile is undisciplined and CMMI is outdated. The document argues that with the right understanding, agile and CMMI can be philosophically compatible. It then provides an overview of agile methods like Extreme Programming and Scrum and the goals of CMMI. The rest of the document discusses how to map agile practices to CMMI process areas and provides examples of how an XP-inspired process could fulfill the requirements of CMMI level 2 processes like requirements management and project planning. It cautions that this mapping represents a minimum effort
How to Implement a Manufacturing SystemSania Baker
* Assemble the Project Team and Leader
* Define Your Business “Pain” and Why It Exists
* Define System Scope and Implementation Phases
* Gather and Define System Requirements
* Structure the Implementation and Prepare for Change
* Prepare People
* Data Integrity and Migration
* Test the System
* Run and Refine the System
* Don’t Implement without Them
http://www.mrpconsulting.com/methodology/process.html
The document discusses three options for an organization's content management integration strategy for 2015-2016: 1) Allow systems to grow organically and risk increased silos and inefficiencies, 2) Replace all systems with a single vendor solution at high financial and operational risk, or 3) Take a federated approach to integrate existing systems. The federated approach involves less risk but requires analyzing and integrating disparate systems. It recommends using the Qtility MOVE tool to help integrate systems by automating migrations and enabling search, records management, and compliance across systems.
If employees at all levels do not accept the new system and believe that it will have a positive effect, morale and productivity are likely to be affected. In general, lack of communication is one of the biggest barriers to buying.
CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) is a process improvement standard developed by Carnegie Mellon University to guide organizations towards improving their processes. It provides guidelines for process improvement, an integrated approach, and a phased approach. CMMI defines five maturity levels for processes, from initial to optimized. Adopting CMMI helps organizations improve consistency, reduce errors, and align processes with stakeholder needs. CMMI models include CMMI for Development, Services, and Acquisition to improve products, services, and acquisitions. While ISO focuses on processes, CMMI measures process quality and provides best practices.
Helping you to Understand Maintenance Management SoftwareChris Lee
This document provides guidance on selecting, purchasing, and implementing a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) or computer-aided facilities management (CAFM) software solution. It outlines the importance of thorough planning, including defining requirements and goals, identifying stakeholders, and creating an implementation plan. The document also describes different types of software options and factors to consider when evaluating vendors. The goal is to help readers navigate this process to prevent costly mistakes and ensure the system's success.
This document summarizes the challenges organizations face in implementing process improvement programs. It presents a causal loop diagram that shows how:
1) Efforts to improve process capability (working smarter) are undermined as organizations rely on increasing worker effort (working harder) to close performance gaps.
2) Increasing pressure to meet performance targets leads workers to spend less time on improvement activities and more time on direct work.
3) This sets up a reinforcing feedback loop where working harder becomes the norm rather than an occasional response, preventing organizations from fully benefiting from process improvement efforts.
Software process improvement ten traps to avoidbabak danyal
This document describes 10 common traps that can undermine software process improvement programs. It discusses issues such as lack of management commitment, unrealistic expectations, failure to implement action plans, and focusing too much on achieving a specific CMM level rather than business goals. It provides symptoms and solutions for each trap, emphasizing the importance of training, treating improvement as projects, and not expecting defined processes alone to make people interchangeable. The overall goal is to help organizations successfully improve their software processes and development capabilities.
This document discusses blending agile development methods with the CMMI framework. It begins by outlining two common myths about agile development and CMMI - that agile is undisciplined and CMMI is outdated. The document argues that with the right understanding, agile and CMMI can be philosophically compatible. It then provides an overview of agile methods like Extreme Programming and Scrum and the goals of CMMI. The rest of the document discusses how to map agile practices to CMMI process areas and provides examples of how an XP-inspired process could fulfill the requirements of CMMI level 2 processes like requirements management and project planning. It cautions that this mapping represents a minimum effort
How to Implement a Manufacturing SystemSania Baker
* Assemble the Project Team and Leader
* Define Your Business “Pain” and Why It Exists
* Define System Scope and Implementation Phases
* Gather and Define System Requirements
* Structure the Implementation and Prepare for Change
* Prepare People
* Data Integrity and Migration
* Test the System
* Run and Refine the System
* Don’t Implement without Them
http://www.mrpconsulting.com/methodology/process.html
The document discusses three options for an organization's content management integration strategy for 2015-2016: 1) Allow systems to grow organically and risk increased silos and inefficiencies, 2) Replace all systems with a single vendor solution at high financial and operational risk, or 3) Take a federated approach to integrate existing systems. The federated approach involves less risk but requires analyzing and integrating disparate systems. It recommends using the Qtility MOVE tool to help integrate systems by automating migrations and enabling search, records management, and compliance across systems.
If employees at all levels do not accept the new system and believe that it will have a positive effect, morale and productivity are likely to be affected. In general, lack of communication is one of the biggest barriers to buying.
CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) is a process improvement standard developed by Carnegie Mellon University to guide organizations towards improving their processes. It provides guidelines for process improvement, an integrated approach, and a phased approach. CMMI defines five maturity levels for processes, from initial to optimized. Adopting CMMI helps organizations improve consistency, reduce errors, and align processes with stakeholder needs. CMMI models include CMMI for Development, Services, and Acquisition to improve products, services, and acquisitions. While ISO focuses on processes, CMMI measures process quality and provides best practices.
Helping you to Understand Maintenance Management SoftwareChris Lee
This document provides guidance on selecting, purchasing, and implementing a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) or computer-aided facilities management (CAFM) software solution. It outlines the importance of thorough planning, including defining requirements and goals, identifying stakeholders, and creating an implementation plan. The document also describes different types of software options and factors to consider when evaluating vendors. The goal is to help readers navigate this process to prevent costly mistakes and ensure the system's success.
Systematic is a software company established in 1985 with over 500 employees worldwide. It focuses on complex IT solutions that are often mission critical. The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is a process model that provides definitions for what organizations should do to improve performance. It contains five maturity levels and defines important elements required to build great products and services. Assessments using the CMMI help organizations analyze themselves, initiate positive change, transform how they work, and educate them on best practices worldwide.
The document discusses troubleshooting systems and how organizations can improve them to reduce issue resolution times. It describes the key elements of an effective troubleshooting system as the system itself for coordinating problem solving, reactive and proactive troubleshooting processes, and reusable troubleshooting knowledge. An effective system logs issues, prioritizes them, allocates resources, tracks progress, conducts analyses, and provides recognition. With a good system, problems can be resolved quickly and often prevented from occurring in the first place.
Apply Strategic Plan EvaluationRefer back to the Week 2 compa.docxjewisonantone
Apply: Strategic Plan Evaluation
Refer back to the Week 2 company, Hoosier Media, Inc. Your consulting firm is now ready to present suggestions regarding the strategic plan of Hoosier Media, Inc.
In a 10- to 20-slide presentation with speaker notes, address the following which will be presented to the Director of Marketing:
· The best possible options for evaluating a strategic plan
· Corrective actions that should be taken to ensure company operations are correctly aligned with the strategic plan
Include the following in your presentation:
· How should the company measure organizational performance?
· How will the company examine what progress is being made toward the stated objectives?
· What criteria will be used when determining whether company objectives are measurable and verifiable?
· Based on your knowledge of the company, what changes should be made to reposition Hoosier Media competitively for the future?
Research and find 2-3 topics in current news/events
and be prepared to explain the event/news item and its relationship to
the material that we have covered in the course.
You should review papers, magazines and news feeds
to bring potential items for the group to discuss and decide on the
topics. You should then put together a slide on each item which
describes the event and demonstrates how it would impact strategic
management planning processes.
Six Sigma
The term Six Sigma, popularized by Motorola, Honeywell, and General Electric, has two meanings in TQM. In a statistical sense, it describes a process, product, or service with an extremely high capability (99.9997% accuracy). For example, if 1 million passengers pass through the St. Louis Airport with checked baggage each month, a Six Sigma program for baggage handling will result in only 3.4 passengers with misplaced luggage. The more common three-sigma program (which we address in the supplement to this chapter) would result in 2,700 passengers with misplaced bags every month. See Figure 6.4.
Six Sigma
A program to save time, improve quality, and lower costs.
The second TQM definition of Six Sigma is a program designed to reduce defects to help lower costs, save time, and improve customer satisfaction. Six Sigma is a comprehensive system—a strategy, a discipline, and a set of tools—for achieving and sustaining business success:
1. LO 6.3Explain Six Sigma
· It is a strategy because it focuses on total customer satisfaction.
· It is a discipline because it follows the formal Six Sigma Improvement Model known as DMAIC. This five-step process improvement model (1) Defines the project’s purpose, scope, and outputs and then identifies the required process information, keeping in mind the customer’s definition of quality; (2) Measures the process and collects data; (3) Analyzes the data, ensuring repeatability (the results can be duplicated) and reproducibility (others get the same result); (4) Improves, by modifying or redesigning, existing processes and procedures; a.
Enterprise Project and Portfolio Management: Managing the RevolutionUMT
This document discusses strategies for successfully implementing enterprise project and portfolio management (EPPM) frameworks in large, global organizations. It identifies common challenges such as scale, incomplete solutions, political governance issues, and lack of standardized metrics. The document recommends 12 principles for EPPM implementation, including securing senior management sponsorship, identifying clear objectives, employing a phased approach, leveraging pilots, implementing change management, including financial analysis, consolidating systems, and conducting ongoing analysis. Case studies and examples are provided for each principle to illustrate proven strategies. The overall goal is to provide guidance for organizations navigating the complexities of implementing comprehensive EPPM on an enterprise-wide scale.
Simplifying Model-Based Systems Engineering - an Implementation Journey White...Alex Rétif
Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is perhaps one of the most misunderstood and often abused acronyms in the engineering vernacular. Many companies struggle to understand how it will improve their entire product life-cycle and address the ever-increasing complexity of products. In many companies, executives and middle management experience a lack of understanding regarding the rapid pace of today’s technology and its impact on organizations and processes. Technical practitioners may gain additional insight as they focus their energies on establishing strong MBSE practices. The successful implementation of MBSE includes transformations and enhancements in three key areas: organization, process and technology. This white paper shares proper planning and implementation considerations in adopting an MBSE practice. It provides a high-level view, defines critical components to help success and identifies many problematic areas to avoid in an implementation journey.
Creating Optimized Business Relationships - Article #1Lawrence Dillon
This document summarizes an article about creating optimized business relationships between IT departments and business units. It discusses how business units currently drive isolated technology development, leading to redundant systems. The document advocates for a partnered approach where shared business processes across units leverage single, standardized technology components maintained centrally. Business units could then customize components for unique needs. This balances centralized efficiencies with flexibility for individual units.
Mustafa Degerli - 2013 - SDPS-2013 Proceeding - More about the High-Maturity ...Dr. Mustafa Değerli
Mustafa Degerli - 2013 -More about the High-Maturity for Business Processes: Certain Distilled Practical Implications. Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Transformative Research in Science, Engineering, and Business Innovation (SDPS 2013)
Blytheco’s Business Process Optimization is an effective tool for keeping your company’s technology in tune with your goals. The Business Process Optimization service allows us to understand your business, so that we may help you do your job better, faster, easier, and more effectively.
We can help you give your business system a “tune-up” and help you evolve as your goals and environment adapt to changing business realities by identifying inefficiencies in current processes and offering cost-effective options to maximize your technology investment.
This article looks at the decisions organizations make and what they do as they move up the scale in requirements management maturity (RMM).
Just as hiking up a mountain has a cost (in energy and time), so does this climb upward. Therefore, as we look at the benefits of reaching higher levels of maturity, we will not ignore the investment required in terms of time, effort, and money. In addition, we will analyze how automated requirements management (RM) tools can help support organizations striving for greater RM maturity.
The document discusses implementing an integrated management system that combines quality, safety, and environmental standards into a single system. It proposes a model with the following elements:
1) Developing an integrated policy covering quality, safety, and environment.
2) Planning the system through identifying requirements, risks, objectives, resources, roles, and processes.
3) Implementing and operating the system through documentation, communication, operational control, training, and supplier management.
4) Assessing performance through monitoring, measurement, audits, and handling non-conformities.
5) Improving the system through corrective actions, preventative actions, and continual improvement based on performance assessment.
The document
Old Article I wrote while with Ingersoll Engineers
The original article is a White Paper and is 12 pages.
This is the Readers Digest Version
Todd McCann
8 steps to Successful Accounts System Selection - Xledger WhitepaperXledger UK
Looking at a new Finance or Accounts system?
Perhaps your current system is no longer supported or your business has simply outgrown it and needs something more suitable to support future growth.
What steps can you take to ensure your business makes the right choice and derives all the business benefits associated with a modern finance system?
With over 6,000 successful accounts system implementations behind us we outline our 8 Steps to Successful System Selection.
If you long for greater agility in your process-oriented or CMMI world, this session is for you. Paul McMahon shares how organizations can integrate agile approaches with CMMI and its key process area requirements. He discusses the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches taken by two organizations-one a CMMI Level 3 and the other a Level 5-to embrace agile principles and practices. To ensure your organization doesn't jeopardize its CMMI compliance with agile methods, Paul shares an approach that uses techniques such as asking key questions to focus objectives, pruning your processes, using the CMMI less formally, and keeping your "must dos" packaged separately from guidelines. He describes and discusses examples of each technique. Learn why the two organizations took different approaches, why one achieved its goals, and why the other fell short. If your organization is invested in CMMI, learn what others have discovered about increasing organizational agility and performance while remaining CMMI compliant.
The document discusses implementing an applicant tracking system (ATS) and provides a strategic 3-step approach: 1) Analyze the current hiring process by interviewing stakeholders to understand workflows and gaps. 2) Define the future state and compare it to identify gaps. 3) Create an action plan to address findings and prepare for implementation. It emphasizes analyzing both the current and desired future processes to ensure the ATS can meet future needs and avoid costly workarounds. Conducting this analysis upfront can prevent risks associated with retrofitting processes to new technology.
Featherweight is a lightweight change management application that helps teams integrate agile processes. It provides a centralized repository for requirements, designs, tests, and other assets. Teams can track requirements and other items through customizable workflows. The application also provides estimates and historical data to help plan releases. Featherweight aims to help teams implement fundamental software engineering practices in a flexible and affordable way.
This document describes a Deployment Excellence Framework (DEF) to effectively adopt high maturity processes. The framework includes 3 interlinked cycles: 1) Identification Cycle to target initial units and stakeholders, 2) Initial Deployment Cycle focusing on awareness and success indicators, and 3) Sustenance Cycle increasing adoption scope and self-reliance. It also includes a feedback adapter for course correction. The case study illustrates using DEF to standardize an organization's project estimation processes and templates by deploying new estimation models and tools over 6 quarters.
The DevOps promise: IT delivery that’s hot-off-the-catwalk and made-to-lastPeter Shirley-Quirk
DevOps promises rapid delivery AND stable operations by integrating business, development, test, deployment and operations into a cohesive workflow with a rapid feedback cycle. So how is that possible?
This document discusses the limitations of continuous improvement programs and introduces the KT Step Change model as a complementary approach. It argues that while continuous improvement is necessary, it typically only provides incremental gains and is not a source of competitive advantage. The KT Step Change model is a three-phase approach involving diagnosis, implementation, and sustainability. The diagnosis phase gathers both qualitative and quantitative data to understand performance gaps and prioritize projects that will provide strategic value and transformational change. The model aims to identify initiatives that will achieve sustained improvements to meet business needs in response to events requiring more than incremental progress.
There are many steps involved in buying enterprise software and a new LMS can gain much attention given the organisation-wide impact it can have. No matter which scenario you face for procurement, a lot of questions will be sent your way, and you need to answer them well.
For more content like this, check out the full Acorn Resources blog: https://acornlms.com/resources
White-Paper-Four-Keys-to-Creating-a-Vendor-Risk-Management-Program.pdfOuheb Group
This document discusses keys to creating a successful vendor risk management program. It outlines that companies have become dependent on outsourcing and third parties, increasing risk. A vendor risk management program aims to evaluate, track, and mitigate third-party risks. The document recommends four principles: 1) Identify potential vendor risks, 2) Develop strategies for higher risk vendors, 3) Align vendor controls with internal frameworks, and 4) Implement ongoing oversight using metrics and alerts. This will help companies understand vendor risks and develop mitigation strategies to protect their business.
Systematic is a software company established in 1985 with over 500 employees worldwide. It focuses on complex IT solutions that are often mission critical. The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is a process model that provides definitions for what organizations should do to improve performance. It contains five maturity levels and defines important elements required to build great products and services. Assessments using the CMMI help organizations analyze themselves, initiate positive change, transform how they work, and educate them on best practices worldwide.
The document discusses troubleshooting systems and how organizations can improve them to reduce issue resolution times. It describes the key elements of an effective troubleshooting system as the system itself for coordinating problem solving, reactive and proactive troubleshooting processes, and reusable troubleshooting knowledge. An effective system logs issues, prioritizes them, allocates resources, tracks progress, conducts analyses, and provides recognition. With a good system, problems can be resolved quickly and often prevented from occurring in the first place.
Apply Strategic Plan EvaluationRefer back to the Week 2 compa.docxjewisonantone
Apply: Strategic Plan Evaluation
Refer back to the Week 2 company, Hoosier Media, Inc. Your consulting firm is now ready to present suggestions regarding the strategic plan of Hoosier Media, Inc.
In a 10- to 20-slide presentation with speaker notes, address the following which will be presented to the Director of Marketing:
· The best possible options for evaluating a strategic plan
· Corrective actions that should be taken to ensure company operations are correctly aligned with the strategic plan
Include the following in your presentation:
· How should the company measure organizational performance?
· How will the company examine what progress is being made toward the stated objectives?
· What criteria will be used when determining whether company objectives are measurable and verifiable?
· Based on your knowledge of the company, what changes should be made to reposition Hoosier Media competitively for the future?
Research and find 2-3 topics in current news/events
and be prepared to explain the event/news item and its relationship to
the material that we have covered in the course.
You should review papers, magazines and news feeds
to bring potential items for the group to discuss and decide on the
topics. You should then put together a slide on each item which
describes the event and demonstrates how it would impact strategic
management planning processes.
Six Sigma
The term Six Sigma, popularized by Motorola, Honeywell, and General Electric, has two meanings in TQM. In a statistical sense, it describes a process, product, or service with an extremely high capability (99.9997% accuracy). For example, if 1 million passengers pass through the St. Louis Airport with checked baggage each month, a Six Sigma program for baggage handling will result in only 3.4 passengers with misplaced luggage. The more common three-sigma program (which we address in the supplement to this chapter) would result in 2,700 passengers with misplaced bags every month. See Figure 6.4.
Six Sigma
A program to save time, improve quality, and lower costs.
The second TQM definition of Six Sigma is a program designed to reduce defects to help lower costs, save time, and improve customer satisfaction. Six Sigma is a comprehensive system—a strategy, a discipline, and a set of tools—for achieving and sustaining business success:
1. LO 6.3Explain Six Sigma
· It is a strategy because it focuses on total customer satisfaction.
· It is a discipline because it follows the formal Six Sigma Improvement Model known as DMAIC. This five-step process improvement model (1) Defines the project’s purpose, scope, and outputs and then identifies the required process information, keeping in mind the customer’s definition of quality; (2) Measures the process and collects data; (3) Analyzes the data, ensuring repeatability (the results can be duplicated) and reproducibility (others get the same result); (4) Improves, by modifying or redesigning, existing processes and procedures; a.
Enterprise Project and Portfolio Management: Managing the RevolutionUMT
This document discusses strategies for successfully implementing enterprise project and portfolio management (EPPM) frameworks in large, global organizations. It identifies common challenges such as scale, incomplete solutions, political governance issues, and lack of standardized metrics. The document recommends 12 principles for EPPM implementation, including securing senior management sponsorship, identifying clear objectives, employing a phased approach, leveraging pilots, implementing change management, including financial analysis, consolidating systems, and conducting ongoing analysis. Case studies and examples are provided for each principle to illustrate proven strategies. The overall goal is to provide guidance for organizations navigating the complexities of implementing comprehensive EPPM on an enterprise-wide scale.
Simplifying Model-Based Systems Engineering - an Implementation Journey White...Alex Rétif
Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is perhaps one of the most misunderstood and often abused acronyms in the engineering vernacular. Many companies struggle to understand how it will improve their entire product life-cycle and address the ever-increasing complexity of products. In many companies, executives and middle management experience a lack of understanding regarding the rapid pace of today’s technology and its impact on organizations and processes. Technical practitioners may gain additional insight as they focus their energies on establishing strong MBSE practices. The successful implementation of MBSE includes transformations and enhancements in three key areas: organization, process and technology. This white paper shares proper planning and implementation considerations in adopting an MBSE practice. It provides a high-level view, defines critical components to help success and identifies many problematic areas to avoid in an implementation journey.
Creating Optimized Business Relationships - Article #1Lawrence Dillon
This document summarizes an article about creating optimized business relationships between IT departments and business units. It discusses how business units currently drive isolated technology development, leading to redundant systems. The document advocates for a partnered approach where shared business processes across units leverage single, standardized technology components maintained centrally. Business units could then customize components for unique needs. This balances centralized efficiencies with flexibility for individual units.
Mustafa Degerli - 2013 - SDPS-2013 Proceeding - More about the High-Maturity ...Dr. Mustafa Değerli
Mustafa Degerli - 2013 -More about the High-Maturity for Business Processes: Certain Distilled Practical Implications. Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Transformative Research in Science, Engineering, and Business Innovation (SDPS 2013)
Blytheco’s Business Process Optimization is an effective tool for keeping your company’s technology in tune with your goals. The Business Process Optimization service allows us to understand your business, so that we may help you do your job better, faster, easier, and more effectively.
We can help you give your business system a “tune-up” and help you evolve as your goals and environment adapt to changing business realities by identifying inefficiencies in current processes and offering cost-effective options to maximize your technology investment.
This article looks at the decisions organizations make and what they do as they move up the scale in requirements management maturity (RMM).
Just as hiking up a mountain has a cost (in energy and time), so does this climb upward. Therefore, as we look at the benefits of reaching higher levels of maturity, we will not ignore the investment required in terms of time, effort, and money. In addition, we will analyze how automated requirements management (RM) tools can help support organizations striving for greater RM maturity.
The document discusses implementing an integrated management system that combines quality, safety, and environmental standards into a single system. It proposes a model with the following elements:
1) Developing an integrated policy covering quality, safety, and environment.
2) Planning the system through identifying requirements, risks, objectives, resources, roles, and processes.
3) Implementing and operating the system through documentation, communication, operational control, training, and supplier management.
4) Assessing performance through monitoring, measurement, audits, and handling non-conformities.
5) Improving the system through corrective actions, preventative actions, and continual improvement based on performance assessment.
The document
Old Article I wrote while with Ingersoll Engineers
The original article is a White Paper and is 12 pages.
This is the Readers Digest Version
Todd McCann
8 steps to Successful Accounts System Selection - Xledger WhitepaperXledger UK
Looking at a new Finance or Accounts system?
Perhaps your current system is no longer supported or your business has simply outgrown it and needs something more suitable to support future growth.
What steps can you take to ensure your business makes the right choice and derives all the business benefits associated with a modern finance system?
With over 6,000 successful accounts system implementations behind us we outline our 8 Steps to Successful System Selection.
If you long for greater agility in your process-oriented or CMMI world, this session is for you. Paul McMahon shares how organizations can integrate agile approaches with CMMI and its key process area requirements. He discusses the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches taken by two organizations-one a CMMI Level 3 and the other a Level 5-to embrace agile principles and practices. To ensure your organization doesn't jeopardize its CMMI compliance with agile methods, Paul shares an approach that uses techniques such as asking key questions to focus objectives, pruning your processes, using the CMMI less formally, and keeping your "must dos" packaged separately from guidelines. He describes and discusses examples of each technique. Learn why the two organizations took different approaches, why one achieved its goals, and why the other fell short. If your organization is invested in CMMI, learn what others have discovered about increasing organizational agility and performance while remaining CMMI compliant.
The document discusses implementing an applicant tracking system (ATS) and provides a strategic 3-step approach: 1) Analyze the current hiring process by interviewing stakeholders to understand workflows and gaps. 2) Define the future state and compare it to identify gaps. 3) Create an action plan to address findings and prepare for implementation. It emphasizes analyzing both the current and desired future processes to ensure the ATS can meet future needs and avoid costly workarounds. Conducting this analysis upfront can prevent risks associated with retrofitting processes to new technology.
Featherweight is a lightweight change management application that helps teams integrate agile processes. It provides a centralized repository for requirements, designs, tests, and other assets. Teams can track requirements and other items through customizable workflows. The application also provides estimates and historical data to help plan releases. Featherweight aims to help teams implement fundamental software engineering practices in a flexible and affordable way.
This document describes a Deployment Excellence Framework (DEF) to effectively adopt high maturity processes. The framework includes 3 interlinked cycles: 1) Identification Cycle to target initial units and stakeholders, 2) Initial Deployment Cycle focusing on awareness and success indicators, and 3) Sustenance Cycle increasing adoption scope and self-reliance. It also includes a feedback adapter for course correction. The case study illustrates using DEF to standardize an organization's project estimation processes and templates by deploying new estimation models and tools over 6 quarters.
The DevOps promise: IT delivery that’s hot-off-the-catwalk and made-to-lastPeter Shirley-Quirk
DevOps promises rapid delivery AND stable operations by integrating business, development, test, deployment and operations into a cohesive workflow with a rapid feedback cycle. So how is that possible?
This document discusses the limitations of continuous improvement programs and introduces the KT Step Change model as a complementary approach. It argues that while continuous improvement is necessary, it typically only provides incremental gains and is not a source of competitive advantage. The KT Step Change model is a three-phase approach involving diagnosis, implementation, and sustainability. The diagnosis phase gathers both qualitative and quantitative data to understand performance gaps and prioritize projects that will provide strategic value and transformational change. The model aims to identify initiatives that will achieve sustained improvements to meet business needs in response to events requiring more than incremental progress.
There are many steps involved in buying enterprise software and a new LMS can gain much attention given the organisation-wide impact it can have. No matter which scenario you face for procurement, a lot of questions will be sent your way, and you need to answer them well.
For more content like this, check out the full Acorn Resources blog: https://acornlms.com/resources
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1. 26 CROSSTALK The Journal of Defense Software Engineering March 2004
The concept of systems thinking, which
was definitively described by Peter
Senge in his seminal work “The Fifth
Discipline” [1], has been used by many
people to investigate and resolve deep
organizational problems and to achieve
higher states of operational excellence.
You can use systems thinking to effective-
ly resolve many of the barriers and prob-
lems that commonly plague process
improvement initiatives based on the
Capability Maturity Model®
(CMM®
) or
the CMM IntegrationSM (CMMI®
).
Losing Sight of the Forest
Working day to day in a process improve-
ment role, it is very easy to lose sight of
the big picture quickly. We tend to see indi-
viduals around us making independent
decisions and taking seemingly unrelated
actions. We get caught up in trying to deal
with every separate event using a different
approach and frame of reference than the
last seemingly dissimilar event. It is also
quite easy to lose sight of the relation-
ships between your process improvement
work and system or service delivery.
Sometimes, process improvement – or
worse, the model we are using, i.e., the
CMM or CMMI – takes on a life of its
own, and we end up doing process
improvement for its own sake.
In systems thinking, Senge described
two systems archetypes that provide a way
of gaining a big-picture view of com-
monly occurring systemic problems in
organizations: fixes that backfire and shifting
the burden. These two archetypes are par-
ticularly useful in understanding and
resolving problems that frequently plague
CMM- and CMMI-based process
improvement efforts.
Fixes That Backfire
In the fixes-that-backfire systems arche-
type, the obvious solutions are applied to
problems. However, because the per-
ceived or obvious solution is frequently
applied hastily and without a thorough
understanding of the problem, the result
is often unintended consequences, includ-
ing a worsening of the problem. One of
the most pronounced examples of a fix
that backfires is corporate downsizing to
improve profits. In one 1991 study of 850
companies that had cut staff drastically,
only 41 percent had achieved the savings
they hoped for [2].
The diagram in Figure 1, known as a
causal loop diagram, illustrates the dynamics
of the fixes-that-backfire archetype as it
relates to software and systems process
improvement. Because the net, long-term,
negative effects of the fix are greater than
the short-term, positive effects, the rein-
forcing loop is the prevailing influence in
the system.
In the figure, the inner loop (or the
core loop) represents the organization
attempting to address the problem of
poor software or systems delivery by
implementing model-based process
improvement. The outer loop – also
known in systems thinking as an addiction
loop – represents the long-term effects of
the fixes. When it turns out that the CMMI
is not the panacea for all the organiza-
tion’s problems, there can be unintended
negative consequences.
The fixes-that-backfire archetype has
three primary manifestations in CMM and
CMMI based process improvement:
1. The race to achieve a maturity level
(the perceived fix) causes widespread
cynicism, which in turn leads to a
grass-roots resistance – a backlash – to
the process improvement initiative
(the unintended consequence).
2. Process discipline and improvement
(the perceived fix) is done for its own
sake, and the consequence is that the
organization’s software/systems devel-
opment performance gets worse (the
unintended consequence).
3. The unintended consequences of
business and model disintegration
occur when the cost and value of
process improvement activities are not
integrated with the price of the things
such as products or services that are
sold to a customer.
These three fixes that backfire in
model-based process improvement are
described in the following subsections.
The Race to Maturity Levels
Frequently, executive and senior level
managers are sold on the idea that the
CMM or CMMI are the vehicles for
improving software or systems develop-
ment and delivery. However, they get fix-
ated on achieving maturity levels under
the belief that maturity levels are concrete
evidence that processes have improved.
The maturity level becomes the evidence
that the organization has improved its
efficiency, effectiveness, and quality. Such
beliefs are as faulty as assuming a student
has actually learned something because he
received an A in class.
Acting on such beliefs, executives will
sometimes construct incentives such as
bonus programs for senior and mid-level
managers to achieve maturity levels in
their respective sub-organizations. Now,
both level-envy, and the ensuing race to
achieve levels, is on! The focus on maturi-
ty levels drives people to look for quick
Applying SystemsThinking to Process Improvement
Michael West
Natural Systems Process Improvement
In our day-to-day work in process improvement using the Capability Maturity Model®
or the Capability Maturity Model®
Integration, it is easy to lose sight of the big picture. Applying systems thinking can generate breakthrough approaches to
effectively improving systems development, integration, and maintenance.
Open Forum
“One of the
most pronounced
examples of a fix
that backfires is
corporate downsizing
to improve profits. In
one 1991 study of
850 companies that
had cut staff drastically,
only 41 percent had
achieved the savings
they hoped for.”
2. Applying Systems Thinking to Process Improvement
March 2004 www.stsc.hill.af.mil 27
fixes that will enable them to pass an
assessment. The symptoms – observable
behaviors and artifacts – most commonly
associated with a race to maturity levels
are the following:
• Deadlines are established for achiev-
ing a maturity level without any esti-
mating or project planning that sup-
ports the deadline (which, by defini-
tion, is a low maturity behavior).
• Slogans appear such as “Level 5 in
’05.”
• People read the CMM or CMMI, and
learn to recite the model’s terms and
phraseology.
• Policies and procedures are rapidly
created, and frequently mimic the
practices in the CMM or CMMI
instead of defining the organization’s
processes.
• Project managers, under pressure
from upper level management, create
elaborate project documentation that
satisfies the letter but not the intent of
the model. However, they promptly
shelve the project documentation and
do not use it to manage their projects.
The problem worsens in a large organ-
ization in which various sub-organizations
are trying to achieve maturity levels inde-
pendent of each other. The sub-organiza-
tions’ respective managers too often let
their egos and competitive natures get the
better of them, and try to outdo each
other to be the first to achieve the target-
ed level.
Once organizations have become
entrenched in the level race (or perhaps
more accurately, level wars), they are in the
addiction loop, and you can count on
rationale and reason often being aban-
doned. The organization takes a short tra-
jectory to the maturity level, which it more
often than not achieves – one way or
another.
What is the result of the unintended
consequences? Those incentives for
achieving maturity levels usually stop at
the mid-level manager, and almost never
make it down to anyone doing the work,
including software engineering process
group members and project managers
who have done the bulk of the work in
the death-march process improvement
project. For a brief time following passing
the assessment, everyone in the victorious
organization is exuberant. But once the
assessment high wears off, people start
looking around for some lasting and
meaningful results of their work. Yet for
reasons they cannot always comprehend,
everything looks and feels the same as it
did before the maturity level race.
Even in extreme command-and-con-
trol work environments where the pri-
mary motivation is fear (usually of losing
your job or being marginalized), fixes that
backfire eventually take their toll on the
morale and momentum of process
improvement initiatives. Smart, skilled,
process-oriented people start to look out-
side the organization for more meaning-
ful, rewarding work. Project managers and
engineers become jaded on the whole idea
of model-based process improvement.
They will continue giving a gratuitous
salute or lip service for fear of not doing
so, but they will be burned out on process.
Worse yet, they may perceive – perhaps
accurately – that their organization’s
CMM/CMMI effort is a waste of time
and money.
The organization that chases maturity
levels for their own sake, and fails to set
business goals for process improvement,
will spend hundreds of thousands or even
millions of dollars on model-based
process improvement, and can end up
with nothing more to show for their
efforts than a few gratified egos.
Process for Its Own Sake
Sometimes, organizations do not get too
wrapped up in CMM/CMMI maturity lev-
els, yet process still becomes the be-all and
end-all to fixing every issue plaguing the
organization. For many of my years in
Xerox, it’s the process, or fix the process
became the only politically acceptable
approach to any problem. The primary
fallacy of this approach is that it ignores
the observable, measurable fact that there
really are people and accountability prob-
lems, or technology problems that cannot
be resolved by addressing only the
process.
A classic example of a backfire from
applying a fix occurs when organizations
attempt to apply the entire CMMI to tra-
ditional information technology, systems
maintenance, or engineering services
shops. With intelligent interpretation and
tailoring, many of the CMMI practices
can be applied to improve work in these
environments. But the implementation of
processes and procedures that are nothing
but a regurgitation of the CMMI in these
environments results in burdening the
organization with process overhead that
does not add value, thus making the
organization less effective and less effi-
cient than they were without the CMMI.
Unintended Consequences of
Business and Model Disintegration
Businesses incur unintended and negative
consequences when process improvement
(and probably other internal improvement or
quality initiatives, a.k.a., solutions) are treat-
ed as infrastructure or overhead. As these
internal initiatives grow, so does the per-
centage of the organization’s employees
whose work does not directly produce
something that is sold to or adds value to
what is sold to a customer (the conse-
quence). Thus, as William Bergquist noted
in his book “The Post Modern
Organization” [3], it becomes increasingly
difficult for the expanding organization to
achieve and maintain its profit goals
because operating and overhead costs
grow at a faster rate than that of realisti-
cally achievable revenue.
The approach some organizations take
to keep the cost of process improvement
down is to hide it. People in charge of
process improvement or CMMI efforts in
large organizations have actually present-
ed at conferences in which they proudly
announced that people worked unpaid
overtime on nights and weekends to
achieve a maturity level. While this may
seem heroic and laudable on the surface,
even a layperson can easily see that the
maturity level was not truly deserved
because of the obvious Level 1 behaviors
exhibited in Organization Process Focus.
Strategies for Fixes That
Backfire
Here are some strategies you can employ
to prevent or mitigate the effects of
implementing fixes that backfire:
• In planning the process improvement
effort, ensure the plans include achiev-
ing measurable or observable business
goals in addition to achieving maturity
levels. Make sure that reporting
progress or success includes status
against all the process improvement
goals and not just the number or per-
centage of practices satisfied.
• Increase awareness, especially among
senior and executive managers, of the
unintended consequences of chasing
maturity levels. In 2001, I was involved
Fix
Problem
Symptom
Poor
Software/System
Delivery
Unintended Consequences:
Resistence against process improvement
Software/system delivery gets worse
ROA/ROE diminishes
Implement the
CMM/CMMI
Caution: Subject to snowball effect when an organization
goes into the addiction loop and the problem symptoms
continue to worsen instead of improve
Time Lapse
Figure 1: Fixes-That-Backfire Archetype in
Process Improvement
3. Open Forum
28 CROSSTALK The Journal of Defense Software Engineering March 2004
in an email conversation with senior
level managers and marketing people in
Computer Sciences Corporation who
were trying to come up with strategies
for countering the CMM level race
approach of one of our biggest com-
petitors. I sent out a note thinking that it
would be career limiting because it went
directly against the prevailing beliefs.
Much to my surprise, a senior marketer
read and understood my note, and invit-
ed me into further conversations on
how we could market real process
improvement benefits without getting
into level wars with our competition.
• Spend the time understanding the
problem. You do not necessarily have
to conduct time-consuming formal
root-cause analysis, which can often
lead to analysis paralysis, but you cannot
afford to continue applying solutions
to symptoms, only to have the root
problem perpetuate or worsen.
• Establish alliances or relationships
with people in your marketing and
sales organizations. Find ways to
defray some of the cost of process
improvement activities by selling (and
charging for and collecting) the bene-
fits of process improvement. With the
right approach, a customer or client
will be willing to pay a higher price for
the goods or services so long as you
have convinced them that there is
greater value.
Shifting the Burden
According to Senge’s “Systems Thinking,”
Shifting the burden … usually
begins with a problem (symptom)
that prompts someone to intervene
and solve it. The solution (or solu-
tions) are obvious and immediate;
they relieve the problem symptom
quickly. But they divert attention
away from the real or fundamental
source of the problem, which
becomes worse as less attention is
paid to it. This forces the percep-
tion that there is no other way out
except the symptomatic solution.
[1]
Shifting the burden to process improvement
is illustrated in Figure 2.
In this systems archetype, the per-
ceived problem is a lack of process or
process discipline in the organization, or
that the organization does not have a
CMM or CMMI maturity level. So the
obvious, or solution, is to implement the
CMM or CMMI. In the short term, the fix
does appear to address the perceived
problem: lack of process is replaced with
process.
The unobserved yet insidious effect is
that effort and focus shifts from product
or service delivery (or integration) to the
symptom of inadequate processes that in
turn, either does nothing to improve
product/service delivery, or hurts it by
burdening the existing delivery processes
with overly bureaucratic standards and
procedures.
Table 1 identifies some common sys-
tems development and delivery problems
(in the left column). The center column
identifies how these problems often are
perceived as process (or lack of process)
problems. The third column identifies
other possible root causes of the prob-
lem, which may have little to do with
process discipline or maturity levels.
What are the unintended conse-
Side Effects:
Effort/focus shift
from software/
system delivery to
process delivery
Caution: Subject to snowball effect when an organization
goes into the addiction loop and the problem symptoms
continue to worsen instead of improve
Implement
CMM/CMMI
Quick Fix:
Problem
Symptom:
Lack of
processes
Corrective action:
Apply more
process
Root Causes
of poor software/
system delivery
Time Lapse
SYMPTOM
CORRECTING
PROCESS
PROBLEM
CORRECTING
PROCESS
addiction
loops
Figure 2: Shifting the Burden Archetype in
Process Improvement
Software/Systems
Delivery Problems
Perceived as a
Process Problem
Potential Real or Root Problems
Not Addressed due to Shift
Projects experience
scope-creep.
• Poor business relationship with
customer.
• Lack of discipline in engineering
staff.
• There is no release strategy.
• No strategy/process for insertion
of new technology.
• Lack of standards for acceptance
or decline of requirements.
• The Organization does not
understand the market it is in.
Projects overrun cost and
schedule.
• No estimating or
planning process.
• Project plans are not
adequately
documented.
• Culture encourages low bid;
accurate bidders don't get work.
• Schedule is synonymous with
plan.
• Poor business relationship with
customer.
• There is no release strategy.
• Staff has inadequate skills to do
the work.
• The term Project is not defined.
• Management does not perceive
planning activities as
work/progress.
Product quality (e.g.,
defect density) is poor.
• No quality process.
• No people assigned
to inspect/audit the
quality.
• The organization has no defined
standards or criteria that define
quality.
• Management and the culture
rewards fast and cheap; good is
not encouraged or rewarded.
• Staff has inadequate skills and
resources to produce quality
work.
No amount of process
improvement activity
seems to improve the
bottom line.
• People will not buy
into the PI initiative.
• Not enough in-house
CMM/CMMI
expertise.
• Clients do not value
the process
improvement efforts.
• Misalignment between the
chosen model and the
organization's core business and
business goals.
• There are no baseline
performance or capability
measurements with which
improvement could be
ascertained. Improvement is
anectdotal.
• Inadequate
requirements
management process.
Table 1: Common Problems Attributed to Lack of Process That May Have Other Causes
4. Applying Systems Thinking to Process Improvement
March 2004 www.stsc.hill.af.mil 29
quences of shifting the burden to
process? In many cases, doing so can have
a compounding, double negative impact
on the organization. With resources
diverted from the real problems, the real
problems get obscured, are given a lower
priority, or are ignored, which diminishes
the chance of them being resolved. Worse
yet, the process improvement efforts –
which can be quite expensive – may not
only have no discernable effect on the
symptoms, they may exacerbate the root
cause.
Take the situation in which the out-
sourced contractor has a poor relationship
with the customer or prime contractor.
Shifting the burden to process by throw-
ing the CMMI, ISO, Six Sigma, Theory of
Constraints, or some other currently pop-
ular initiative at the perceived problem can
irritate the customer even more, further
worsening the relationship.
Strategies for Dealing With
Shifting the Burden to
Process
If you are fortunate enough to get
involved in a process improvement initia-
tive at its inception, make every effort to
get everyone involved in discussing the
business problems they want to address,
and how the perceived process solutions
will address those problems. As with fixes
that backfire, spend time first understand-
ing the problem to be resolved or the
business goals to be achieved. If the cor-
relation (or better yet, the causation)
between business problems and process
solutions cannot be clearly established,
encourage people to consider pursuing
alternative solutions such as organization-
wide skill improvement, new technology,
or fundamental shifts in business strategy.
If you get involved in a process
improvement initiative after it is already
underway, be persistent in questioning
people around you about their proposed
process solutions. Constantly ask ques-
tions such as, “Why are you doing this?”
“What problem will this solve?” You may
become quite annoying to some people,
but after a while, you will have them ask-
ing the same questions at least quietly to
themselves if not overtly.
Again, do not presume that your
organization is the first ever to try to
apply process solutions to its problems or
goals. Conduct benchmarking activities
with other organizations to find out what
has worked and what has not. Process
people are just as susceptible to the pit-
falls of the not-invented-here syndrome as
are engineers and other technical people.
Why Systems Thinking?
Modern software or systems organiza-
tions are themselves a system of systems.
There are people (social systems), tools
and technology (environmental systems),
and policies and processes (process sys-
tems). The three systems – people, tools,
and processes – are inextricably interwov-
en, and changing one without considering
the interrelationships can cause fixes that
backfire, do not resolve the original prob-
lems, or inadvertently make the problems
worse.
The greatest unintended consequence
of applying a CMMI or process solution
to a non-process problem is too often the
vast waste of resources used for the faux
fix. If you really want to improve things in
your organization, start by improving the
process of process improvement. You can
save your organization money and aggra-
vation by using this systemic approach.◆
References
1. Senge, et al. The Fifth Discipline
Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for
Building a Learning Organization.
Currency-Doubleday, 1994.
2. Boroughs, Don. L. “Amputating
Assets: Companies That Slash Jobs
Often End Up with More Problems
Than Profits.” US News and World
Report 4 May 1992.
3. Bergquist, William,. The Post Modern
Organization: Mastering the Art of
Irreversible Change. Jossey-Bass, Inc.,
1993.
About the Author
Michael West is co-
founder of the consult-
ing firm Natural Sys-
tems Process Improve-
ment (Natural SPI). He
has more than 22 years
in software and systems
engineering management and model-
based process improvement. Natural
SPI has employed non-traditional,
highly effective approaches to helping
clients use the Capability Maturity
Model®
or the Capability Maturity
Model®
Integration (CMMI®
) to
achieve measurable business results.
This article is excerpted from West’s
book “Real Process Improvement
Using the CMMI.”
Natural Systems
Process Improvement
Phone: (866) 648-5508
E-mail: michael@naturalspi.com
Get Your Free Subscription
Fill out and send us this form.
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STATE:_
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PHONE:(_____)_
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FAX:(_____)_
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E-MAIL:_
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CHECK BOX(ES) TO REQUEST BACK ISSUES:
JAN2003 BACK TO BASICS
FEB2003 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
MAR2003 QUALITY IN SOFTWARE
APR2003 THE PEOPLE VARIABLE
MAY2003 STRATEGIES AND TECH.
JUNE2003 COMM. MIL. APPS. MEET
JULY2003 TOP 5 PROJECTS
AUG2003 NETWORK-CENTRIC ARCHT.
SEPT2003 DEFECT MANAGEMENT
OCT2003 INFORMATION SHARING
NOV2003 DEV. OF REAL-TIME SW
DEC2003 MANAGEMENT BASICS
JAN2004 INFO. FROM SR. LEADERS
FEB2004 SOFTWARE CONSULTANTS
ToRequestBackIssuesonTopicsNot
ListedAbove,PleaseContactKaren
Rasmussenatkaren.rasmussen@
hill.af.mil.