Re: CMM thoughts; was: RE: [AM] Article of Interest in CIO Magazine

| From: Paul Oldfield<[email protected]>
| Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 03:51:19 -0500
| 
| (responding to Mike)
| 
| > Just looking at that magazine last night... It has on the cover,
| > "Bursting the CMM Hype" How to probe CMM claims, 12 critical
| > questions to ask.  Have not read it yet but on my list.  Might be
| > good to discuss here.
| 
| Having had a quick look at the article and questions, I find I might
| want to take the discussion in at least 3 different directions.
| Yet if I investigate the directions, they all have an underlying theme.
| While I have great respect for the list of goals that CMM provides,
| I have problems with the assumptions that underly their idea
| of 'process'; in particular the ones that result in the idea of
| 'repeatable process'.  This seems to be based on an assumption
| that a shop will be producing the same broad type of software
| time after time, so there will be a large degree of commonality
| in the process that is needed to develop that software.
---

First off, there are many software practitioners who DO work in shops
that specialize in a particular domain and where projects are very
similar over time. Companies that build products with significant
software content usually have development teams that remain within
the domain for long periods.  Even in consultancies, many specialize
in either a technology domain or a business domain.

However, I think that's beside the point, because I really disagree with
the premise that CMM maturity is dependent on doing the same type of
software over and over.

The CMM is about having a defined, institutionalized (that is,
well-understood by all participants) approach to building systems; the
CMM goals are generally about how you share information and how the
organization monitors and controls projects, rather than about their
technical processes.  Many of the elements of, for instance, XP, are
very much in line with the CMM goals.

The only place that experience with similar projects really comes in is
in items about estimation and collecting historical data to improve
estimation.  If you're starting something new, you have to estimate
based on the best analogies you can draw to things you have done before.
That's not really surprising - every project has some aspects of
novelty, so you're always extrapolating to one extent or another.

scott

-- 
scott preece
motorola urbana design center (il67), 1800 s. oak st., champaign, il  61820  
e-mail:	[email protected]	fax:	217-384-8550
phone:	217-384-8589	cell: 217-433-6114	pager: [email protected]

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