Cmmi Assessments: Motivating Positive Change - Hardcover

Bush, Marilyn; Dunaway, Donna

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0321179358 ISBN 13: 9780321179357

Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional, 2005

Synopsis

Assessments are internal reviews aimed at making an organization better from the inside, and they are critical tools for process improvement. The CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) is a U.S. government-sponsored model to help organizations improve their processes, and perhaps more importantly, demonstrate their level of process quality to vendors. Many organizations adopt the CMMI because it is required in many government contracts. In order to improve process, these organizations must first know their level of CMMI maturity, but these organizations struggle in this assessment. This book spells out the specific steps an organization must take to gather an accurate CMMI assessment. The resulting assessment will help the organization improve their processes and advance their level of CMMI maturity. The authors, noted CMMI experts, use anecdotal histories of incidents they have encountered on actual assessments to illustrate key teaching points.

About this title

About the Author

Marilyn Bush is a leading figure in international software process improvement. After twenty years of experience as a project, systems, and software manager, she was enlisted by the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University (SEI) to provide practical and managerial perspective on the team that produced the CMM. In 1995, she became one of the co-authors of The Capability Maturity Model: Guidelines for Improving the Software Process. She is also an author of the SEI's Introductory Course on the CMM, and had a hand in developing the SEI CBA IPI Assessment Method and the SEI Lead Assessor Course. The head of her own consulting firm since 1992 (www.marilynbush.com), Marilyn is one of the world's most experienced CMM and CMMI Lead Assessors and has specialized in advising companies at the senior executive level.

Donna K. Dunaway, Ph.D., is a pioneer in the computing industry, having taught herself to program an IBM 704 in the late '50s. After working in a number of software development organizations during her career, she joined the Process Group at the SEI in 1992. She developed and managed the SEI Appraiser Program from its beginnings in 1994 until 2000. She served on the CMMI Product Development Team from 1998 to 2000. As head of her own consulting company, The Dunaway Group (www.dunawaygroup.com), Donna works with organizations in their process-improvement initiatives to achieve greater benefits from use of the models and assessment methods.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

From the Back Cover

Use Assessments to Drive Process Improvements in Software, Systems, Human Resources, and Beyond

Pioneered by the world's leading innovators in software engineering, assessments have evolved into a remarkably powerful tool for process improvement in areas ranging from systems to services, hardware to human resources.

Unlike audits, assessments are conducted from the inside. When handled correctly, assessments can help transform technical and managerial culture, dramatically improving both quality and profitability. In CMMI Assessments: Motivating Positive Change, two of the field's most respected leaders show exactly how to use them for maximum business advantage. Writing for executives, managers, technical professionals, and assessors themselves, Marilyn Bush and Donna Dunaway illuminate every phase of the assessment process?from planning through post-assessment follow-up.

The authors begin with an expert overview of what assessments entail, when they make sense, how to set achievable goals for them, and how to lead them to success. Next, they "drill down" into each stage of the process, presenting step-by-step instructions and defining the roles and responsibilities of every participant. Coverage includes creating and training assessment teams; identifying assessment products; consolidating interview data and other onsite activities; presenting results; and using those results productively.

Drawing on their unsurpassed experience leading assessments and mentoring assessors, they offer deep insights into the real-world challenges and obstacles you'll face?and proven solutions. They also present an extended case study showing how a real software development organization drove continuous improvement through four years of iterative assessments?moving from CMM Level 2 to elite Level 5 status, and driving dramatic business benefits along the way.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0321179358
• ISBN 13: 9780321179357
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 397