Applying CMM Project Planning Practices to Diverse Environments

0 7 4 0 7 4 5 9 / 0 0 / $ 1 0 . 0 0 © 2 0 0 0 I E E E into this environment of self-proclaimed cowboys presents a challenge to even the most skilled champion. We often hear software developers say that their organization and applications are different, their projects have unique challenges, and their customers are more indecisive or inflexible than most. Because of these differences, they think the CMM does not apply to them. Based on what we have seen, we do not dispute these perceptions. Not only do the individuals in an organization vary in personality, skill sets, experience, and methods of attacking problems, but the problem domain always has a unique twist to it—some anomaly that reinforces the saying that there is an exception to every rule. As a result, trying to apply the CMM (which the SEI patterned after the practices of a large aerospace company) equally to all organizations presents a formidable challenge. Nonetheless, we discovered in working with CMM-challenged organizations that, despite their apparent uniqueness, most of their projects tend to mirror one or more of the following characteristics: product-line development, maintenance, services, database development, desktop customization, small-project development, or schedule-driven development. Recognizing that an organization’s projects might have one or more of these characteristics opens the door for that organization to use the CMM. The project planning process in most organizations can satisfy the CMM no matter how diverse the process might appear to be from the model. In this article, we specifically target as examples projects in organizations with the characteristics from our above-described list. We also show how these organizations can focus on meeting the intent of the CMM’s Software Project Planning Key Process Area (KPA) goals rather than on implementing each specific practice exactly as stated. focus