How long does it take to get a CMMI Level 3 rating?

Hey, CMMI appraiser. My boss is telling us we need to get a CMMI Level 3 and be CMMI certified by the end of the year, or else. I told him, doing things right takes time. But from your experience, how long does it take to achieve a ML3 rating? ~ Daria Z.

Hey, Daria. It’s no fun working with a boss who makes threats. Normally when someone asks me how long it takes to achieve a CMMI Level 3, I say, “It depends on where you are today.” If leadership is onboard and focused on being a great company, it will take less time. If they are not, it will take more. In the case of your boss and his rush to get a so-called “CMMI certification,” he’s setting your CMMI adoption up for failure.

How much time will THAT take?

I love your response, though. Doing things right does take time. As a Lead Appraiser, I’ve found that transforming the leadership of an organization is always the biggest task in any successful CMMI adoption – and one that takes the most time.

There are several reasons leadership might not buy-into CMMI at first. CMMI is big. It’s a lot to focus on, if you’re new to evidence-based performance improvement frameworks like CMMI. Plus, management wants to delegate and keep hands-off. They think they are being effective managers when they don’t want to know the details.

If I were your boss' business coach, I'd ask, “Why wouldn’t you want to? Insisting on certain behaviors is the responsibility of management. And behavior is about what differentiates us as a company.”

By the way, this is why templates won’t work. Why normalize yourself to someone else’s definition of greatness?

Great companies know the importance of focusing on changing and improving behavior. Arbitrary time frames hardly matter when you are focused on being a great company. Being a great company means focusing on doing things as well as you can do them, and being better than the companies you are competing with. When you learn to use the CMMI as one of the tools that can keep you focused on producing the best products and being the best in your industry, your CMMI level will surely follow, regardless of how long it takes.

On the other hand, if you focus on getting a CMMI Rating and achieving a CMMI Level 3 as fast as you can, and you don’t care much about being a great company, you will spend a lot of time and money producing a lot of overhead that will not result in business value.

As I said, your CMMI adoption will fail. Things won’t get any better.

The moral of the story: Focus on being a great company, and a nice CMMI certificate will follow. That’s just the way it works.

Still, people often ask me, “How fast can I get a CMMI certificate?” And my answer is, “How fast do you want to transform and change your company to be a great company?”

Because if you understand that question, you’ll understand it’s not something you can do in a couple of weeks or months. It’s a major undertaking to be a great company. As I say to my clients, this is a journey, not a race. You focus on being a great company, I will focus on helping you achieve a Maturity Level, and we’ll meet at the end.

Ask not, "How long is it going to take?"

Ask, "How focused are we on being a great company?"

For more information about changing and improving behaviors, please visit our Webinar Calendar and choose from 6 new presentations on solving software and engineering business challenges in Broadsword's “Everything You Need to Know” webinar series.

Like this blog? Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec!
Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation, software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

CMMI-TV: What should our process architecture look like?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, What should our process architecture look like? ~ NY-SPIN Attendee

Dear Readers,

I had an opportunity at a recent NY-SPIN event to present on “Agile Resiliency,” our strategy for making agile strong enough to survive, thrive and even scale. Today’s episode of CMMI-TV was filmed ON LOCATION in New York City, where I was asked what a company’s process architecture should look like. Below is a video clip of my answer, followed by a synopsis of my response. Enjoy!

OVERVIEW

Process has an architecture best envisioned as a 3-tiered structure. At the highest level of the architecture are the values of the company, which trickle down to the methods we use to do our work. Methods are the second tier. Techniques are the third tier. All three tiers all go together, and you can transform your company culture by paying attention to each tier in relation with the others.

TIER I: VALUES

Agile values, such as high trust, transparency, collaboration, are values represented in the agile manifesto. In an agile organization's architecture, these values can be traced to the methods we use to do our work, as well as our techniques.

TIER II: METHODS

Methods can also be traced back to values.  In my company, Broadsword, our values happen to be agile values. We trust our people. We are open and transparent. Everybody in the company has ownership stake, and we’re a collaborative team. At one point, the team said, “Hey, if we’re going to have these agile values, shouldn’t we use Scrum, because Scrum fully supports those values.”

The values drive the methods.  Up to that point, we had been running in a Waterfall environment. We were making plans every year and putting estimates together for all the things we did.  But this method wasn't consistent with our desire to fail fast, be collaborative and transparent, and all the other agile values we upheld.  It only made sense that we would transform our company to agile and adopt the one method that was designed to support agile values, Scrum.

TIER III: TECHNIQUES

What techniques will we use? With values and methods in alignment, we can choose agile techniques that support our values and are part of the Scrum method, like Planning Poker, for instance.  This is how all three tiers tie together to create a well defined, well connected architecture.

SIGN UP FOR THE WEBINAR

If you’d like to know more about guiding your team to embrace agile values, methods and techniques to drive performance improvement, you are invited to participate in the newest webinar in our “Everything You Need to Know” series: “Performance Management!”

Webinar registration: “Everything You Need to Know: Performance Management!” on Wednesday, September 30th at noon EST

It's free, it's useful, and it's a whole lot of fun. Join us, won't you?

Like this blog? Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec!

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about running a successful CMMI and performance improvement program.

Announcing "Performance Management!" - New Webinar in the "Everything You Need to Know" Series

Dear Readers,

It’s time to deep-six a dreaded annual event.

As any executive or professional in the engineering and software development industries will tell you, the annual performance appraisal system is broken. Supervisors aren’t doing them right. Employees hate them. HR departments don’t trust the results and organizations don’t get any value out of the exercise. 

Wouldn’t you rather have a system that accounts for managing the performance of development teams, focusing on what motivates people as individuals in this industry, and providing meaningful data for the organization to improve?

Now you can.

NEW Webinar: “Everything You Need to Know: Performance Management!”

Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2015 @ noon EST

Registration: Sign up here

On “Performance Management,” the sixth webinar in our “Everything You Need to Know” Series, you'll discover the true meaning of performance and a better strategy for evoking it. Learn the secret to embracing a culture where people get timely feedback on relevant performance deliverables and their connection to the organizational purpose. You’ll take away a clear understanding of how to get on the path to a better trained, higher performing workforce.

Register for “Performance Management!” 

See you on the webinar!

Like this blog? Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec!

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

Broadsword Welcomes Darian Poinsetta

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, what do you recommend for a big player in the healthcare industry (you’ve heard of us), that hasn’t been able to get a handle on our administrative costs? We tried to automate some of the claims processing and improve our authorization process, but all we ended up doing was spend a lot of money enhancing our system and purchasing tools that didn’t work. Can we use CMMI to get us out of this morass? ~ Charles B.

Hey, Charles,

Yes, with a proper adoption of CMMI, the framework can help you tremendously. If you’ll think of CMMI as more of a behavioral improvement model than a process improvement approach, you can start to ask the right questions and have the conversations that can lead to changing the behaviors that got you stuck in the swamp in the first place.

It’s really not too difficult to have these conversations, Charles. All it takes is a strong desire to improve on what you’re already doing. From that point, you simply decide to adopt a flexible, agile approach to the CMMI, that fits within your company’s particular situation, and start elevating your performance, organization-wide.

Easier said than done? Perhaps. Because we are so passionate about seeing this transition happen for our clients, we’ve recently expanded our healthcare capability by adding Darian Poinsetta to our team, as Senior Consultant. Darian possesses an extremely useful gift for designing and deploying solutions to drive business value, and has a passion for helping Broadsword’s clients reach their goals with CMMI.

Please join me in welcoming Darian Poinsetta to the company, and wishing him great success!

Darian brings more than 24 years of experience delivering multi-scale programs in the healthcare industry, from concept through execution. As a Project Management Professional (PMP), Poinsetta is skilled at designing and deploying solutions to drive business value. His experience includes project management, program management, business process improvement, benefit realization and solutions design. His broad background, which includes management consulting in the technology and federal government sectors as well as healthcare, expands the capability of the Broadsword team. Prior to joining Broadsword, Poinsetta was the VP, Program Management Operations at The Olofson Group.

Read the full press release here: Broadsword Expands Healthcare Capability with the Addition of Darian Poinsetta as Senior Consultant

Like this blog? Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec!

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation, software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

If we make the leap to agile, what role does CMMI play?

Hey CMMI Appraiser, We’re a traditional, waterfall-based organization focused in aerospace that is CMMI Level 3. I get why everyone is so excited about agile, but if we make the leap, what role does CMMI play? ~ Paul R.

Hey, Paul,

CMMI can play a huge role in the success of a waterfall-based organization transitioning to agile. When you use agile and CMMI together, it gives you the structure you need to manage the complexity of culture change. After all, change is hard. This approach helps you cut through the clutter, set organizational goals, solve problems, communicate and transform in a positive way. CMMI helps you make the leap safely.

But here's the cool part. That’s just where you START to take off! Once you embrace agile values, you’ll find agile does a very good job organizing specified behaviors. Contrast this with the phases, work products and artifacts of the waterfall world, where there are no specified behaviors identified. Work gets done and there are plans – but waterfall really doesn’t guide us to focus on the behavioral aspect of our work.

Scrum, on the other hand, is completely focused on the behavioral aspects. To strengthen those agile behaviors and help guide Scrum Teams, we use the CMMI. The way CMMI meshes seamlessly with Scrum demonstrates that CMMI is a behavioral model more than anything else.

You can find out more about making the leap to agile – and fortifying and scaling agile with the architectural strengths of the CMMI – by signing up for the next two webinars in our ongoing “Everything You Need to Know” series. Check ‘em out!

Part I - Agile Transformation!

Sign up: Everything You Need to Know: Agile Transformation!

September 15th @ noon EST

This webinar helps you learn to become the company you want to be by transforming the values and behaviors in your organization to take advantage of agile methods for a lighter, leaner approach to solving business problems incrementally and iteratively.

Part II - Agile Resiliency!

Sign up: Everything You Need to Know: Agile Resiliency!

September 17th @ noon EST

“Agile Resiliency” is a proven strategy for scaling agile by strengthening and reinforcing agile values, methods, and techniques. In this practical, fast-paced webinar, we’ll show you how integrating the architectural strengths of the CMMI with your agile approach can help you make agile resilient enough to scale and thrive.

Hope to see you on the webinars!

Like this blog? Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec!

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation, software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

Why do a lot of people think CMMI and Agile don’t go together?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser: CMMI with Agile? A lot of people think they don’t go together. Tell me about that. ~ Geri Winters, Business Agility Conference

Dear Readers, on September 23-24, in Austin, Texas, I will deliver the Keynote Address at the Business Agility Conference. The organizer of the event, Geri Winters, founder and CTO for Wyyzzk, and a seasoned corporate technology and agile strategist, interviewed me for a webisode on Blab.im. Read a summary of a segment of our conversation below, or click to watch the whole interview. Enjoy! 

Hey, Geri. 

The more we use the CMMI, and the more we work with companies that are using the CMMI, the more we realize that this is a model that's about how great companies perform. But you are correct. There is a misperception about CMMI that it wouldn’t work well with agile.

We see it this way. CMMI is nothing more than a model for improving what you are ALREADY doing. There is no conflict between CMMI and any development framework or set of techniques like Scrum or XP. 

In fact, the CMMI and agile are more alike than they are different. Both were designed to solve business problems. Both came into being the same way, too.

In developing the Agile Manifesto, Ken Schwaber, Jeff Sutherland, Ron Jefferies and others sat around in a smoke teepee on top of a mountain – so the stories goes – and came up with a list of things that great companies do. The SEI was in more of a professional office setting when they came up with CMMI. But in both cases, smart people sat around, saying, “What do great companies do? What makes them successful?”

They came up with a list that says, great companies do all of this stuff. The CMMI list is very comprehensive, and the agile list is much broader, but not as deep. 

Several years ago, we brought them together by pioneering “agileCMMI,” an iterative and incremental method for designing and deploying process solutions. With agileCMMI, we helped organizations take a “Scrum-like” approach to understanding the CMMI framework, and apply it to whatever they were working on.

See, CMMI improves the teams that are using Scrum (or any other technique, for that matter) because, in the case of Scrum, you have a minimalist approach to developing products in an iterative and incremental way. But Scrum does not cover everything required to drive performance, organization-wide. Many such best-practices exist within the CMMI.

So whether their goals are to successfully deliver software, achieve a CMMI Maturity Level, or get on the path to becoming a great company, the agileCMMI approach helps organizations improve incrementally and in a lightweight, useful way.

Business owners and leaders can learn more about putting their companies on the path to greatness at the Business Agility Conference. I’m really looking forward to it!

REGISTRATION CLOSES IN 10 DAYS!

Sign up for the Business Agility Conference in Austin, TX on September 23 and 24, 2015. Register now and take 15% off!

http://www.thefluidagile.com/BusinessAgilityConference

Like this blog? Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec!

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about running a successful CMMI and performance improvement program.

Just the FAQs -- How do we develop good PPQA habits?

[Dear Readers, for the past several months, our good friend Pat O’Toole, CMMI expert and seasoned consultant, has been collaborating with us on a monthly series of CMMI-related posts, "Just the FAQs." Our goal with these posts is to provide answers to the most frequently asked questions about the CMMI, SCAMPI, engineering strategy and software process improvement. This month, Pat shares valuable tips for taking a proper approach to adopting CMMI. Take it away, Pat! ~ the CMMI Appraiser]

Hey, Pat, We’ve just started implementing the CMMI and are really struggling with PPQA; any tips to point us in the right direction?

Pat: In some ways, implementing PPQA is like learning to play golf. If you don’t go to a pro early on, you’ll develop a lot of bad habits that will stay with you for a long, long time. So let me see if I can’t give you those requested tips before the bad habits take hold...

Let’s start by addressing one of the more common mistakes organizations make when they first embark on their CMMI journey. Having been given an unreasonable time frame in which to achieve maturity level 2 (ML2), the newly formed EPG spawns a series of working groups – typically one for each of the seven ML2 process areas*. For their assigned process area, each working group is charged with establishing the process infrastructure that supports organizational achievement of the coveted ML2 rating.

When the relatively clueless PPQA working group meets for the first time, they look up the PPQA process area to figure out what it is and how they might proceed. They collectively read through the one‐sentence PPQA Purpose Statement and figure, “OK, I kinda sorta get that...” 

But when they start reading the Introductory Notes, they don’t get past the first bullet:

The Process and Product Quality Assurance process area involves the following activities: 

• Objectively evaluating performed processes and work products against applicable process descriptions, standards, and procedures 

They think to themselves, “WHAT process descriptions, standards, and procedures??” – we don’t have any of those bad boys yet!”

In this regard, some contend that PPQA should really be staged at maturity level 2.5. That is, until the other six working groups have established the process infrastructure for planning and monitoring projects, for measuring project activities, and for managing suppliers, requirements, and configuration items, there really isn’t a whole lot for the PPQA working group to do!

OK, so the PPQA working group hibernates until the other working groups have generated much of their process stuff. Now what?

Well, according to the CMMI, PPQA objectively evaluates two types of things – processes and work products. To that end, most PPQA groups generate a series of checklists, typically one checklist for each CMMI process area (a less CMMI‐oriented approach is provided below). Such checklists are intended to do triple duty – not only do they cover GP2.9 in their respective process areas, but collectively they are also intended to cover both process compliance (PPQA SP1.1) and work product compliance (PPQA SP1.2). 

Left to their own devices, most PPQA groups wind up focusing much more intently on work product compliance than process compliance. That’s understandable as it is much easier to wrap your head around work products that you can touch and feel (and sometimes smell) than it is process stuff which is a tad more amorphous. After all, gravitational pull is based on mass (work products) rather than energy (processes). 

But since I am trying to protect you from “your own devices,” let me suggest a way to establish a better balance:

1. For each documented process, include “Appendix A” which is the PPQA checklist for that process. To populate this process‐based checklist, ask yourself, “What are the most important steps in the process, and how would we know that they were executed properly?” 

2. For each template, include “Appendix A” which is the PPQA checklist for the resulting work product. To populate this work product‐based checklist, ask yourself,” What are the most important elements in the work product generated based on this template?” 


Building your checklists in this manner will provide a proper balance between process compliance and work product compliance, AND it will focus PPQA reviews on what you have deemed to be your most important process steps and work product elements. Remember that PPQA ensures that the work is being performed according to your process, NOT according to the CMMI – that will be handled by appraisals found in Organizational Process Focus (OPF). 

Before I leave the subject of PPQA checklists, let me provide one more tip... 

When conducting a SCAMPI A appraisal, each specific and generic practice in scope will ultimately be characterized as “Fully Implemented,” “Largely Implemented,” “Partially Implemented,” or “Not Implemented” or FI/LI/PI/NI. This four‐point scale enables the appraisal team to focus organizational attention on areas that are a bit weak (LI), very weak (PI), or abundantly absent (NI).

Unfortunately, when generating PPQA checklists, most organizations write questions of the “Yes/No” variety. Such an approach typically leads to project folks doing the absolute minimum amount of work necessary to rationalize a “Yes” in the review. Using a more robust scale, such as that employed by the SCAMPI A, allows the PPQA group to treat each review more as a consulting opportunity than a compliance check. I encourage you to give strong consideration to adopting a scale such “Fully Compliant,” “Largely Compliant,” “Partially Compliant,” and “Not Compliant.” Rather than debating “Yes” vs. “No,” the more robust scale leads to discussions that start with, “I gave you ‘Largely Compliant’ rather than ‘Fully Compliant’ because...” 

In addition, using this approach enables you to generate a numeric score for your PPQA reviews by averaging the characterization of each checklist item using a scale such as: FC = 100; LC = 80; PC = 30; and NC = 0. Some organizations use an approach like this to drive their sampling selection. If you score 90 or above, your project won’t be reviewed on this process for the next 6 months; between 75 and 90, we’ll see you in 3 months; less than 75, we’ll be reviewing 100% of the implementations until you score high enough to earn a reprieve. You’ll also be placed on the list for earlier intervention (e.g., coaching) on your next project to make sure you “get it.”

All right, the other working groups are churning out their final deliverables and the PPQA working group is partnering with them to establish Appendix A for each element. Life is good! 

However, just because the working groups “build it” does not mean that “they will come!” It’s going to take a while for (1) the rough edges to be sanded off; and (2) the value of performing the work in this more process‐disciplined way to be recognized. The premature introduction of PPQA reviews is likely to be counterproductive as “objectively verifying compliance” to processes that have not yet earned the trust and respect of those being encouraged to use them changes “encouraged” to “forced” – and NOBODY likes to be forced to do something.

Here’s how to introduce PPQA services for your new or significantly changed process/work product elements in a manner that is much less likely to encounter significant resistance:

1. Work with the EPG to find somebody willing to pilot the new or modified process/work product and convince them to agree to subject themselves to a “free” PPQA review. 

2. When the process has been executed or the work product completed, generate a hard copy of the corresponding PPQA review checklist (Appendix A). 

3. Sitting with the person who agreed to the pilot, fill out the PPQA checklist together, discussing the “proper” disposition of each item (FC/LC/PC/NC).

    a. Note that the results of this review should not be shared with anyone else. 

    b. Through this exercise, you are simply “validating” the checklist items and 
developing the norms for “scoring” the level of compliance for each item.

4. Based on the pilot, refine the checklist as necessary (add, change, delete items). 

5. Recruit a willing participant to conduct a second “free” pilot. 

6. At the end of the second process execution/work product population, generate multiple 
copies of the PPQA checklist. 

7. Recruit the person that conducted the first pilot, plus a number of others who will also 
be using the new/modified process or template in the future. 

8. Give them each a copy of the checklist and have them INDEPENDENTLY conduct the review.

9. After everyone is done, compare each item’s compliance scores and discuss the 
inevitable differences.

    a. Hopefully, you and the person who conducted the first pilot are reasonably well 
aligned.

    b. Through this exercise, you are trying to:

        i. Ensure that the checklist items are focused on those process/work product elements that are the most relevant 


        ii. Establish norms for the proper scoring of each checklist item 


        iii. Demystify the way PPQA will be applied to this new/modified thingy. 

    c. Once again, these results should not get communicated to anyone else. 


    d. Engage the group by eliciting suggestions for tweaking the PPQA checklist.

        i. Incorporate as many changes as you can, even if they are inconsequential. It is part of your marketing strategy – changing the view from “your” PPQA checklists to “our” PPQA checklists.

10. OK, now you’re ready to “go live” with the new process element and the associated PPQA checklist.

    a. Think about establishing a rule that the first time a person is reviewed for a specific process or template, the results are not reported (i.e., it’s a freebie)''

    b. You should try to establish the role of PPQA as that of “process coach” rather than that of “process proctologist” (by, among other things, using words like “PPQA review” rather than “PPQA audit”).

OK, we’re into the lightning round – quick tips with little explanation... 

1. Some organizations perform their PPQA reviews after a life cycle phase has ended or, worse yet, after the project has completed. I would STRONGLY encourage you to conduct “in progress” reviews as most people find that information from a health check provides more timely feedback than that from an autopsy!

2. “Objectivity” is the key to successful PPQA, not necessarily “independence.” You may find that some PPQA reviews provide more value if they are led by subject matter experts rather than a quality professional. Or it may be better to use a round‐robin approach: Project A provides PPQA reviews for Project B; Project B reviews Project C; and Project C reviews Project A. Just remember to equip the PPQA reviewers with the skills and knowledge to do a professional job. 


3. Some organizations rely on peer reviews for the “work product compliance” bits of PPQA. This can be effective, especially if enabled by: (1) the Appendix A approach to PPQA checklists; and (2) the explicit designation of the PPQA‐like role to a specific person. I know that “Quality is everybody’s business!” but PPQA is much more likely to be done properly if it is entrusted to a single qualified person. 


4. Don’t have the EPG members also serve as the PPQA staff. PPQA is the “protector of the status quo,” while EPG members are forever looking for ways to evolve the status quo. Having the same people do both is likely to result in head explosions. 


5. Don’t forget about PPQA GP2.9, typically referred to as “PPQA of PPQA.” Consider using the round‐robin approach suggested in #2 above to achieve objectivity. When PPQA non‐compliance issues are found, be sure to model “good reviewee behavior.” Don’t whine and pout; simply address the issues – and then tell everyone you purposely introduced those non‐compliances just so you could model good reviewee behavior! 


6. Suggest that some management processes also enjoy PPQA services. After all, if it’s good for the project teams, then it should be good for management as well! (And it might just reduce the number of “golf course commitments” made by management). 


7. Establish indicators of PPQA value. For example, count the number of incoming calls to PPQA where their value‐added services are being requested, and subtract the number of outgoing calls made by PPQA where they are informing the unsuspecting of an upcoming review. If this metric is positive, then congratulations – your value is being recognized! If it’s negative, then change how you’re operating to provide more value to those that you are reviewing (or bribe people to call in to fulfill O’Toole’s Law on Measurement: “What gets measured gets manipulated!”)

Good luck – and if you develop any of your own PPQA‐related tips, be sure to pass them along! 

* Do you really want the process infrastructure for Project Planning and Project Monitoring and Control to be developed by different working groups? While we’re at it, shouldn’t Measurement and Analysis be bundled with those two as well? Come to think of it, why focus on the individual process areas at all? Why not form working groups to solve real problems – why invent new ones?

© Copyright 2015: Process Assessment, Consulting & Training and Broadsword Solutions
“Just the FAQs” is written/edited by Pat O’Toole and Jeff Dalton. Please contact the authors at pact.otoole@att.net and jeff@broadswordsolutions.com to suggest enhancements to their answers, or to provide an alternative response to the question posed. New questions are also welcomed