How to Kick Off?

Once the approval and commitment of top management is acquired then comes the question of how to kick off this task. There can be many answers to that, a few of which are listed as follows:

1. Start on One’s Own
This is a very attractive idea to start off a project on one’s own. Company’s management might think that if its own people are doing the job, they would be more loyal to the task and more dedicated. While this may be true, it should also be kept in mind that CMMI implementation is not a small and easy task and cannot be completed by inexperienced personnel.

So how to handle this? In order to handle this, the company will have to choose personnel for the task and provide them with necessary training. This training will equip those people with the required knowledge and skills to implement the standard in the company.

2. Hire a Consultant
Hiring a consultant is another option. Doing this brings a qualified and experienced person at the company’s disposal. That person already has the required knowledge skills and therefore can better help a company with the implementation.

Drawbacks
Much higher amount of finances will be involved that will mainly cover the consultant’s fee.

Coordination with the consultant as they will not be on premises all the time.

3. Training employees
Training employees to equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills to implement the standard in the company can be an option. This might put the top management at ease that the employees will be more loyal and dedicated to the task than an outsider (consultant).

Drawbacks
Even after the training the employees may not reach such a level where they can handle the whole implementation process on their own.

In case deadlines are near or some urgent task is assigned, these trained people might switch to that and neglect CMMI. This in turn can cause delays in the implementation.

My Own Stance on This
My own stance on this is that a company should hire a good consultant for the job. A good consultant will not only aid in CMMI implementation but would also motivate the employees to take interest in the implementation. Any CMMI related knowledge imparted by such a consultant would be helpful towards implementation as well as better understanding of the employees about the standard and its practices.

Top Management Approval/Commitment

The very first steps in implementation of CMMI is that the top management has to approve and commit to it. Just like in implementation of any other policy, rule or standard (e.g. ISO 9001:2000), the top management is the key stakeholder. Therefore the approval is necessary.

The approval does not only mean that the project would kick off, but it means several other things as well. For example, kicking off the project would involve some sort of finances. Management approval will ensure a smooth flow of funds towards the CMMI model implementation. Also when the implementation would be in process, then some extra time apart from the regular tasks would be required by some of the people (e.g. SEPG team). If management is on the same side then buying out that time would be a piece of cake. It is the top management that can ensure that the defined practices are followed on the basis of their level of authority.

So in short it is very important that when such an idea of implementation of CMMI is afloat in a company, it should be ensured that the top management is on board.

Why 'I CMMI'?

Somebody visiting this blog in its early days might consider this to be a very useless blog. That person wouldn’t be wrong either as in its initial days this blog will be pretty empty and useless. But I am sure that as the time progresses, the blog will also mature and this empty container would fill up. 

I made this blog because I wanted to share my CMMI experiences with the world. The company I work for recently embarked upon this venture of achieving worked for achieved CMMI Level 2 certification in December 2009. I am a was part of the team that will be working worked on this task. I think this journey would be was very exciting as well as useful for me. So I thought might as well share it. 

Maybe it will help another budding company or a person responsible for CMMI implementation. Maybe some pros would be reminded of similar situations that I would be facing in the future had faced in the past. Maybe this blog will bring a smile to somebody’s face. I don’t know what I would actually do or achieve here. I also don’t know if many would be able to benefit from this in any way. I only know that if I am able to help even a single person or am able to bring a smile upon a single face, I would feel quite content with all this. 

This is why the seed of ‘I CMMI’ has been sown in the rich soil of the Internet. Hope to see it become a towering strong tree. 

Feel free to comment as much as you like or give suggestions. Please also do not hesitate in asking questions because even if I am unable to answer, maybe some other reader would. 

All the best to me and to you all in all the future endeavors. 

Monazza :-)