I N T E G R A T I O N S E R I E S
[project.headway]
™
Integrating
Introduction
This white paper has been developed to discuss the integration and alignment between the Capability Maturity Model (CMMI) developed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the Project HEADWAY framework developed and made available to corporate members by gantthead.com
The CMMI framework and Project HEADWAY were developed for different specific purposes, but have distinct alignment opportunities that – when understood – can result in greater benefits to the organizations that use them. In this paper, we explore the backgrounds and purpose of each model, and how Project HEADWAY can support organizations that are using or seeking to adopt CMMI as a framework for understanding and improving their software development practices.
CMMI Overview
What Is CMMI?
CMMI is an integrated version of the Capability Maturity Model, a framework for understanding and managing the improvement of software practices within organizations. The current version of the CMMI consists of four discrete modules that describe related software development and procurement practices, including:
• Systems engineering (SE) • Software engineering (SW)
• Integrated product and process development (IPPD) • Supplier sourcing (SS)
The purpose of the CMMI is to provide an optimal model of practices related to the development and acquisition of software and systems. It allows organizations to understand their current capabilities through a process of assessment, and to plan their improvement against defined and objective criteria.
CMMI Background & History
The first Capability Maturity Model for software (CMM-SW) was originally published by SEI in 1987 as a framework for understanding and improving software development practices, under the sponsorship of the Department of Defense (DoD) of
predicated on the assumption that improved process capabilities would lead to better results from software development projects. Its primary initial purpose was as a tool for supplier assessment: to assist organizations acquiring software in identifying those organizations with sufficient quality and reliable processes. Since that time, a number of related maturity models were developed and established, each with different criteria and frameworks. To align and provide a common means of describing maturity, these models were integrated into the CMMI, which is currently in version 1.1 The CMMI embraces four different disciplines as identified above, each of which can be independently drawn upon but share a common framework.
CMMI Structure
The CMMI actually contains two distinct structures, or “representations”: Continuous and Staged. There is a strong commonality across both representations, in that they both contain and utilize the same 25 process areas. Each
representation is documented and defined as a separate model in separate technical documents, but the underlying processes of each are identical. Their primary differences are based in how the CMMI is to be used, and the results from the assessment that is desired.
• Continuous. The Continuous representation is designed to
support organizations who seek to adapt their improvement approach to their own specific and unique requirements, and who desire the ability to benchmark against discrete practice areas. It defines and distinguishes four different process area groups: process management, project management,
engineering, and support. Within each of those groups, it defines a number of related process areas. Each process area can be mapped to individual capability levels.
• Staged. The Staged representation will be the most familiar
for those who were exposed to earlier versions of the CMM or other maturity models. It outlines discrete, well-defined overall maturity levels. Each maturity level is viewed as a plateau unto itself. It is structured to support a proven sequence of improvements within an organization. It enables comparison between organizations at a macro level, based upon the maturity level that has been attained. The explicit assumption behind the Staged representation is that
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attainment of a higher level of maturity depends upon having attained earlier maturity levels, and there is a lower likelihood of success where this is not the case.
Additional Resources
More information about CMMI can be found at the SEI web site, located at: http://www.sei.cmu.edu.
Specific CMMI resources that are available include:
• CMMI Overview presentation
(http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/adoption/pdf/cmmi-overview05.pdf). This presentation provides a good initial overview of the CMMI, and offers a good illustration of the differences between the two representations in the CMMI structure.
• CMMI Executive Overview presentation:
(http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/adoption/pdf/cmmi-exec-overview06.pdf). This presentation is targeted to an executive audience, but provides a good overview of the model itself. It also gives some valuable information regarding the benefits that some organizations have encountered in enhancing their maturity through increasing CMMI levels, as well as
information regarding the improvement timelines required to move through each maturity level.
• CMMI Model – Continuous Representation.
(http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/02.reports/0 2tr011.html) This document provides the full definition of version 1.1 of the CMMI model, based upon the Continuous representation.
• CMMI Model – Staged Representation.
(http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/02.reports/0 2tr012.html) This document provides the full definition of version 1.1 of the CMMI model, based upon the Staged representation.
Project HEADWAY Overview
What Is Project HEADWAY?
Project HEADWAY is a project management methodology developed and published by gantthead.com. It provides a comprehensive framework for managing projects in an organizational context. The framework is fully compliant with the 2004 version of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK®) of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and the latest version provides direct integration between the activities and steps within Project HEADWAY and the PMBoK guide.
Project HEADWAY Background & History
The methodology is based upon the JPACE project process originally developed by James Martin & Associates (now Headstrong) and is made available to corporate members of gantthead.com.
In 2006, the Project HEADWAY process was enhanced and updated. Changes included directly aligning Project HEADWAY with the PMBoK, as well as introducing guidelines for the management of three different project models, differentiated on size. Project HEADWAY defines all of the project management activities necessary to support the full management and delivery of projects, as well as supporting integration with a variety of product and service development processes.
Project HEADWAY Structure
The structure of Project HEADWAY is based upon five separate phases of work:
• Justify. The Justify phase focuses on articulating the purpose
and business drivers for undertaking a project. This phase articulates the activities necessary to build a viable project charter, as well as to develop and sell the project business case.
• Plan. The Plan phase describes the work necessary to plan a
project in detail. It defines the full range of activities necessary to produce a project plan, including determining the objectives and scope of the project, selecting the project approach, developing the detailed work plans and determining the project management activities necessary to successfully deliver the project.
• Activate. The Activate phase articulates the work necessary to
initiate a project once it has been approved, including securing team members, managing stakeholder communications and awareness, and ensuring the resources are in place to deliver the project.
• Control. The Control phase defines the work necessary to
monitor and control the project throughout its life. It addresses the steps required to monitor project progress, take corrective action as required and control the various aspects of the plan, including schedule, cost, scope and risk.
• End. The End project phase addresses the activities required to
Integration & Alignment
How Project HEADWAY Supports CMMI
As a project management methodology, Project HEADWAY supports CMMI in a number of key regards. Most particularly, it provides organizations with a solid process for managing projects that is firmly rooted in best practices and is fully compliant with the PMBoK. As project management is one of the key process area groups within CMMI, it addresses an essential initial component associated with increasing the maturity of an organization against the CMMI.
As organizations work to prepare for assessment against the CMMI and subsequently identify and initiate improvement activities, best practices recommend that these efforts be managed as projects. Project HEADWAY is an ideal framework to support the management of assessment and improvement planning activities. Integrated into Project HEADWAY are the necessary approvals and sponsor and stakeholder involvement that SEI identifies as critical to optimizing the success of your improvement efforts.
Support for CMMI Criteria
A critical area for CMMI is the discipline of project management. This is reinforced in the ‘Continuous’ representation through the identification of project management as one of four key process area groups, along with process management, engineering, and support. One of the first areas of focus that organizations improving their maturity need to focus on is improving the discipline of project management. The improvement of project management is the dominant focus of attaining Maturity Level 2 within the current ‘Staged’ representation of the CMMI, and previous versions of the CMM.
For organizations seeking to improve their capabilities, Project HEADWAY represents an ideal framework to adopt as a basis for project management. It aligns extremely well with the project management process areas within CMMI, as illustrated below. While the process areas in both the Continuous and Staged models are identical, for ease of presentation we have used the Project Management process area group in the Continuous model as our basis of comparison.
CMMI Process Area Project HEADWAY Support
Project Planning • Establish estimates • Develop a project plan
• Obtain commitment to the plan
Project Headway strongly supports the planning dimensions of CMMI: • Project HEADWAY includes a robust estimation capability based upon a
detailed understanding of scope, and a formal and disciplined process of defining work activities, effort estimates, scheduling and budget development. • The project planning process within Project HEADWAY defines the full
capabilities necessary to produce effective project plans. The planning framework includes a full understanding of project stakeholders and their requirements and expectations and defines the full resource and work requirements of the project.
• Project HEADWAY has a strong emphasis on ensuring the appropriate level of commitment and support for projects. Integral to the process is the
identification and review of other related projects, enrolment and recruitment of sponsors, the development and approval of a business case.
Project Monitoring & Control • Monitor project against plan • Manage corrective action to closure
The dimensions of monitoring and control are integral to the Control phase of the Project HEADWAY process:
• The full dimensions of project monitoring are defined, including formal tracking and monitoring of effort, schedule and budget performance against the plan and formal monitoring of identified project risks.
CMMI Process Area Project HEADWAY Support
Supplier Agreement Management • Establish supplier agreements • Satisfy supplier agreements
Working with suppliers is integral to the majority of large-scale projects. The dimensions of supplier management are strongly defined throughout Project HEADWAY:
• The process of establishing agreements is well defined throughout the Project HEADWAY process, from identification and definition of procurement requirements through to selecting and formalizing agreements with suppliers. • Managing and monitoring the delivery of supplier agreements is addressed in
Project HEADWAY through the management of overall team delivery (including sub-teams and external project participants), monitoring of performance under the contract agreements related to the project and formally managing the close-out and evaluation of supplier agreements on project completion.
Integrated Project Management (for IPPD)
• Use the project’s defined process • Coordinate and collaborate with
relevant stakeholders
• Use the project’s shared vision for IPPD
• Organize integrated teams for IPPD
Project HEADWAY strongly supports the principles of integrated project management embraced within the context of integrated project management: • Project HEADWAY is designed to be adapted to the specific needs of
individual projects. Project HEADWAY includes three project models that provide guidance for adapting the process to small, medium and large projects, and guidance for how to make project specific adaptations.
• Stakeholder management and collaboration is integral to the Project HEADWAY process, as is the necessary considerations of managing interdependencies between projects.
• The principle of a project vision is clearly defined as part of the initial Justify phase, as is the need to co-ordinate the planning process with an
understanding of other projects.
• There is a strong process for developing and managing appropriate team structures within Project HEADWAY.
Risk Management
• Prepare for risk management • Identify and analyze risks • Mitigate risks
The principle of risk management is integral to the Project HEADWAY process: • The process includes a rigorous approach to the identification, categorization
and assessment of project risks.
• Project HEADWAY includes a solid framework for the evaluation of potential project risks, including analysis of probability and the identification of appropriate mitigation strategies.
Integrated Teaming
• Establish team composition • Govern team operation
Project HEADWAY has an extremely strong approach to developing effective project teams:
• The process of team definition includes clear guidelines for defining resource requirements and developing and establishing an appropriate team structure. There is particular weight on confirming the skills required for successful team performance, and ensuring that the appropriate training strategies for the team are in place.
• There is a strongly defined framework for managing on-going team
operations. The Activate phase strongly emphasizes ensuring team members and other stakeholders have a clear understanding of their role and
expectations at the outset of the project, and processes are defined for the ongoing management of team members through the project and the successful unwinding and reassignment of team members at the close of the project.
CMMI Process Area Project HEADWAY Support
Integrated Supplier Management • Analyze and select sources of
products
• Co-ordinate work with suppliers
There is a strong procurement framework defined within Project HEADWAY that governs the procurement of products as well as services and resources, including:
• Evaluating procurement requirements, identifying potential sources of supply and determining and managing the appropriate procurement and supplier selection process.
• Overseeing the production and performance of work within the project by key suppliers, including monitoring and accepting of work products, managing changes and ultimately closing out the supplier contracts.
Quantitative Project Management • Quantitatively manage the project • Statistically manage sub process
performance
Project HEADWAY defines approaches for qualitative evaluation and management of project results, including:
• Establishing clear objectives for the project, and determining the measures and supporting data that will be used to evaluate attainment of the project
objectives.
Over and above the specific support of the Project Management process area group within the CMMI, Project HEADWAY also aligns well with a number of its inherent philosophies. A core philosophy of Project Headway is one of continuous
improvement, and activities are incorporated throughout the lifecycle that specifically focus upon identifying and taking advantage of improvement opportunities. The methodology recognizes the value of reuse and reusability. The process encourages identification of other projects that can be leveraged to support the objectives of the current project, as well as the identification of products and processes that can be
subsequently reused in future project efforts.
Using Project HEADWAY to Manage Your Improvement Efforts
As well as being a solid candidate for implementation to support improving overall maturity of an organization against the CMMI, Project HEADWAY also provides a robust means of managing the overall improvement effort associated with attaining higher levels of maturity:
• The methodology strongly embraces the same core principles of continuous improvement upon which the CMMI is based. • There is an emphasis on overall sponsorship and governance
oversight within Project HEADWAY, which the CMMI identifies as a critical component in maximising the likelihood of realizing an organization’s improvement goals.
• As well as supporting the Project Management process area group, Project HEADWAY reinforces a number of the other process areas within CMMI, in particular the general areas of measurement, quality assurance and formalized decision-making defined in the Support process area group.
• The overall procedure defined within Project HEADWAY is process independent, enabling organizations to adopt the process improvement, change management and systems development techniques that most appropriate support realization of their overall improvement objectives.
Conclusions
Overall, there is a compelling alignment between CMMI and Project HEADWAY that provides organizations with a number of key advantages to organizations that have chosen to enhance their overall process maturity. The methodology itself provides a core framework that enables an organization to quickly enhance its project management capabilities. Whether adopting the Continuous or Staged representation, the implementation of effective project management processes represents a critical, early point of emphasis for most organizations.
According to SEI, the average duration required to move from a maturity of Level 1 to Level 2 – much of which involves establishing a formal project management capability – is 19 months. By implementing Project HEADWAY as the framework for project management, the effort associated with this process has the potential to be significantly reduced.
While simply adopting Project HEADWAY is only one step in the overall effort of improving organizational maturity, it is an important one. Moreover, the process provides the flexibility required to adapt the framework to the specific and unique needs of almost any organization. The guidance within the small, medium and large project models provides important direction in how the process recommendations within the methodology can be adapted to particular situations. While an organization that chooses to adopt Project HEADWAY must still choose the specific manner in which it will implement the methodology, this flexibility is an inherent part of how the process was designed.
