The real discriminators for purchasing this book are as follows: The book focuses a great deal on the needs of smaller organizations, companies, and agencies in installing useful CMM discipline, and also addresses the needs of the changing bu siness environment and how to install CMM in more distributed, virtual environments. These are two areas in which Ms. Burwick has spent time working to identify obstacles, and then develop solutions. Although any organization might use the information to successfully implement the CMM, it was researched, developed, and written with these in mind - - smaller organizations (or large organizations with small projects) and distributed environments - - areas where it has been historically difficult to implemen t. What's more, this is not just theory, the program is tried and true. Ms. Burwick has successfully implemented CMM Level 2 and 3 in small companies; those with several different locations; and, in business units with many small projects. The program not only works, it will be the best thing you have ever seen. The book does not really address implementing only select, business-relevant key process areas since the intention is to assist with complete implementation. However, the author does say that "... current procedures that qualify as required activities for a particular KPA can be documented without completing an entire Project Mgmt. Plan..." and so on. "If an organization is not quite ready for full implementation, any improvement is an improvement. Document and implement what you can; and, progress at a pace which can be tolerated by the organization in accordance with it's objectives."
It is a given that you must have Senior Management support in order to have the abilities and commitment (resources) necessary to accomplish the goals of the model. Therefore, be certain that you have that commitment from Senior Management or the highest-ranking Officials in your organization, agency, or business unit before attempting to proceed with implementation -- so that your efforts may not be in vain. The text of this book will make it clear just what amount/level of commitment (resou rces) by Senior Management is required. However, it has been my experience that true implementation is accomplished by the "great many" instead of the "chosen few." As far as I am concerned, the old way of a few CMM gurus in upper management sending down complex manuals for implementation at the project level is dead. It doesn't work. In fact, a huge amount of resistance to implementation builds within the organization. The practice of these men/women publishing great volumes of work of which they are so proud is not only self-serving and impractical, but a waste of time. Those "big, honkin' binders" that no one ever reads are rarely more than shelfware. It may be necessary to have fairly large binders (or Handbooks, as we'll call them) at the corporate l evel to set out standard procedures. However, these voluminous works are not only cumbersome; but often, difficult to interpret and actually use at the project level where it counts most. I will provide you with a standard set of policy, flows, and descri ptions that can easily be modified for your organization and serve as the requisite corporate procedure manual for each key process area. We will also discuss the use of a particular transition package. If you follow the field of Process Improvement, you are no doubt aware of a trend towards use of "transition packages." I, myself, have only heard of a few transition packages, and those only after I was already deeply submerged in an environment where we were using just such a tool, although no one really called it that yet. The tool or "transition package" to which I refer was, I believe, originally the brainchild of a Program Manager within a prominent IT company. We will call this tool the Project Management Plan (or PMP). This tool allows customizatio n of the corporate procedures for implementation on individual, unique projects. This tool has been tested and used by me, particularly in organizations with many small projects where it has been historically difficult to implement the CMM. However, this tool has also been used on larger projects; and, I do find it easier to implement on projects with a greater amount of resources (more hands to do the work). Nonetheless, it has proven to be amazingly effective in either instance. Author biography: Ms. Bu rwick is extremely well versed in program/project management, software and systems development, business process engineering and implementation of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Capability Maturity Model (CMM).
She is an entertaining and informative presenter/speaker. Her just-in-time training sessions are always solid and effective. She has developed and delivered training in all of the 13 Key Process Areas for Level 2 and 3 of the CMM. Ms. Burwick has fifteen (15) years of IT experience. She is familiar with the most popular "mainstream" programming languages, operating systems, and software packages. Additionally, Ms. Burwick acquired technical hardware experience while employed with a well-known systems inte grator in the Midwest. She configured systems and networks, primarily for large school districts and universities. She also oversaw the installation and integration of those systems. To round this out, Ms. Burwick has extensive experience with documentati on i.e., technical writing/editing; proposal preparation; document conversion; formatting; and, graphic design. She is that valuable combination of functional and technical in the same persona.
Ms. Burwick has done extensive consulting as a CMM Subject Matter Expert and held several positions in which she led all efforts for implementation of Procedures and Key Practices under the Capability Maturity Model at both the corporate and project level s. She has also been a corporate ISO 9001 champion responsible for development and implementation of ISO 9001 procedures. Prior to 1996, Ms. Burwick provided consulting through an agency to some of the largest clients in the D.C. Metropolitan area e.g., B oeing, SAIC, and PRC. During 1996 - 1998, in her position as QA Manager within the Defense Services Sector, Department of Defense Information Management unit of a large IT company, Ms. Burwick had both technical and functional responsibilities at the clie nt site (Army Personnel Command). Ms. Burwick performed according to the tasking for re-engineering and re-hosting of the software to a client/server environment using C++, HP UNIX, and Oracle. She also assisted the Project Office in maintaining its Tier 3 mainframe-based legacy systems, which were developed using COBOL II and Datacom/DB database with SQL. She was the CMM specialist tasked with training and implementation to ensure CMM compliance. Ms. Burwick also performed in the following capacities: &# 61623; Project Controller of the SEI CMM Prototype Project for the Army Personnel Command.
Contractor representative to the government Software Engineering Process Group (SEPG) for PERSCOM QA Lead for the DoDIM Business Unit. On top of her regular duties, Ms. Burwick also managed the Total Army Personnel Database (TAPDB)-CORE, by herse lf, for approximately three months in an emergency medical leave situation. Ms. Burwick received a promotion and an Above and Beyond award for her efforts on this project. During 1998 and 1999, as Functional Area Expert and Lead of the Mentor-Protg CMM Program for the same organization, she led entire companies through the life cycle of the applications development process in accordance with the SEI CMM. She developed and/or customized best business and IT practices for individual projects and instructe d Project Managers in their use. Ms. Burwick continues to develop and refine a program with an incorporated transition package that she uses to ensure 100% participation by all technical and functional resources. Her program facilitates CMM Level II and I II compliance more quickly and effectively than has ever been done before. This book, How To Implement the CMM, is a detailed description of that program. In recognition of its continued success in support of small and disadvantaged businesses, the Dep artment of Defense (DoD) Mentor-Protg Program (MPP) was named as a semifinalist for the 1998 "Innovations in American Government Award." The award is one of the most prestigious public service honors in the country, recognizing programs and policies tha t represent original and effective government initiatives.
