Customer Reviews

The People CMM: A Framework for Human Capital Management (2nd Edition)

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The software development is an activity that involves both social and engineering aspects, addressing the problem with this in mind, in an holistic way will deliver much better results that doing it partially. The People CMM address the human side of software development and completes the engineering side that at the three levels, Organization, Team, and Individual are covered by SW-CMM, TSP and PSP.
The book is divided in three parts, the first one gives the reader a clear understanding not just of the model but the principles that define it. Also very valuable are the briefs of the case studies and specially the first chapter "The Process Maturity Framework" is very helpful to understand the basics of all the CMM's.
The second Part describes the practices that are part the People CMM in a very detailed way, these practices are not any thing new , the real value of the model is defining a framework in which these practices really will deliver sustainable results, thus we may say the whole is larger than the simple sum of the parts, finally the third part, the Appendices, provides a lot of information to support the practioneer.
Definitively this book is for any body involved in a software process improvement programs that wishes to obtain better and lasting results.

In the seven years since the 1995 release of the P-CMM, version 1 I've not encountered any sincere effort by any US client to implement the process. My personal theory is that the P-CMM was little known outside of the software engineering community, especially the DoD-related community, when it should have received wider dissemination to human resources and higher-level management. This book from a mainstream publisher should change that. With respect to the model itself, the previous reviewer has done a remarkable job of describing the model and how this book supports it. I have a few additional notes to add:
(1) This book is about version 2, which corrects some flaws in the first version which had team building at level 4. In the version, 2, described in this book team building has been placed at level 3.
(2) Another change from version 1 to version 2 is the alignment of the P-CMM to the CMMI, especially with respect to integrated product and process development.
(3) Version 2 adds institutionalization goals to each process area.

If you have previous experience with the older versions of P-CMM, or CMM-SW, or the newer approaches as set forth in later versions and CMMI, you'll note that there are two implementation models: staged and continuous. The staged approach is the only supported implementation for P-CMM version 2.

The book goes into extraordinary detail about the P-CMM and how to implement it. You can easily use this book as a roadmap to achieving levels 2 through 5 of the P-CMM, or as a resource for improving the people part of the people-process-technology triad that defines IT. As such you need not have certification as a goal to gain value from this book. If you do decide to pursue certification at level 2 or higher, however, I strongly recommend that you also get a copy of Kim Caputo's 'CMM Implementation Guide'. That book, while focused on implementing the CMM-SW, contains sage advice and a sound approach to dealing with the real problems that you'll encounter: organizational inertia and resistance, training and implementation issues and obtaining they key ingredient - commitment to perform.

I've been a strong, but frustrated, proponent of the P-CMM since its inception. This book goes well beyond the original SEI documentation by thoroughly describing the rationale behind the CMM and making a strong business case with respect to the tangible and intangible benefits that accrue from implementing it.

This book contains something for managers, particularly upper management who needs to not only endorse the P-CMM, but also need to commit to it and sponsor it in order to make it happen. The chapters of the book that apply to them are:
1 -The Process Maturity Framework, portions of 5 - Interpreting the People CMM (Organizational Factors, and commitment and Ability to Perform), and 7 - Experience with the People CMM).

For technical line managers the entire book will be relevant because it covers the reasons, structure and key process areas in great detail. In addition, once a P-CMM initiative is given the go ahead, the implementation team and all primary stakeholders will also benefit from large portions of the book because it also covers implementation issues and an approach in detail.

Overall, this book presents a maturity framework that contains goals for any organization that understands the relationship between the morale and management of a technical workforce and the resulting impact on the business bottom line. I'll go so far as to state that if this book is followed and a successful implementation of the P-CMM results, attaining the corresponding level of the SW-CMM will be relatively effortless.

I was first exposed to PCMM while serving on a Human Capital planning committee for a small federal agency. While the ideas and strategies are intriguing, they bump up against then flounder in organizations where senior leadership is weak, subject to change (election cycles, in our case), or offer PCMM as a "flavor of the month." Absent rock solid commitment and active long term engagement by senior leadership, this should not be undertaken. To achieve the noble and highly desirable outcomes of PCMM takes fearlessness and commitment; things sorely lacking in most organizations. In the end, trying and failing miserably did us more harm than good. This is not a half-hearted endeavor nor one most organization can realistically attain. Small, lean, youthful organizations may be the better suited to this approach.

The second updated edition of Bill Curtis, William E. Hefley, Sally A. Miller's People CMM documents Version 2 of the People CMM and describes practices for different maturity levels, explaining workforce development at each level and how to apply the framework of CMM as an assessment tool. Human resources and business managers personnel and college-level business libraries catering to them will find PEOPLE CMM packed with tips on a structure broadly adopted by small and large organizations around the world.