Making Our Business Case for CMMI-SVC

A reasonable person might wonder just why we're pursuing the CMMI for Services in the first place. Believe me, there are loads of things we could be doing instead. Like marketing, new course development, or laundry. So, let's cut to the chase.

For Us, the Decision Was Mind-Numbingly Easy

Look at the facts, people:

• We're a consulting firm. (In fact, a CMMI consulting firm.)
  
• Consulting is a service. (At least, you hope it is.)
• The CMMI for Services is designed for organizations that deliver services.
• Therefore, the CMMI for Services applies to our company. (Or at least could... if we wanted it to.)

Finally, and most importantly, if:

• we truly believe in the value of CMMI (and we do, at least when it's done correctly),
• we preach the CMMI to our clients (and we do, because we like to stay in business), and
  
• we consider ourselves CMMI "experts" (I'm not going there; you be the judge)

...wouldn't we leap at the opportunity to adopt it for ourselves?

(And if we didn't, wouldn't you wonder... why?)

What Do We Hope to Gain?

Now you have at least part of the picture. But there's more. Here's the part that people with superficial exposure to the CMMI may have a tough time buying into. Get ready for a shocker:

We're adopting the CMMI for Services to become more efficient and more effective... so we can do things better, cheaper, or faster... for competitive advantage.

Another way of saying this -- and let this sink in -- is that we're doing it for legitimate improvement, not for a "level rating."

Where's the Data?

Some of you might be thinking, "This sounds okay so far, but where are your numbers, Bill? Have you projected the ROI for this? How can you, as a small company, even afford a CMMI initiative?"

Okay, all you numbers geeks just need to chill. Take a deep breath. Say a few "oooommmmmms." (You know, that supposedly-calming-yet-vaguely-unnerving yoga sound.)

First of all, I like numbers just as much as you do. (Maybe even more; my undergrad was Applied Math.) And if I wanted to, I could spew forth SEI data until you begged for mercy. Like, the 2006 SEI study showing a median 4:1 return on investment for CMMI-based improvement initiatives ("Performance Results of CMMI-Based Process Improvement", Gibson and Goldenson). That data, though, would be for the CMMI for Development. CMMI-SVC data will be hard to find for a while because of the little technicality that CMMI-SVC doesn't officially exist yet! (Remember it's a draft, scheduled for March 2009 release.) I guess I could sit on my hands for a few years waiting for the emperical evidence to appear, but that hardly seems appropriate for an organization named "Leading Edge," does it?

Here's another potential surprise for you: We haven't even estimated how much money or time our initiative will cost. We also don't know when it will end, if ever. How can we be so fiscally irresponsible? Welcome to our dirty little secret...

An Agile Approach to CMMI-SVC

Here's the thing: For my company to plan and manage a big, comprehensive, formal, internal process improvement initiative would be ridiculous. We don't have the time. We don't have the money. (Check back with us in a few years regarding the money, although I'm guessing we still won't have the time.)

But we can take one small step at a time.

The beauty of using the CMMI-SVC (or any CMMI model) for legitimate process improvement is that you don’t have to implement the whole thing! You can select the areas of the model that you think will help you the most and simply address those. Then iterate as needed. We wish we could take credit for this approach, but it's been around for a while (although, I think, used by surprisingly few companies).

In Conclusion

In our particular circumstances, our business case is closely tied to our approach. Our agile approach mitigates the risk of biting off more than we can chew, and ensures that our process improvement effort has bottom-line relevance by focusing on our most pressing problems first.

About This Diary

The CMMI for Services Diary is an online account of one company’s efforts to adopt best practices contained within the CMMI for Services (CMMI-SVC), a process improvement model authored by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University. The diary was launched in January 2009, a few months prior to the model’s formal release.

The purpose of the diary is to provide visibility into a process improvement effort – as it’s actually happening. Through the relatively short, quick-and-dirty entries in the diary, visitors should be able to:

• Better understand the CMMI for Services in a real-world, non-academic manner
• Witness one way of tackling a process improvement initiative
• Learn from the organization's successes - and yes, failures - along the way.

The diary’s subject organization is Leading Edge Process Consultants LLC (http://www.leadingedgeprocess.com), a small process improvement consulting firm and SEI Partner based in Vienna, Virginia. Bill Smith, the company’s President and Principal Consultant, writes all diary entries.

Real-time, bite-sized commentary on twitter supplements the entries. (Mr. Smith’s twitter handle is CmmiRox.) The use of twitter multiple times per day enhances communication with visitors and provides a forum for extending commentary beyond the immediate scope of the process improvement effort.

The CMMI for Services Diary, along with the associated twitter feed, may be viewed at (http://cmmiforservicesdiary.blogspot.com). Comments may be posted to the blog, or “tweeted” to CmmiRox.

About the CMMI for Services

What Is the CMMI for Services?

The CMMI for Services (CMMI-SVC) is a process improvement framework for service organizations. It was developed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University, and released in February 2009.

How Is It Different from the CMMI?

The model often simply called the CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) is more properly referred to as the CMMI for Development (CMMI-DEV). This model focuses on the development of products (or services), and is often applied to the engineering of software-intensive systems. The focus of CMMI-SVC is service delivery rather than development. (A CMMI for Acquisition, or CMMI-ACQ, also exists.)

What Types of Services Are Covered By the CMMI for Services?

Virtually any. The CMMI for Services defines a service as a “product that is intangible and non-storable.” Like physical products, services are intended for delivery to a customer or end user. Unlike other models that may focus on specific types of services, CMMI-SVC is widely applicable – potential domains include information technology (IT) services, transportation, health care, training, consulting… the list goes on.

How Does the CMMI-SVC Differ From ITIL and Other Service Models?

CMMI models, including the CMMI for Services, are written to be non-prescriptive. Thus, CMMI-SVC focuses on what should be done, rather than how to do things. Several other service-oriented models, including ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library), are more prescriptive and focus on specific domains. CMMI-SVC also offers a clearer improvement path and provides for more extensive support at the organizational level than many other service models.

I Work for a Very Small Service Organization. Would CMMI-SVC Be Overkill for Us?

Almost certainly… if you tried to adopt the whole thing at once. The beauty of using the CMMI-SVC (or any CMMI model) for legitimate process improvement is that you don’t have to implement the whole thing! Pick the areas of the model that you believe can help you the most and simply address those. Then iterate as needed. This approach is currently being taken by small companies such as Leading Edge Process Consultants, and has been described in the CMMI Survival Guide (Suzanne Garcia and Richard Turner).

How Can I Learn More?

Visit the SEI's CMMI for Services web page to download the model. Watch for more resources to become available, from the SEI and other vendors.

Also consider taking the official SEI class entitled Services Supplement for CMMI v1.2. The current prerequisite for this class is the three-day SEI Introduction to CMMI v1.2 course (CMMI-DEV); both classes will be needed to serve on most CMMI-SVC appraisal teams, and are critical to employees involved in CMMI-SVC-based improvement initiatives. (Search for vendors using the SEI Partner Directory, or simply attend one of the already scheduled public classes.)