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Page 1 of 2 By Norman Hammock
Today, there are a number of useful process improvement techniques available for organizations to use and implement. These include CMMI, ISO series, Baldridge, Lean, Six Sigma, Total Quality Management, Toyota Production System and many others. However, despite the clear benefits that a process improvement program can provide to companies, many organizations simply have difficulties when it comes to implementing and sustaining a process improvement program in an effective manner. Let us discuss some straightforward yet helpful strategies that work to overcome these types of difficulties. These challenges are common in all the improvement approaches.
To focus on one of these techniques as an example, the CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integrated) is a five-level escalating model that is used in 67 countries around the world. The model is sponsored by the SEI (Software Engineering Institute) of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Each level builds the foundation for moving to the next level. Level one is just doing the work somehow. Level two adds basic discipline: project management, estimating, tracking, and requirements management to projects. Level three moves to organizational consistency. That is, common processes, work products and measurements across the organization. Also, engineering practices, such as understanding the user needs and environment, design, peer review and testing, are added to the required documented procedures. In addition, a process improvement team must be in place to ensure continuous evaluation and improvement of all processes. At Level four, statistical process control and quantitative management are introduced. At Level five, determining and correcting root causes are implemented. Also, based on the quantitative understanding that is defined at Level four, measurable improvements to processes, technologies and quality are expected to be a normal part of operations.
Statistics show that the industry average for moving from CMMI Maturity Level 1 to Level 2 is twenty-three months and to move from CMMI Maturity Level 2 to Level 3 is another twenty months. Moreover, the industry average to move from Maturity Level 3 to Level 4 is another twenty-five months and to move from Maturity Level 4 to Level 5 is an additional thirteen months. Thus, your process improvement program must be sustainable for four years if you wish to reach CMMI Maturity Level 3—and to reach Maturity Level 5, you must add another three years—for a grand total of seven years.
That said, just how do companies achieve that level of sustainability for their process improvement program? Further, what happens to cause companies to lose momentum and not meet or maintain their process improvement goals? By examining these points, we can identify steps that we can build into your process improvement program to ensure that your company meets your process improvement goals—and continuously improves over the long-term.
In order to have any chance of reaching your process improvement goals, you must first clearly define specific goals for your process improvement program at the very beginning. In the model, the Measurement and Analysis process area at CMMI Maturity Level 2 gives you guidance in initiating measurements that link to your business objectives. Here then, you should build the foundation for measurements that will be key to sustaining your process improvement program. Objectives should be focused on the real benefits that your organization is trying to achieve—and should not be focused on a Level rating. For instance, typical process improvement measures include:
Productivity increases
Decrease of rework
Decrease of defects
Higher schedule and cost accuracy
Increased customer satisfaction
Return on investment (amount spent on process improvement compared to benefits achieved)
Faster time to market
Decrease in number of change requests
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