In my previous blog, I tried to explain how ‘Doing’ Category is broken down into four Capability Areas. Actually, I am in a dilemma here. Whether to drill down further these capability areas into related practice areas and practices or explain another Capability Category and related Capability Areas. Before I decide and start writing, let us go through another word most popularly used in CMMI.
This word is ‘Maturity’. We tried to understand what ‘Capability’ meant in my previous blog. Let us put this word 'Maturity' in the right context.
Maturity in my opinion means repeat predictable behavior. When ‘Capability’ is made evident over a period of time or instances and can be predicted then one can say that the organization is mature in its way of doing things. I think this is true even in personal life as well.
In CMMI context this means maturity of the capability possessed. So ‘Capability’ shown once, cannot be called ‘Maturity’. For an organization this ‘Capability’ must be made evident for a period of time across a number of products, projects and processes. That requires real dedication and rigor. CMMI maturity level rating is offered only if the organization is successful in executing all relevant practices in those practice areas satisfying their intents and thus meeting the criteria for related ‘Capability Areas and Categories’. Mind well as mentioned above it should be done for a period of time and across a number of products, projects and processes.
I think I have come to a decision. I will go through each Capability Category and its relevant areas first. Then I will choose which one to be drilled down further to set a right tone for all sorts of organizations, which are already into CMMI for a very long time, those which have been there for some time and ones which want to start their journey towards Maturity.
Let us then talk about Capability Category – Managing
Previously we had discussed ‘Doing’ Category, where we had discussed the broad level activities organizations perform to survive. As every organization does not have a goal only to survive, they stride to excel. To excel they need to keep the activities as a well-oiled machine. To do that they need to put systems and processes in place and manage them efficiently and effectively.
Let us then logically break this Managing category into related Capability areas. In ‘Doing’, we talked about actual execution to deliver a product or service to the customer. To achieve these results on a consistent basis one needs to Plan and Manage the way we are doing things. We can call it as Planning and Managing work to achieve the desired result. Naturally this becomes a Capability Area.
While doing business, organizations face a lot of uncertainties in the form of risks, opportunities, incidences that challenge safety and security as well as maintaining continuity in the operation. Organization has to identify risks and mitigate them, identify opportunities and utilize them. Identify incidences that obstruct the work and challenge the safety and security of resources. It is a job for the organization to maintain continuity in their operations. Incidences are speed breakers, which can temporarily or permanently put your business operations offline. Organizations need to identify and predict these kinds of incidences and find a way to steer around them. All these give rise to a capability area called as Managing Business Resilience.
Most important asset for any organization is the people working with them. Work force is behind execution, management, supporting and improving activities of the organization. CMMI has used a word to describe this Capability Areas as Managing the Workforce.
Personally, I am against this term. Workforce is nothing but human beings and, in my experience, no human being likes to be managed. We must involve the workforce rather than managing them. Actually, the name should have been Managing the Workforce Systems, however When I went through the details about this Practice Area, I found out that this area is not talking about actual workforce management as such but the systems than manage them. We will discuss those when we get into the details for Practice Areas.
Let's summarize our discussion in the form of a visual:
Now we know what is involved in the Managing Category in the CMMI. We will move to the next Capability Category in my next blog. Till then stay tuned.
