CMMI(R) Survival Guide: Just Enough Process Improvement (The SEI Series in Software Engineering)

Book Description

Praise for CMMI® Survival Guide

"Traveling down the CMMI road can be difficult and time-consuming. Garcia and Turner have given us a practical roadmap that addresses the key points to learn as well as the many potholes to avoid. Their Survival Guide is a most valuable resource for the journey. It will help immeasurably in achieving the process improvement that you seek."

—Dr. Howard Eisner, Distinguished Research Professor, George Washington University

"Helps you get to the 'red meat' of the CMMI quickly and with minimum pain."

—Donald J. Reifer, President, Reifer Consultants, Inc.

"The best words I can offer potential readers is that you must have this book, not on your shelf, but with you for repeated reading to glean new ideas or reinforce old ones you gained from the past readings. If you have ever been directly involved in a process improvement initiative or if you are starting one, this book can only help you to do a better job. And while [the authors] may not have written this book explicitly for experienced consultants, I found it a great reference even for those of us who helped start this industry, because it provides clear and useful answers to those tough questions we are asked all of the time."

—Tim Kasse, CEO and Principal Consultant, Kasse Initiatives LLC

"This book contains practical (working) tips for the 'getting started' phase of process improvement, which is the hardest one in the road to improving one's processes."

—Agapi Svolou, Principal of Alexanna, LLC, and SEI CMMI Transition Partner

"The authors have done an outstanding job in providing guidance for process improvement from a practical perspective. Instead of focusing on a single technique or approach, they have provided a variety of methods for process improvement implementation and have framed their discussion with rich context from lessons learned. The concepts described in this book will be useful to both those starting CMMI implementations and to those who are well into their journey but are still looking for ways to lessen the pain and provide value-added improvements. Reading the book is like being in the audience during a live presentation by SuZ and Rich—they wrote the book as they would present the information to a live audience."

—Bill Craig, Director, Software Engineering Directorate, AMRDEC, RDECOM

"I have been involved in process improvement since the early 90's and many of the mistakes that I made could have been prevented if this book had been available then."

—Claude Y. Laporte, Professor, ETS Universite du Quebec

"Primarily, the book is practical. The guidance presented is geared toward someone who is not exactly sure why they need process improvement, but is presented with the fact that they must do it. Very often these are smaller organizations, with limited resources, and uncertain support from above. As I read the book, I thought almost immediately of a couple of organizations with which I am familiar who could use this kind of tutelage. There are real, and useful, techniques in this book that I believe can help these kinds of organizations prioritize and establish reasonable plans for improving the processes in the organization. I also like the sidebars and personal observations. Discussions of experience can really help organizations through the various pitfalls that are part of developing and deploying processes. It makes the book more of a 'real life' guide, and not a theoretical exercise. Finally, the book is an enjoyable read. The conversational style of the book (and the humor) make it much easier to read than many of the books I have read in the past."

—Alexander Stall, Principal Process Improvement Engineer, Systems and Software Consortium

The CMMI provides a framework for process improvement spanning the life cycle of a product or service, from conception through delivery and maintenance. Widely and beneficially adopted around the world, the size and apparent complexity of the framework have nonetheless been daunting to some organizations. That need not be so. With a proper guide to help navigate around unknown dangers, potential pitfalls, and false paths, you too, can realize substantial business value from a successful CMMI implementation. This book is such a guide, full of the real-life examples to ease your way, and written in a lighter style to ease your reading.

The CMMI® Survival Guide is an effective resource for multiple readerships. If you are just now considering a process improvement program, with the CMMI among your options, the authors' discussion of relevant issues will enhance your business case right from the start. If you have already decided to implement the CMMI, the authors' practical knowledge will help you make the most of your efforts. Even if you are well into a CMMI implementation, but are lost, stuck, or going around in circles, the authors' valuable advice will help you regain your direction.

If you work in a smaller or resource-strapped organization, you will particularly benefit from the authors' description of alternative paths to process improvement—approaches that are more incremental or agile, and less intensive, than you might imagine for a CMMI implementation. The authors draw on their extensive experience working with diverse organizations, and on the CMMI tools, techniques, and templates developed for those organizations.

Whatever your background or need, the CMMI® Survival Guide will help you survey the CMMI territory, consult possible road maps, learn from other CMMI explorers, weigh the benefits of hiring a living guide, and even consider whether the trip is right for you.

Customer Reviews:

Far more readable and effective than other process books..........2007-04-08

I've been exposed to a number of process improvement methodologies throughout my career, as well as read a number of books that try to explain them. To be honest, it's not a subject that's high on my "can't wait to read" list. But were more books styled like CMMI Survival Guide: Just Enough Process Improvement by Suzanne Garcia and Richard Turner, I would probably be more inclined to give them a chance. This book covers what you need to know without all of the mind-numbing jargon and detail...

Contents:
Part 1 - Scouting the Territory: Why We Think Process Is Important; Why Process Improvement Helps; Why Process Improvement Isn't Trivial
Part 2 - Mapping the Route: CMMI As Your Guide; A Decision-based Life Cycle for Improvement
Part 3 - Surviving the Passage: A PI Case Study; Survival and PI
Part 4 - Experiencing the Journey: Developing and Sustaining Sponsorship; Setting and Measuring Against Realistic Goals; Managing an Appraisal Life Cycle; Developing Process Improvement Infrastructure; Defining Processes; Looking Ahead
Part 5 - Outfitting Your Expedition (PI Resources): Tools and Techniques
Bibliography; Index

The basic direction of the authors is to talk to the reader like they were actually there, and to simplify CMMI so that it can be grasped and understood. And when you place a traditionally process-heavy methodology like CMMI up against agile methodologies like Extreme Programming, you realize just what a task the authors have taken on. Surprisingly, they pull it off pretty well. Part 1 lays the foundation for why a business or organization needs to have some sort of process improvement plan in place. The larger the organization is, the more important it becomes. Then using CMMI as the framework, part 2 covers the main topics of just what makes up the process improvement effort. Part 3 is where the application of the process becomes concrete. They use an easily-understandable case study that takes concepts and applies them to actual situations. That's usually where the large "formal" books fail. You can stuff as much information into your head as you want, but until it gets applied, it's pretty useless. Part 4 goes into more details of how the process works on an ongoing basis, followed by the actual tools and techniques that come into play for CMMI (part 5). By the end, you've covered everything you need to know (and you haven't poked your eyeballs out in frustration).

While this might not be the "official" guide to a methodology, it's far more readable and applicable than books three times its size. And if you can read and understand the material, you have a far better chance of making it actually work...

Getting and recognizing benefit from process improvement.......2007-02-23

An easy to read book about using an abstract model: this is quite a feat. This is the book I'd write about improving processes, if I had the time, the talent, the motivation, etc. I've been doing this improvement work for many years, occasionally with the authors, and it is gratifying to see that they've captured so many good practices and useful ideas and shared them in an accessible, friendly way.
Many different fields use CMMI as a standard, to decide about improvement planning, to gauge their results, to convince customers they are reliable. This book shows the way around the pit-falls, points out the poison-ivy patches, and can help people find their way to the benefits of process improvement.
Of course CMMI for Development can be daunting: it describes professional engineering and engineering management practices in enough detail to be used in several ways by different communities. Finally, it isn't CMMI that drives people to disappointing improvement results. Mistakes in judging how easy it is to get people to change or even to describe their way of doing things often have led to "heavy" process implementations, as change agents add more and more detail hoping it will get people to use the processes. Or, mistaking how fast processes can be implemented can lead to mandated processes that work well for no one.
The authors have accurately described how to find your "main, broad road" to the benefits of improvements, and the many factors that you have to consider that will lead you there. Now I don't have to write this book. I'll give it to our customer's managers and their process engineers and be confident that they can get good direction from it: we now have a rich resource of techniques, stories, and directions that we can refer to in our projects.
Okay, some criticism: the techniques described in the last chapters are very effective, but have to be approached with discipline as well as a fun-finding mind-set, so they may not work for everyone. But that's one of the good things about the book- the authors say that few improvements work exactly the way you want, the very first time. Honest and useful advice.

a brief overview of CMMI.......2006-11-03

Garcia and Turner address a widely held concern about adopting CMMI. That it is overly heavy, with much to assimilate before a group of programmers can usefully apply it. Well ok, CMMI can be used for more than just software development. But as a practical matter, most of its users and proposed users are in that business. The book is perhaps also a reaction to the Agile process. The latter is in some ways the mirror image of CMMI, with short design and coding cycles.

The book gives a relatively quick walkthrough of CMMI. A broad picture about using CMMI to improve your development process. En route, it also discusses general topics like project management issues, which are not exclusive to CMMI. The entire text is really just a primer for CMMI. It shows that CMMI has many subtopics, and the procedures involved can be rather detailed. Adding up to a formidable total barrier for the newcomer. But the text does supply enough information to give an appreciation of what CMMI can do for you, and the concepts to be mastered.

Of all the chapters, I found Chapter 11 to be the most formidable. It seems to give the strongest indicator of the amount of material in CMMI. Just consider the O process areas within CMMI. "You'll need people who can implement the practices in Organisational Process Focus, Organisational Process Definition, Organisational Training, Organisational Innovation and Deployment and (eventually) Organisational Process Performance". Whew! And the chapter goes on to give more information about what these might entail. No wonder some might baulk at CMMI.

Practical Support for CMMI-SW Software Project Documentation Using IEEE Software Engineering Standards

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Practical Support for CMMI-SW Software Project Documentation Using IEEE Software Engineering Standards
Susan K. Land , and John W. Walz
Manufacturer: Wiley-IEEE Computer Society Pr
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ASIN: 0471738492

Book Description

Software process definition, documentation, and improvement should be an integral part of every software engineering organization. This book addresses the specific documentation requirements in support of the CMMI-SW ^® by providing detailed documentation guidance in the form of:

Detailed organizational policy examples.
An Integrated set of over 20 deployable document templates.
Examples of over 50 common work products required in support of assessment activities.
Examples of organizational delineation of process documentation.

This book provides a set of IEEE Software Engineering Standards-based templates that support the documentation required for all activities associated with software development projects. The goal is to provide practical support for individuals responsible for the development and documentation of software processes and procedures. The objective is to present the reader with an integrated set of documents that support the requirements of the CMMI-SW ^® Levels 2 and 3. This book is meant to both complement and extend the information provided in Jumpstart CMM ^® /CMMI ^® Software Process Improvement Using IEEE Software Engineering Standards. Jumpstart provides a detailed mapping of both the CMM ^® and the CMMI-SW ^® to the IEEE standards set and provides a logical basis for the material contained within this text.

Book Description

Practical guidelines for an effective implementation of software development processes
Designed to ensure effective software development processes, the Capability Maturity Model (CMM)--North America's leading standard for software development--requires companies to complete five steps, or levels, in the development process. But while it is widely adopted by Fortune 500 companies, many others get stuck at the initial planning stage. Focusing on Levels 2 and 3 of the CMM, this book helps readers to get over the hurdle of the two most problematic areas in this process--the project management and software development steps. It offers clear, step-by-step guidance on how to establish basic project management processes to track costs, schedules, and functionality; how to document, standardize, and integrate software processes; and how to improve software quality.

Customer Reviews:

could do better.......2006-02-03

I preferred the last few chapters of Humphrey's Managing the Software Process regards describing how CMM links to reality. I am still looking for a good book on CMM/CMMi, as the general quality of the descriptions in such books seams low. There is a real lack of linking the theory back to reality.
I have given it 3 stars because the book gives a good covering of the theory and is a little less dry than the original CMM book.

Information-packed reference that lives up to its title.......2005-03-18

This book provides a very thorough treatment of all the Key Process Areas (KPA's), the organizational goals, structures, activities, policies, and training that you will need to address in order to attain CMM levels 2 and 3. In addition, an appendix provides a valuable level-2 preassessment questionnaire (150+ questions) that you can use to gauge your readiness for a real appraisal. For people who may be wondering about getting into the CMM but have never actually been exposed to this sort of stuff before, this questionnaire alone should be worth the price of the book. It is certain to be a major eye-opener in terms of conveying the CMM's almost daunting reach into so many different factors that it identifies with software process improvement. (And that's just level 2!)

The SEI's (Software Engineering Institute) Capability Maturity Model "Guidelines" book has been around for many years, and is considered the definitive guide (in book-form) for the CMM. Nevertheless that book will tell you only what's expected of you, but leave you hanging when it comes to how you actually do it. Dr. Persse on the other hand fills in a wealth of much-needed detail. The SEI may have given us the "business requirements", but Persse provides the "detailed development spec".

Although I would definitely recommend this book, I still believe it could have been greatly enhanced by a few well-placed visuals. For example, having now finished reading through the seven KPA's of level 3, I can visualize the Training KPA as a parallel KPA whose purpose is to educate the organization about the other six. Of these other six KPA's, Organization Process Focus establishes the prerequisite foundation for Organization Process Definition which, in turn, establishes the prerequisite foundation for the remaining four KPA's. Although this relationship unfolds as you read the text, I found myself going back and re-reading sections in order to clarify that image in my mind. A simple introductory visual would have allowed me to nail this important relationship early on.

Visuals notwithstanding, I believe the book deserves five stars for delivering exactly what its title advertises (keyword "implementing"), and for doing so with a thorough, clear, and well-organized presentation.

capability Maturity Model.......2004-02-27

that is a nice book. basically this book is very useful for me as i am doing a research on it. and my topic is
Is Capability Maturity Model (CMM) really the best approach to Quality Assurance in India??

could you please help me about this topic as i need only few Indian companies using CMM(capability maturity model)

thank you
waiting for reply
prabha

good book for process engineers.......2003-02-20

This is a pretty interesting book as it has step by step instructions and guidelines for implementing the CMM up to level 3. If your organization is in a chaotic mode, here is a good place to start to see what to fix first. Also includes a set of example policies and procedures which can be modified to fit your needs.

Clear roadmap to levels 2 and 3.......2002-06-24

The author of this excellent book give a realistic roadmap to achieving CMM levels 2 and 3, which are major hurdles in capability maturity, especially level 2 from a culture-shock point of view.

What makes this book realistic is the way you're lead through the important steps, with a complete focus on what it takes instead of theory. The book starts off with an obligatory overview of the CMM, but quickly segues into the steps needed to attain level 2 (repeatable), which are creating the structures, processes, training program and policies. While each of these are important, I especially like the inclusion of policies because they are necessary to codify goals and are frequently overlooked. This section also includes subcontractor management, which is important for aligning those with whom you are using on projects with your own organizational capabilities. This makes sense because if your organization is repeatable and your subcontractor(s) aren't, then you either need to go shopping for more compatible subcontractors, or get dragged back into ad hoc approaches.

The same approach to graduating to level 3 is used, with slight changes. In the section that covers level 3 the first topic is about focusing on organizational process improvement, followed by an in-depth chapter on defining organization processes. These reflect the key changes between level 2's repeatable goals and level 3's focus on defined processes. After these are clearly and completely explained the same formula - structures, processes, training program and policies - is addressed for level 3.

Following the steps to get to levels 2 and 3, the next section is centered on implementation and assessment. This section prepares you for the assessment process itself, and offers excellent advice on how to get through it. Additional information of value is provided in appendices B (Annotated Level 2 Preassessment Questionnaire) and C (Samples of Level 2 Policies), both of which are provided in PDF format from the book's associated web site.

One key question that needs to be answered: Which is better, this book or CMM Implementation Guide: Choreographing Software Process Improvement by Kim Caputo? My opinion is that both books are equally important and both should be read because they cover two different aspects of attaining CMM levels 2 and above. This book concerns itself with the nuts and bolts of processes, where Caputo's book is more focused on organizational change. I recommend both books, and think that they nicely complement each other.

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Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3) Knowledge Foundation
Project Management Institute
Manufacturer: Project Management Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Third Edition (PMBOK Guides)

Project Manager Competency Development Framework

The Standard for Portfolio Management

The Standard for Program Management

Using the Project Management Maturity Model: Strategic Planning for Project Management

ASIN: 1930699085

Average customer rating:

Average at best...

Quick Read, worth the time

Much-needed effort, but has pitfalls

Its about time...

Using the Project Management Maturity Model: Strategic Planning for Project Management
Harold, Ph.D. Kerzner
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management, Second Edition

The Project Management Scorecard: Measuring the Success of Project Management Solutions (Improving Human Performance)

Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling

Building Project-Management Centers of Excellence (With CD-ROM)

Creating the Project Office: A Manager's Guide to Leading Organizational Change (Jossey Bass Business and Management Series)

ASIN: 0471691615

Book Description

updated for today's businesses-a proven model FOR assessment and ongoing improvement

Using the Project Management Maturity Model, Second Edition is the updated edition of Harold Kerzner's renowned book covering his Project Management Maturity Model (PMMM). In this hands-on book, Kerzner offers a unique, industry-validated tool for helping companies of all sizes assess and improve their progress in integrating project management into every part of their organizations.

Conveniently organized into two sections, this Second Edition begins with an examination of strategic planning principles and the ways they relate to project management. In the second section, PMMM is introduced with in-depth coverage of the five different levels of development for achieving maturity. Easily adaptable benchmarking instruments for measuring an organization's progress along the maturity curve make this a practical guide for any type of company.

Complete with an associated Web site packed with both teaching and learning tools, Using the Project Management Maturity Model, Second Edition helps managers, engineers, project team members, business consultants, and others build a powerful foundation for company improvement and excellence.

Customer Reviews:

Average at best..........2004-07-29

Kerzner's project management maturity model is legendary ... that may be a big part of the problem with this book. It's full of dated buzzwords, a wafer-thin, ultra-simplistic overview of strategic planning and provides little actionable material for integrating the strategic planning and project management processes.

From Kerzner, and for the price, I expected much much more!

Quick Read, worth the time.......2002-09-19

This is a very quick read book that talks about a general prject management Model for Companies and especially Technology Organizations within companies.
The Model offered isn't as restrictive or expensive as CMM (CMU's Capability Maturity Model), and outlines how common methods / processes / foundations can be brought together in an overall strategy for Technology organizations to develop in to true Project Oriented groups, working effective within a greater organization.

Much-needed effort, but has pitfalls.......2001-08-16

This book represents an excellent effort to apply the capability maturity model(CMM) to project management. For reference, the CMM was originated by Mitre Corp. and developed by the Software Engineering Institute originally as a benchmark for determining an organization's software engineering capabilities. It has become a widely used benchmark in the software engineering community and has been extended to other domains, such as human resources (the People Capability Maturity Model) and other disciplines.

The book starts off with an introduction, followed by three chapters that lay the groundwork for the author's maturity model: The Need for Strategic Planning for Project Management, Impact of Economic Conditions on Project Management, Principles of Strategic Planning. The ideas and material presented here are very much applicable to program management offices.

Project Management Maturity Model (PMMM) is introduced in the next chapter, which ties project management to an enterprise-wide strategic planning initiative. It also provides a project management-centric view of capability maturity. The next five chapters are devoted to each of the five levels of the PMMM: Level 1 (Common Language), Level 2 (Common Processes), Level 3 (Singular Methodology), Level 4 (Benchmarking), and Level 5 (Continuous Improvement).

The value of this is project management practices can be assessed against a standard benchmark for capability, which is something that cannot be achieved by comparing these practices against Project Management Institute's Project Management Body of Knowledge.

There is one pitfall to the PMMM that the author proposes: it uses a different paradigm than the CMM, which is Level-1 (Ad Hoc), Level-2 (Repeatable), Level-3 (Defined), Level-4 (Managed) and Level-5 (Optimizing). This is not a problem outside of the software development industry and IT domain where the CMM is not known. However, because the CMM integrates project management into its process areas, the disparity of terminology, assessment paradigm and the model itself will cause confusion and make implementing the PMMM in a CMM organization a nightmare.

One thing I do like very much is the balanced approach the author takes. This is shown in a chapter titled "Special Problems with Strategic Planning for Project Management." Also, the case studies at the end of the book are excellent reading.

Here's the conundrum: the project management profession needs a benchmark and the PMMM is well thought out and thorough. However, the PMMM differs in many ways from the CMM. My personal take is at least the author drove a stake into the ground by raising an awareness of the need for a PMMM. He also has thought this through and the model itself is sound. I found the book invaluable and thought-provoking. It does lay the foundation for a PMO, as stated by a previous reviewer, and that is something that is only marginally addressed in the official U.S. PM standard (Project Management Body of Knowledge). The value outweighs the cited pitfall, in my opinion, and earns this book 5 stars and my recommendation that every serious PM read this book.

Its about time..........2001-05-25

I have spent the last three years building Project/Program Management Office (PMO) infrastructures, processes, systems and project manager training programs. The reason I love this book is that it explains the vital need of strategic planning for successful project management. Most of the project managers I have worked with have little, if any strategic planning training. We have had a significant amount of success with the projects where we started with a strategic planning session. It is about time that someone wrote a meaningful and useful book on strategic planning for project management. Thank you Harold Kerzner.

The Earned Value Management Maturity Model

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The Earned Value Management Maturity Model
Ray W. Stratton
Manufacturer: Management Concepts
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1567261809
Release Date: 2006-09-01

Product Description

The Earned Value Management Maturity Model® gives you the fundamental tools needed to build an effective Earned Value Management System (EVMS). This must-have resource makes earned value management easy by defining a maturity model and describing metrics to measure the health and efficiency of your EVMS. Discover valuable ways to improve your EVMS and achieve project success. Through point by point discussions, you will: -Gain fundamental knowledge of Earned Value Management (EVM) -Learn how EVM can be applied to a team, project, program, or organization -Understand how to define what your organization wants from its EVMS -Discover a five stage maturity model for EVMS implementation -Bring your EVMS in line with ANSI 748 guidelines -Review many real or imagined impediments to implementing EVM and how to overcome the real ones PLUS you'll gain practical EVM experience through a comprehensive case study that follows a fictional company and newly hired project manager. By applying the EVM knowledge and skills covered in the book, the project manager illustrates the ease of implementing an effective EVMS!

Project Management Maturity Model, Second Edition (Center for Business Practices)

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Project Management Maturity Model, Second Edition (Center for Business Practices)
J. Kent Crawford
Manufacturer: AUERBACH
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0849379458

Book Description

Assisting organizations in improving their project management processes, the Project Management Maturity Model defines the industry standard for measuring project management maturity. Project Management Maturity Model, Second Edition is a roadmap showing an organization how to systematically move to higher levels of organizational behavior, improving project success and organizational performance. It's a comprehensive tool for enhancing project management practices, covering areas critical to organizational improvement, such as the project office, management oversight, and professional development. It also provides methods for optimizing project management processes. The book also includes the Project Portfolio Management Maturity Model, which covers best practices for determining portfolio maturity, setting short-term priorities, improving portfolio management processes and tracking progress. The author, J. Kent Crawford, CEO of PM Solutions, describes the basics of project management maturity, including the benefits of assessing maturity, and presents a comprehensive framework for improving organization's processes. Chapters are based on the nine project management knowledge areas specified in the Project Management Institute's standard, the PMBOK® Guide. This edition also provides new and revised materials based on the PMBOK® Guide Third Edition. After an objective assessment, an organization can set its goals for increasing the capability of its processes and develop a plan for reaching those goals. This book is ideal for anyone involved with improving the capability of an organization's project and portfolio management processes.

Project Management Success with CMMI(R): Seven CMMI Process Areas

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It's easy to follow and provides directions

Project Management Success with CMMI(R): Seven CMMI Process Areas
James Persse
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall PTR
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0132333058

Book Description

Use CMMI to Improve Project Management Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Accountability

The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Maturity Level 2 offers powerful, end-to-end tools for improvement throughout your organization. In Project Management Success with CMMI ^®, James Persse demonstrates exactly how to apply CMMI Level 2 to virtually any project, program, or process. User friendly, concise, and easy to follow, this book helps you implement all seven CMMI Level 2 process areas; customize CMMI for your unique projects and organization; and achieve powerful, quantifiable results.

The author takes a practical approach to the business and operational needs of project management, carefully linking the realities of business and technical projects with CMMI recommendations. Drawing on his unsurpassed CMMI field experience, Persse presents case studies, anecdotes, and examples—all designed to illuminate what works and what doesn’t.

Persse introduces the substance and intention of all seven CMMI Level 2 process areas. For each area, he shows how to define goals, implement best practices, understand issues of sizing and scope, and avoid pitfalls and misinterpretations. He is also the first to explain how CMMI can integrate with the tools and skills of the Project Management Institute’s Project Management Body of Knowledge, improving the effectiveness of both.

Coverage includes

Understanding project management as value management
Planning projects and structuring expectations
Monitoring and controlling projects
Managing requirements, configurations, and supplier agreements
Implementing effective measurement and analysis
Assuring process and product quality

Project Management Success with CMMI ^® is an invaluable resource for anyone responsible for managing projects, programs, or processes—including those who are new to CMMI and project management.

The book’s companion Web site (www.prenhallprofessional.com/title/0132333058) contains an extensive library of downloadable CMMI project management resources corresponding to each of the seven CMMI process areas.

Customer Reviews:

It's easy to follow and provides directions.......2007-09-06

PROJECT MANAGEMENT SUCCESS WITH CMMI: SEVEN CMMI PROCESS AREAS shows how to apply CMMI Level 2 to projects, programs, or processes. It's easy to follow and provides directions for implementing and customizing CMMI for any type of product or organization, covering both business and operational needs of project management and offering up not just technical specs, but real-world case studies and examples to support what works and why.

Organizational Project Management Maturity Model Opm3 Overview

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Organizational Project Management Maturity Model Opm3 Overview
Project Management Institute
Manufacturer: Project Management Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1930699042

Product Description

Description: For those interested in knowing more about what OPM3® is and how it is used, this OPM3® Overview is a summary of OPM3® contents. This at-a-glance reference is intended to help you gain a general understanding of the features and benefits of OPM3®, as you consider the possible merits of using the OPM3® Standard in your organizations. The contents of the OPM3® Overview are simplified from the robust body of material contained in the OPM3® Standard. While a full understanding of the actual application of OPM3® requires a thorough studying of the OPM3® Standard itself, the OPM3® Overview provides a basic explanation of the components and processes of OPM3®, thereby making purchasing decisions easier.

Project Management Maturity Model (Center for Business Practices)

Average customer rating:

Series of four very expensive reference books

Project Management Maturity Model (Center for Business Practices)
J. Kent Crawford
Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0824707540

Book Description

Ideal for organizations setting up a project management maturity model, this book provides effective strategies for the implementation of efficient systems, time and cost conservation, quality assurance, and project success. The author details areas critical to organizational improvement such as the project office, management oversight, professional development, risk assessment, and streamlining processes. Summarizing methods to identify, analyze, and control factors affecting project quality and scheduling, the book covers the components of each layer of the maturity level; techniques to build a culture of project management excellence; tools to measure company progress; and more.

Customer Reviews:

Series of four very expensive reference books.......2002-04-14

This is a review for four books into one review, all published by Marcel and likely released by them as a theme package: two by author J.Kent Crawford - The Project Management Maturity Model, and The Strategic Project Office and two by Frank Toney - The Superior Project Manager and The Superior Project Organization. The information Amazon posts is not the same as the books in terms of copyright and number of pages. My books all show a 2002 publication. Marcel has a fifth one coming out on managing multiple projects.

I do not understand why they charge so much, perhaps because they feel the audience is so limited they have to. The publisher will sell these and the one on multiple projects as a package for a substantial discount. My review below will be positive, but I also found myself irked at not only the high cost, but the duplication of content. Substantial content of each author is duplicated in his companion book. It would have not been a challenge with both authors to have merged the two books into one, and then better justifying the high price. While these four books are an important part of my reference library on project management, my four star rating is because of the cost of each book aggravated by the duplication of content.

Crawford's books are ideal for organizations wanting to adopt a project management maturity model. Their proprietary model mirrors PMI's PMBOK in terms of structure, but adds three important and valuable "special interest components" of Project Office, Management Oversight, and Professional Development. So, for an organization wanting to map their organization's project management maturity to the PMBOK, this model is exceptional well covered in a manner that by just reading the added competencies required at each higher maturity level, you get a sense of the enormous undertaking to increase one maturity level at a time. The three special interest components round out the model because the PMBOK is mostly about individual project best practices/methodologies, whereas Crawford wanted to add organizational issues to include Project Offices. Thus, organization's looking for guidance on their Project Office or PMO would find his two books very useful. The Maturity Model book has large font, is a small book, and mostly duplicated in the other book, but is ideal if you want a dedicated focus on just the maturity model mapped to PMBOK. His Project Office book has outstanding content for the many organizational issues and challenges, but also includes much of the maturity model in the other book. The content of The Strategic Project Office is outstanding, and covers the issues that plaque organizations in developing an environment for project success. If you have a budget for only one of his two, get the Strategic Project Office book.

Toney books offer specific best practices, and again, the content is duplicated to an incredible degree - whole blocks of paragraphs totally duplicated. They are just best practices on the other side of the coin, one for the organization, the other for the project manager. The best practices are highlighted in black boxes, with good content to explain why it is a best practice - so it is not just a listing, but in effect takes you on a journey of many best practices, giving them context to each other. Competency wheels explained in the beginning are potentially very valuable for an organization; I wish there was a tool for this, or added as a CD to justify the incredible cost. If you have a limited budget, the Superior Project Organization is probably the better choice.

Of the two authors, I would say Crawford has more in-depth content, and the cost is half. But as a series of four volumes, if you can get your organization to pay for these, they do make for an outstanding library, and are synergistic in their message. If I were charged with the challenge of taking an organization from a matrix to a strong matrix or project organization, I would clearly invest in all four books. But for individual reading, the cost is a major limitation.

In sum, I would recommend only spending the high cost is if you are focused on maturity modeling, identifying best practices, and trying to move an organization to be a project organization. These books are not a typical read about traditional project management practices, so it is not close to a PM HOW TO book. The books could also be used to study for the PMP, as the PMBOK is very dry reading, and these books would add a real-world context to the PMBOK framework.

For those on a mission within their organization, Creating an Environment for Successful Projects is a must read. This book does a better job of explaining why organization's struggle, but lacks a maturity model to do an assessment.

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