,

Process Essentials

Simple, practice based process improvement

Use this practice to improve and adapt the set of practices employed by a team.

This practice allows teams to: 

  • Identify, prepare and assemble a set of suitable practices and tools to support the project objectives.
  • Introduce new practices individually, gradually and as needed. 
  • Balance and integrate standard and local practices, preserving the things the team does well whilst addressing the things they do badly.
  • Evolve their practices based on their experiences and lessons learned.

Things to Produce

This practice involves the establishment of an effective way of working and the production of a number of practice and tool related artifacts:

  • The way of working is composed of a number of practices. Each explicit practice has its own description in the form of cards and guidelines.
  • The way of working is supported by a number of tools.  Each tool has its own Tool Guides describing configuration aspects as well as how to perform certain activities defined by the practices.
  • The project’s approach to usage of processes and tools is described, such as the level of detail and rigor associated with the selected practices.


Key Competencies

This practice requires the team to be skilled in leadership, and coaching.

This requires the following competencies to be in place:

This practice requires the team to have the skills in place to select, implement and tune an appropriate set of practices. Co-operation from individuals with the Analyst, Developer, Tester and Customer Representative competencies will be required to understand the current situation and needs of the team but only the base competency level is needed in these areas.

Things to do

The practice starts by establishing and launching the initial set of practices as part of the launch of the project.

The team is then coached in the new practices, the result of using the practices is evaluated and any necessary improvements are made.

This cycle of coaching, evaluation and improvement provides the project with a framework for continuous process improvement. Additional practices can then be added as needed to address project risks or ineffective practices can be improved or replaced.