Some organizations just went through
the motions or paid lip service to collecting measurements. They performed measurement
activities superficially (in order to pass an appraisal of some type or to
impress the boss that a measurement program was in effect in his organization)
210 n Interpreting the CMMI
with little or no benefit resulting from these activities. The Measurement and Analysis
PA refocuses that effort into mapping measurement collection and analysis to
the ability of those measures to support management information needs; that is,
not doing measurement for measurement??™s sake but in order to achieve some value
from the measurements. Specific goals of the Measurement and Analysis PA are
that measurement objectives must be aligned with identified information needs
and objectives, and that measurement results address these needs. Great. But what
are information needs? While there is no strict definition (because what is needed
is specific to what is needed in your organization), a review of the following documents
will provide clues as to what information is needed by your organization:
Plans??”Project plans, strategic plans, business plans, and process improvement
plans
Results of monitoring project performance
Management objectives
Formal requirements or contractual obligations
Recurring or troublesome management or technical problems
By reviewing these documents, you can craft measurement specifications that
map to the needs implied in the documents.
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