PDCA vs CMMI-Dev High Maturity

The Plan-Do-Act-Check cycle is a continuous improvement strategy that aims to guide the improvement effort of a process or a product. As described in chapter 2 the PDCA cycle is based on the Shewhart cycle and is part of the 14 principles for transformation of management. The PDCA cycle is part of the 14th principle,’Take action to accom-plish the transformation’to help an organization to establish a focus on a continuous improvement of quality. The Shewhart cycle was adapted by Demming to originate the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle [Dem00a].

Plan step

The PDSA cycle begins withPlanstep were someone identifies an idea for improve-ment leading to a plan for a test, comparison or an experiimprove-ment. Several suggestions of improvement should be identified and possible outcomes considered and compared.

The Plan step starts when a choice between several suggestions is made and an actual plan is defined. This description for the Plan step aligns withCMMI-Dev OPM.SG

1 Manage Business Performance specific goal, namely in the scope of the specific practice OPM.SP 1.3 Identify Potential Areas for Improvement where possible im-provements areas are identified within the organization. The mapping is classified as Lowas only one out of three Specific Practice (SP) is related to the Planstep. Also, the Plan step aligns with OPM.SG 2 Select Improvementsspecific goal in the scope of OPM.SP 2.1 Elicit Suggested Improvements and OPM.SP 2.2 Analyse Suggested Improvements specific practices. The expected work products of these practices are suggested innovative and incremental improvements and actual proposals are selected for implementation based on these improvements. The mapping of thePlanstep with OPM.SG 2 is classified as Medium as two out of three of the practices relate to the Planstep. Table 5.2 summarizes the mapping for this step.

Component Measure CMMI-Dev Specific Goal

Plan Low OPM.SG 1 Manage Business Performance.

Medium OPM.SG 2 Select Improvements.

Table 5.2: Planstep mapping to CMMI-Dev practices

Do step

In the Do step a test, experiment or comparison is carried out, preferably on a small scale. This description maps to CMMI-Dev OPM.SG 2 Select Improvementsspecific goal, namely OPM.SP 2.4 Select and Implement Improvements for Deployment spe-cific practice where improvements are selected and changes to the process are imple-mented. The mapping is classified asLowas one out of four practices may relates to theDostep. Table 5.3 summarizes the mapping of the Do step with CMMI-Dev high maturity practices.

Component Measure CMMI-Dev Specific Goal

Do Low OPM.SG 2 Select Improvements.

Table 5.3: Dostep mapping to CMMI-Dev practices

Study step

In theStudystep the results of the test, comparison or experiment are analysed to eval-uate if they are in line with improvement expectations. This evaluation is also expected

5.2 CMMI-Dev high maturity and Analytical SPI 101 in CMMI-DevOPM.SG 2 Select Improvementsspecific goal, namely in the scope of OPM.SP 2.3 Validate Improvements. In validating improvements, an organization is required to have an assessment on the results of the improvement proposal against initial expectations. CMMI-Dev also expects that statistical approaches are used in the assessment and these may include modelling and simulation of process behaviour.

Other assessment methods may focus on formal reviews, prototype demonstrations and pilots of improvement. Table 5.4 summarizes the mapping.

Component Measure CMMI-Dev Specific Goal Study Low OPM.SG 2 Select Improvements.

Table 5.4:Studystep mapping to CMMI-Dev practices

Act step

The last step, Act the improvement is adopted or abandoned or a decision is made to run a new iteration of improvement. The case where the improvement is adopted successfully maps to the expectation forOPM.SG 3 Deploy Improvementsmore specif-ically in the scope ofOPM.SP 3.1 Plan the DeploymentandOPM.SP 3.2 Manage the Deploymentspecific practices. These involve developing a deployment plan of the im-provement and monitor the deployment of imim-provements using deployment plans. The mapping is classified asMediumas two out of three practices are covered in CMMI-Dev OPM.SP 3.1 specific goal. Table 5.5 summarizes the mapping.

Component Measure CMMI-Dev Specific Goal

Act Medium OPM.SG 3 Deploy Improvements.

Table 5.5: Actstep mapping to CMMI-Dev practices

The PDSA is the oldest analytical approach and is less detailed when compared with other analytical approaches. PDSA defines an iterative structure for identifica-tion, planning, experimentaidentifica-tion, assessment and deployment of improvements. Table 5.6 summarizes the mapping between PDSA and CMMI-Dev providing overall eval-uation of coverage considering the highest value of a mapping for each CMMI-Dev high maturity specific goals. Considering the highest mapping possible one can con-clude that based on this assessment, organizations following PDSA address partially the Organizational Performance Management Process Area of CMMI-Dev.

CAR.SG1 CAR.SG2 OPM.SG1 OPM.SG2 OPM.SG3 OPP.SG1 QPM.SG1 QPM.SG2

Plan – – L M – – – –

Do – – – L – – – –

Study – – – L – – – –

Check – – – – L – – –

Highest mapping – – L M L – – –

Table 5.6: Summary of PDSA vs CMMI-Dev High maturity mapping