Process Improvement Essentials

Chapter 8. Considerations for Adoption

NOW THAT YOU HAVE TAKEN BRIEF LOOKS AT ISO 9001:2000, THE CAPABILITY MATURITY MODEL Integration, and Six Sigma, you may want to compare these three against some common considerations for adoption.

First, however, it’s important to note that these three leading standards are not really choices that are mutually exclusive; they can coexist quite well together. A large company might operate under the umbrella of ISO 9001 and have its IT shops working at CMMI Level 2 under this umbrella. And it might measure the performance of this CMMI program using Six Sigma.

On the other hand, smaller organizations (or those new to process) will probably want to make something of choice, focusing on the standard that, at least initially, appears best suited to its needs.

In this chapter, I’ll make a rough comparison between ISO, CMMI, and Six Sigma. I say rough because the three standards do not really share a common structure. And each has a focus that is, in application, somewhat different from the others. But they do have some major traits in common. Each of the three represents an approach to process improvement. Each presents a framework that can be used to structure process improvement efforts. Each has been shown to be effective for the IT industry. And each has a large base of users that constitute a substantial support community.

I’ll make the comparison two ways. First, by looking at a series of program traits you might consider when thinking about your ...