CMMI 2.0 has dropped the generic goals and practices, or so I’ve heard. I understand why they were created in the first place: ensure the organization institutionalizes its processes. The biggest complaint people had about the generics is that they duplicate much of the process areas’ specific goals and practices.| Generic Practice | Process Area |
|---|---|
| GP 2.2 Plan the Process | PP |
| GP 2.3 Provide Resources | PP |
| GP 2.4 Assign Responsibility | PP |
| GP 2.5 Train People | OT |
| GP 2.6 Control Work Products | CM |
| GP 2.7 Identify and Involve Relevant Stakeholders | PP/PMC/IPM |
| GP 2.8 Monitor and Control the Process | PMC/MA |
| GP 2.9 Objectively Evaluate Adherence | PPQA |
| GP 2.10 Review Status with Higher Level Management | PMC |
| GP 3.1 Establish a Defined Process | IPM/OPD |
| GP 3.2 Collect Process Related Experiences | IPM/OPF/OPD |
If you’re doing all the stuff identified in the SPs, you’re also probably hitting all the GPs, too.
Before the generics are officially discarded to the dustbin of history, I want to point out one way they can still help: process templates. A level 3 maturity organization should have a defined process for…well…defining their processes. A document that defines a process should be based on a template created by the organization. What questions should we be forcing the author documenting a new process to answer? The generics provide these questions.
