WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM THIS BOOK (AND WHO CANNOT)

WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM THIS BOOK (AND WHO CANNOT!)

People in almost every role or function in any systems delivery or support organization in the world can benefit from one or more of the fresh ideas and practices explained in this book. Executives and senior managers, program and project managers, engineers , designers, architects , testers, and especially people with process focus responsibility, such as SEPG members or process improvement managers or leads, will all benefit from various chapters and sections.

If you want to improve the way your organization works; if you want people to work more effectively and efficiently ; if you want your organization to stop wasting time, money, and energy on activities that don t add value to anything, then this book is for you.

If, however, you want to achieve a CMMI maturity level and don t really care about improving processes or if you want to just talk about improving your organization but don t really want to do anything, this book is definitely not for you.

Assumptions about You, the Reader

In writing this book, I have made certain assumptions about the reader s knowledge and experience. Out of necessity ” and because I did not want to repeat the entire CMMI ” I assume that the reader has a basic understanding of CMMI, including knowledge of the process areas and the acronyms by which they are commonly known (e.g., REQM, PMC, OT, OPP).

I also assume the reader has at least primitive knowledge or awareness of some basic project management concepts, such as planning, estimating, and reporting progress and status. Finally, I assume the reader is capable of invoking some level of critical thinking. Like every book about CMM or CMMI, including the models themselves , you should not blindly accept the ideas and practices contained in these pages. Thinking critically and independently is hard work, requires you to have courage, and is essential to your success in using this book.