DECISION CRITERIA FOR CONTRACTING CMMI OR PROCESS CONSULTING

Once your organization has made an informed decision to contract CMMI or process improvement expertise from a consultant, it s time to make an informed decision about which consultant to select and contract. After all, doesn t this procurement activity fall under the guidelines provided for SAM SP 1.2, Select suppliers? If not, why not?

Based on experiences and observations from people who have been on the client side and the vendor side of the consulting arrangement, here is a set of questions you can use to establish your organization s vendor selection criteria for hiring CMMI expertise.

What Is the Candidate Consultant Really Selling?

What is the candidate consultant really selling? Appraisals or appraisal planning and preparation? Maturity or capability levels? Training? Advice, based on what experience? Tools or process improvement automation? The bottom-line question the decision makers in your organization should ask and answer is, Do the expertise, services, or products the consultant offers match your organization s needs?

What Do the Candidate Consultants Say about ROI on Process Improvement?

What do the candidate consultants have to say about your organization s ROI or ROA on process improvement expenditure? Do they (without prompting) talk about measurable business benefits from process improvement? Do they ask you about the organization s business goals and talk about how process improvement can contribute to the achievement of those goals? How will they track, measure, and report improvement? Is your success and the consultant s success interdependent? The bottom-line question is, Will your organization get the results it wants from the consulting arrangement? (Corollary: Does your organization know the results it wants?)

Is Your Decision Based on the Consultant s Reputation or Verifiable Historical Performance?

Where have they worked and what have they done? Have they ever had roll-the-sleeves-up implementation experience or do they just know CMMI? Can they show historical performance measures such as actuals compared with plans? Do they give you referrals that check out? Are the people giving you the marketing pitch for the consultancy the same people who will be doing the work? If not, how can you be sure that the pitched capability will be the delivered capability? The bottom-line question is, Is the vendor s reputation deserved?

How Interested Is the Consultant in Learning about Your Organization s Current Process Capability or Organizational Maturity?

Do they propose a solution without first learning about your problems, goals, and priorities? Do they try to find out what you already have in place? Do they respect those things? Does the consultant s proposed solution fit your organization s philosophy, approach, and environment? How do you know? Is the consultancy marketing what amounts to a slash-and-burn approach to process improvement? Is that what you need? (Read Chapter 1 ” News Flash! There Is a Level 1!)