Marcelo Jenkins
An IT Project Management methodology based on CMMI and PMBOK
Several international organizations and bodies of standardization have published a series of models and standards that may serve as guidelines to improve the Information Technologies (IT) processes. For information technology organizations in particular, two models stand out: the Software Engineering Institute's (SEI) Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and the Project Management Institute's (PMI) Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).
Both the CMMI and PMBOK are models, not methodologies or processes. Thus, IT managers can use them as guidelines to incorporate good practices into their organizations, but those practices have to be adapted and then adopted into the organizational process.
This presentation describes the experience gained by a large organization in combining the CMMI and the PMBOK to establish and maintain a combined IT project management methodology that comprises practices from both models. We explain how we designed and implemented the methodology, how the practices proposed in these two models were tailored to the needs and available resources in the organization, and summarize the benefits obtained thus far from its use. Our experience shows that the project management practices proposed by the CMMI and the PMBOK are compatible and sometimes complementary. Hence, they can be merged straightforwardly to develop a combined software project management methodology as we did. This design must be performed carefully though since the resulting product must be consistent, non-redundant, and suitable for the organization's environment.
The issues discussed in this presentation should interest organizations that need to improve their project management capabilities. Attendants will learn how to:
1. Combine the CMMI and the PMBOK to design and implement a project management methodology.
2. Compare and contrast the project management practices proposed by CMMI and the PMBOK.
3. Tailor the CMMI and PMBOK practices to the organization’s environment and available resources.
Several international organizations and bodies of standardization have published a series of models and standards that may serve as guidelines to improve the Information Technologies (IT) processes. For information technology organizations in particular, two models stand out: the Software Engineering Institute's (SEI) Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and the Project Management Institute's (PMI) Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).
Both the CMMI and PMBOK are models, not methodologies or processes. Thus, IT managers can use them as guidelines to incorporate good practices into their organizations, but those practices have to be adapted and then adopted into the organizational process.
This presentation describes the experience gained by a large organization in combining the CMMI and the PMBOK to establish and maintain a combined IT project management methodology that comprises practices from both models. We explain how we designed and implemented the methodology, how the practices proposed in these two models were tailored to the needs and available resources in the organization, and summarize the benefits obtained thus far from its use. Our experience shows that the project management practices proposed by the CMMI and the PMBOK are compatible and sometimes complementary. Hence, they can be merged straightforwardly to develop a combined software project management methodology as we did. This design must be performed carefully though since the resulting product must be consistent, non-redundant, and suitable for the organization's environment.
The issues discussed in this presentation should interest organizations that need to improve their project management capabilities. Attendants will learn how to:
1. Combine the CMMI and the PMBOK to design and implement a project management methodology.
2. Compare and contrast the project management practices proposed by CMMI and the PMBOK.
3. Tailor the CMMI and PMBOK practices to the organization’s environment and available resources.
Biography
Marcelo Jenkins obtained a B.S. degree en Computer and Information Sciences at the University of Costa Rica in 1986 and a M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Delaware, USA, in 1988 and 1992 respectively.
Since 1986 he has been teaching computer science at the University of Costa Rica. From 1993 until 1998 he coordinated the Graduate Committee and from 1998 through 2001 he was the Chairman of the Department of Computer and Information Sciences.
His research interests are in software engineering, software quality assurance, project management, and object-oriented programming. He has authored more than 30 technical papers on these subjects.
As an independent consultant, he has worked with some of the largest software companies in the Central America region in establishing software quality management systems. In the last 12 years, he has taught several seminars on software quality assurance and software project management in 7 different countries.
Dr. Jenkins is an ASQ Certified Software Quality Engineer (CSQE) and a member of the ASQ Software Division, the IEEE Computer Society, and the Project Management Institute (PMI).
