Process Improvement Based on Symptom Analysis

A symptom is a feature which is regarded as indicating a condition or disease. For an organization a symptom may indicate a problematic condition. Based on 600 maturity CMMI assessments we identified 32 common symptoms across the organizations. We developed a web site with a survey instrument asking 44 companies whether they recognized the symptoms? Thus, from this survey we know which symptoms are common and which ones that rarely are perceived to be present. We then analyzed the symptoms using the Cognitive Maps techniques and identified consequences and root causes for each symptom. We also identified relationships between the symptoms and presented a map thereof. Further, we mapped the root causes from the cognitive maps to CMMI and the recommendations to improve. Finally, we discuss whether and how one can use the symptoms to make recommendations for improvements as a kind of “discount improvement model”. We conclude with an example of the intended use.