Part II
Mapping the Route

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless,
but planning is indispensable.
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969)

A man who does not plan long ahead will find trouble right at his door.
Confucius

It is not the brains that matter most, but that which guides
them—the character, the heart, generous qualities, progressive ideas.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881), Russian novelist

The shortest route is not the most direct one, but rather the one where the most
favorable winds swell our sails: that is the lesson that seafarers teach.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

You’ve scouted out the territory and have decided it is worthwhile to take this journey—that is, the benefits outweigh the costs, and the risks are manageable. But now what? Do you just plunge ahead into the bush without preparation? Do you know what to take along? Where do you start? For that matter, where are you headed? Even the most experienced adventurer takes time to plan, and so should you.

In this part of the book, we take a practical look at the basics of process improvement. We identify and describe how to use our favorite guidance: CMMI. We discuss the tasks you’ll need to perform along your journey, and even provide a highly refined and specially drawn process improvement map: a life cycle that we feel works well in small organizations (or even for the big guys) before they are ready to apply scarce resources to building an improvement infrastructure.

We understand that no two organizations or projects are just alike, so nearly everyone will take a different path. It is our belief, however, that the path you plan early may not turn out to be the right one. Rather than plow through the obstacles, it is better to be more agile, react to the surroundings, and set a new course. In fact, when there isn’t enough information to plan very far in advance, you probably will have to try a few directions and see which ones seem to meet your needs best. That’s why our DLI life cycle is a bit different from some of the more traditional approaches.

So step up, grab the map and your calipers, and let’s begin charting your course to process improvement rewards.