Four obstacles to the implementation of CMM in domestic software enterprises

CMM has gained more and more attention from all walks of life, Motorala (China) passed the five level, the improvements over the two level, many other enterprises such as Huawei, wave country strong, Lenovo, east of the Arab faction, Tianda, Chong-chi, Asiainfo and other enterprises are conducting research, testing or implementation of the preliminary evaluation. State-issued on the promotion of IT development of the 18th document, as well as software Enterprise qualification certification and other relevant documents, all encourage enterprises to implement CMM, Zhuhai Development Zone stipulated the two-level one-time award of 500,000 Yuan policy. It is expected that in the next 2 or 3 years, the domestic software industry will be the culmination of CMM implementation. However, according to the author's practice of ISO9000 Standard and Comparative study of CMM system, it is believed that the following obstacles exist in the process of implementing CMM in Chinese enterprises in the future:

I. The conflict between the institutionalized idea and the existing enterprise culture

System implementation is encountered many problems, including the lack of attention to the leadership, developers, project managers resistance, quality assurance personnel and software engineering personnel can not be respected and authority, etc., in the final analysis is a cultural conflict. ISO9000 and CMM systems are based on the rule of law system, and people are generally accustomed to the atmosphere of the rule of man, the whole country as small as a business, this conflict is the root of many problems.

Taking the organization structure of CMM as an example, it recommends setting up SEPG (software Engineering process Group), SQA (Quality assurance Group) and SEG (software engineering Group) under the highest leadership, these three groups constitute the balance system of legislation, supervision and law enforcement, and embody the concept of the rule of law in Western culture. And we in the overall management of the implementation of institutionalization are difficult, not to mention quality management. This kind of conflict is embodied in two levels, one is the conflict between the cultural environment of the society and the requirement of a few enterprises, and the other is the imperfect institutionalization of the enterprise basic management and the institutional characteristics of quality management. Recently, because of the media hype, the concept of CMM, the software industry seems to find a new lifeline. As everyone knows, CMM and ISO9000 have no essential difference, the implementation of ISO9000 encounter confusion, in the CMM will also encounter, their basic requirements are:

form a documented system, specification, and template

Strictly follow the rules of the system

To form the necessary records according to the requirements

Inspection and monitoring and continuous improvement

And these are just things we don't like, but what's left of institutionalized management? It seems, want to spend some money, create a simple way of worry is impossible to do, no matter what kind of system, have to do it, the difficulties faced sooner or later will have to face.

Ii. the ISO9000 of the problems in the consultation on the market

In the past, all kinds of problems occurred in the process of Enterprise's ISO9000, which caused the suspicion of similar quality management system in the society, and also became the obstacle for enterprises to implement CMM. In particular, the implementation of the CMM does not see significant results in a short period of time, it emphasizes "progressive improvement" rather than mutation. One level per liter may take 1-2 years. In this case, if the enterprise managers do not have a firm support attitude, it is difficult to ensure that implementation is not done halfway. And this failure has become a new case against people's confidence, creating a vicious circle. We often say, "Enterprise implementation ISO9000, the support of the highest leadership is the key", in fact, this sentence should also be replaced by "Enterprise implementation ISO9000, the highest leadership of personal participation is the key" better. Because, each enterprise implements ISO9000, certainly obtains the leadership the support, but when the implementation process encounters again and again the conflict and the collision, asks, how many leaders also can maintain the full confidence? Coupled with some of the negative comments on the market, the implementation of the system is often from this time to be forgotten step-by-step ... Therefore, leadership is not only support, should have high-level leadership to participate personally, not on the surface, but with a firm confidence, dedicated to the inside. For this will pay how much hard, time and energy, resources should be fully prepared in mind. The implementation of quality management as an enterprise to promote the overall institutionalization of a means and steps. The first advantage of a senior leader's personal involvement is that, due to constant research, he will be the expert in this, so he can maintain his self-confidence without being influenced by the noise of the market and the reality; The second advantage is that it can effectively touch the deep-seated flaws in the original system, and some potential problems are the quality management managers do not push or can not see.

From the perspective of the whole enterprise, through the implementation of quality system, the fact that the original enterprise culture, so that the concept of institutionalization, for enterprises to introduce advanced management ideas, the implementation of comprehensive institutional management laid the ideological and Cultural Foundation.

Third, the enterprise personnel quality and quality management awareness needs to be improved

The implementation of any system can not be separated from its main body-people. Enterprises to implement quality system in the process of various levels of personnel to carry out different directional training. For developers, the training and practice of software engineering should start from school education, and then carry out targeted re-education after entering the enterprise. Some of the larger foreign firms may be able to enter and retrain for up to 1-2 months. Domestic companies often complain about the lack of time and reluctance to put money into the system, resulting in no foundation for implementation.

Not only for developers, management training for project managers, the implementation of the system plays a vital role. Because the project manager is in the key position in the connecting link, the implementation of the system, the configuration management within the group, the collection of quality data in the group can not be separated from this layer of management personnel. The reality is that project managers are often from the technical background, the lack of awareness of management is a common problem. It is very urgent for this level of managers to strengthen quality awareness training and project management training. If through training can make everyone understand how to do a qualified "scientific research management personnel", really enhance their management awareness, will find that the project manager will actively cooperate with quality management work, because they realize that quality management is actually a very important part of the project management function.

Iv. the level of consultancy firms and services need to be improved

ISO9000 and CMM all only ask, do not tell how to do, the specific implementation and application needs to be done by the consultant company in collaboration with the enterprise. At present, the consultancy company provides the services is a shallow level of consultation, but only the introduction of the standard knowledge, how to use the basic enterprises to ponder, the last consultant to verify the coverage of the elements. The consultancy is not responsible for the efficiency of the system, but the element coverage is due to the fact that the coverage is related to the certificate. It emphasizes that the ISO9000 system should be established on the basis of the original mode, but not the process reengineering. This in fact reflects the consultants are not professional, only familiar with quality management, not understanding of other managements, the breakdown of the industry characteristics do not understand. This concept I think to change, a good consultancy firm should work with customers to study its process, put forward the proposal of reorganization, the establishment of process should not only consider the factor coverage but also take into account process efficiency. The implementation of participatory depth is not enough on the one hand, the participation time is also short, we generally a consultation cycle June-August, and foreign 1-2 years of the cycle is a lot of. 6 months of time is often only the initial establishment of the system, but also very rough, to run and improve for a more feasible system, still need a lot of time, this process still can not without consulting company's participation and guidance.

The issues listed above are aspects that should be prepared and prepared to work when the enterprise implements the CMM, is also the enterprise management personnel, consultancy companies should focus on research, I believe that only these problems can be a good solution, the implementation of CMM will be truly successful, enterprise farewell to the workshop-style management of the desire to truly achieve.