A proverb is \"a brief, memorable saying that expresses a truth or belief, such

Question

A proverb is "a brief, memorable saying that expresses a truth or belief, such as 'a friend in need is a friend indeed'" (Hirsch, Kett, and Trefil as quoted in http://www.bartleby.com/59/7/proverb.html).

After reading the "Capability Maturity Model" (http://resources.sei.cmu.edu/library/asset-view.cfm?assetID=11955) please discuss the following "Process Proverbs" from Paulk:

• The "What-Not-How" Principle: The CMM does not mandate how the software process should be implemented; it describes what characteristics the software process should have.


• Capability vs. Performance: The CMM focuses on building the process capability of an organization; the process performance of individual projects is correlated but not identical.


• Organizational Improvement: The CMM is a model for organizational improvement. It is not tuned to improving individual projects or helping a project that is in trouble.


• Comprehensiveness: The CMM does not address all the important factors that impact success. Excluded topics include capable people, systems engineering, and powerful tools.

At a minimum please consider:

The "truth" that the proverb is meant to illustrate.

Whether or not (based on observation, experimentation or personal opinion) the proverb is "true."

In what way the proverb is or is not important to you as a student of programming and to the software development community in general.

Link to "Capability Maturity Model" : http://resources.sei.cmu.edu/library/asset-view.cfm?assetID=11955

Below is a sample write up of the first proverb from the professor. Please follow same format for all 4 proverbs above. Thank you!

The What-Not-How Principle

What truth is it meant to illustrate?

I feel like this "proverb" is meant to say that no one is telling you how to build your programs, it's just telling you what characteristics are important to make a program successful.

Is this proverb "true"?

I believe it is. There are many ways to create a program and, while the program may work well and be useful, things like documentation are important, as are the steps outlined in the Optimizing level of the CMM: improving processes by monitoring feedback.

How is/isn't this proverb important to you as a student or to the development community in general?

A well-organized and documented program is always best for all parties involved, whether you're building onto an existing program/process or looking at documentation to learn how something works. Processes that are well-defined make it easier for developers to fix problems that may arise in the future

Explanation / Answer

Ans : Capability Vs Performance : What truth is it mean to illustrate?

-I feel like this proverb is meant to say that " the importance should be given to the performance of an organisation though individual projects has some effect or are related to the final performance but they are different from the overall process capability of an organisation.

Is this proverb true?

-I feel it is, as in any organisation all we need is to concentrate on the major process of an organisation like the people we hire, appropriate talent etc ,If the major process are taken care and focused then the process capability of individual projects donot affect much on overall performance.

How is it important to us ?

-The good process in any organisation always helps us to work efficiently in any project . If the organisation's process are taken care and well focused then by default other internal projects work accordingly and this helps the proper management of any organisation.

c. Organisational Improvement:

-I feel like this proverb is meant to say that " The methods are not made for any individual projects or their improvisation rather one should aim for whole oragnisation's improvement .

Is this true ?

-I feel this true as one should always aim at complete organisation's improvement and contribute accordingly to the team or project .If the models start helping the incomplete project then it is not possible for any company to achieve the success as there are many number of tasks in an organisation and every task is different aswell.

How is it important to me?

-As an individual someday we will get an opportunity to work with an organisation .This proverb tellls us that we should always aim at improving our organisation by adapting or learning new skills or technologies asper the requirement of an organisation to develop any software or contribute to the project.If we aim for a common goal ,all can work as a team to accomplish the task ,thus contributing the organisation's improvement.

d. Comprehensiveness :

-I feel this principle states that "it is not not mandatory to include all the factors when considering the success ,it can also be determined by considering few important factors that may contribute primarily in the success rate of an organisation.

I believe it is : As one cannot practically predict about all the factors that may impact on success .One can only consider few major factors that can impact the organisation's success. As CMM mainly focus on People they select or hire , The process they follow and innovation i,e various powerfull tools.

How it is helpful to me?

-As an individual it is important to me to know what are the major factors that can impact on success. I should be capable enough to work in a software industry as , if my capability is lowered or if iam not enough capable of adapting new technologies in any software development process or project then that may impact on success of an organisation.Using proper process always helps to avoid any kind of delays or losses.Using Strong tools or new machineries will always help in enhancing the work of an organisation by saving time and help maintaining the accuracy in any project or otganisation.

THE WHAT NOT HOW principle :

I feel this principle states that "It is not mandatory to concentrate on the implementation method of any software process rather one should focus on the important characteristics that make any process or software successfull ".

Is it true ?

I feel it is as there are infinte ways through which any software can be implemented but the characteristics than the software should possess should outweigh the other backend process. As CMM works on major factors while implementing any software it mainly cares about what new features are there in the developed software which will distinguish it from other market similar products .

How does it help us ?

As an individual this proverb definitely helps us in deciding the priority over the primary and secondary requirements in any organisation like project development ,contributing to the team etc.

It says that whichever method we use to implement any software , if the characteristics of that software are satisfying then bydefault the organisation achieves the success.

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