It’s impressive to see how many companies sweat and invest a lot of intellectual and financial capital to achieve excellence in their processes, only to lose everything in the year of recertification or in the next audit cycle.
Such levels are lost much faster than they are achieved, such as CMMI level 5, MPS.BR level “A”, ISO standards, Six Sigma, Project Management – Mensure level according to OPM3, CobiT level 5 (optimized or ITIL level 5) – and Managed Processes.
In fact, it is well known that preparing for certification or recertification is not enough if we do not keep the processes “alive”. That is, if it’s just for show, it’s better not to spend money on such a project.
Facts heard from companies that lost their levels and can serve as lessons learned for future certified companies:
“There was no tool for process management”
Here is a misconception of professionals who say that the processes are important and that the tool is just an automation of them, a later investment.
The truth is, it’s not easy to manage processes that need to be monitored, managed, and measured without an appropriate tool.
And here’s a warning, you don’t need a high-cost tool, a spreadsheet or text editor may be suitable.
“There was no “owner” of the process, nor an internal auditor”
When there was, the professional left the company, sometimes with the same speech: “I like to implement processes, but in daily life it becomes monotonous.”
Evaluate at the hiring stage, from the beginning of the process or methodology construction, a committed professional to also lead the operational aspect.
“Lack of Evidence”
Lack of evidence is caused by the lack of one of the previous items since there was no one to demand it and no tool to store the data or measure their absence;
“Lack of a sponsor“
A strong sponsor becomes good to ensure project completion. However, after delivery, there is a tendency to decline since his motivation was only the delivery of the product or service.
Always evaluate if the project sponsor will be the same as the process sponsor. Errors occur here, especially when there is a confusion of roles, that is: the client is not always the sponsor and vice versa.
These are some critical points since it is not enough to just obtain certification, have a good management tool, people, generated products, and evidence.
Treat these items as project risks, so plan the treatment and monitoring of each of them and good luck!
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