Using Benchmarks to Accelerate Process Improvement
by J. Schofield
Organizations are constantly pressured to prove their value to their leadership and customers. A relative comparison to “peer groups” is often seen as useful and objective, thus benchmarking becomes an apparent alternative.
Unfortunately, organizations new to benchmarking may have limited internal data for making valid comparisons. Feedback and subsequent “action” can quickly lead to the wrong results as organizations focus on improving their comparisons instead of improving their capability and consistency.
Adding to the challenge of improving results, software organizations may rely on more readily available schedule and financial data rather than KPIs for product quality and process consistency. This presentation provides measurement program lessons learned and insights to accelerate benchmark and quantification activities relevant to both new and mature measurement programs.