Practice: Adoption Through Execution
This practice helps an organization develop and manage a mentoring program in order to drive successful, lasting adoption of capability improvements.
Purpose

Adoption Through Execution solves the following problems:

  • Process in isolation - (e.g. a process or tool configuration which does not match the way people work)
  • Insufficient knowledge transfer - people are not able to perform their role using the new tools or process
  • Process documenting versus. process adoption - time spent trying to design the process rather than use the process
  • Process deployment not sustainable - people reverting back to their old habits
  • Delayed benefits - no benefits while the capability is being designed
  • Training alone does not change behavior - mentoring helps people apply best practices to their projects
Main Description

When software development capability improvements are introduced, change is required in the way people do their jobs. Organizations often see low adoption rates after large expenditures of time, effort, and money to deploy process and enterprise tool configurations.  The solution is to apply iterative (adoption through execution) principles to build acceptance, results, and credibility prior to full-scale standardization. This practice helps organizations make lasting improvements in their software capabilities using a proven mentoring approach.

Mentoring is key to successful deployments of process and tool improvements. It develops internal expertise in order to achieve the business value expected from the improvements. Tool and process adoption can only occur through mentoring in the context of real project work. Seasoned practitioners skilled in a specific area transfer skills to team members through hands-on mentoring.

Process and tools must be used effectively on real projects to achieve technical and business results quickly, to drive results and to reinforce change. A process and tools Center of Capability (CoC) is the structure that the mentors work within. Successful deployments have a structure and environment to expand and share knowledge. The CoC is a virtual team, all with a common interest in sharing knowledge to improve the collective skills of the organization.

Adoption Through Execution has the following characteristics:

  • An initial design has been created (process or tool capability) based on identified business goals
  • Design is finalized through execution on actual projects
  • Mentoring is used to help people adopt the process
  • Centers of Capability are created to support deployment of the capability and adapt it to changing requirements based on feedback from real projects
  • Measurements are used to monitor adoption


Demonstrating the value of improvements is the only way to build credibility. This, in turn, lays the groundwork for a culture of continuous capability improvement.

Relationship to other practices

This practice is related to many other useful practices. For example:

  • Software Capability Program Management - provides an approach for managing software capability improvement that is aligned with the organization's strategic goals.
  • Method Development - describes how to develop the method content and tool configurations that will be adopted
  • Setting Up a Performance Measurement System - describes how to establish a Performance Measurement System to monitor performance
  • Managing Performance Through Measurement - leverages the use and analysis of data from the Performance Measurement System to monitor capability improvements
  • Project Management practices - Plan, monitor, and control adoption projects
How to read this practice

The best way to read this practice is to first familiarize yourself with its overall structure: what is in it and how it is organized.

Begin by making sure that the teams, including stakeholders, understand what the key concepts are for the practice, such as:

Once you understand the key concepts, you can turn your attention to the tasks performed in the practice:

Also, understand what work products are used as inputs to and outputs from these tasks, such as:

Finally, understand the various guidance elements that explain how to set up and manage your mentoring program.

For details on how to adopt this practice, see Roadmap: How to Adopt the Adoption Through Execution Practice.

Relationships