Process Tailoring - Managing Software Projects (2024)

No defined process—whether an organization's standard process or the process used in a previous project—will apply to all situations and all projects. A defined process must be tailored to suit the needs of the current project.

Tailoring is the process of adjusting a previously defined process of an organization to obtain a process that is suitable for the particular business or technical needs of a project.5'6 You can view tailoring as adding, deleting, or modifying the activities of a process so that the resulting process is better suited to achieving the project's goals.

Uncontrolled tailoring effectively implies creating a process from scratch. To allow effective reuse of previously defined processes, tailoring guidelines are provided. These guidelines define the conditions and the types of changes that should be made to a standard process. In essence, they define a set of permitted deviations to the standard process in the hope that the optimal process can be defined for a project. Figure 3.2 illustrates the role of tailoring guidelines.

Figure 3.2. Process tailoring

Figure 3.2. Process tailoring

To illustrate the need for tailoring, let's take an activity in the build phase of the development process—Do code review. Code review adds a great deal of value in many cases, but sometimes its added value is not commensurate with the effort required. Also, the review could be done by either a group (following the group review procedure) or by one person. The standard development process does not specify how code review should be performed. Tailoring guidelines can help a project manager by advising that the activity Do code review be performed only for certain types of programs (such as complex programs or external interfaces) and by suggesting the optimal form of the review (group review or one-person review).

The Infosys tailoring approach is similar to the table-based approach proposed by Ginsberg and Quinn,7 in which the project manager specifies the process element, the tailorable attribute, the options for each attribute, and the reasons for selecting a particular option. A project manager performs tailoring at two levels: summary and detailed.

Summary-Level Tailoring

In summary-level tailoring, depending on the project characteristics, the project manager applies overall guidelines for tailoring the standard process. That is, it provides some general rules regarding certain types of detailed activities. To perform this step, the project manager first identifies certain characteristics of the project. For development projects, the following characteristics are used for tailoring:

• Experience and skill level of the team and the project manager

• Clarity of the requirements

• Project duration

• Application criticality

The experience level of the team is considered high if a majority of team members have more than two years of experience with the technology being deployed in the project; otherwise, it is considered low. Application criticality is considered high if the effect of the application on a customer's business or Infosys's business is significant; otherwise, it is low. Duration of the project is considered particularly short if the project must be delivered in less than three months.

Summary tailoring guidelines are provided for different values of these characteristics. The summary guidelines are generally review-related, effort-related, schedule-related, resources-related, or formality-related. Review-related guidelines typically specify when reviews should be done and what type of review should take place. Similarly, the effort-related guidelines suggest steps to be taken for the project that may affect the effort. These general guidelines set the context for detailed process tailoring and defining a suitable process for the project.

Detailed Tailoring

Detailed tailoring covers execution of activities, their review, and documentation needs. Tailoring guidelines may specify an activity as optional, in which case the project manager can decide whether or not to execute the activity. Similarly, preparation of some documents may be optional, in which case the project manager decides whether or not the project needs the document. For review, the general alternatives are Do group review, Do one-person review, or Do not review. In addition, a project manager may add some new activities or may repeat some activities.

When detailed tailoring is finished, the sequence of activities to be performed in the process for the project is defined. These definitions are then used to plan and schedule activities and form the basis of project execution. The tailoring performed is highlighted in the project plan, so the process definition and tailoring also are reviewed when the plan is reviewed.

Continue reading here: The Use Case Points Approach

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