Death by Process: A Vicious Feedback Cycle

I have been working with a client that employs hundreds of employees and contractors in their IT department. Their workforce is a diverse mix of full time employees, contractors, and some off-shore development work. They are currently caught in a rather vicious cycle of processes and procedures.

Because they have introduced a large amount of off-shore workers and lower-cost contractors, they have spent the past several years introducing new processes to help keep things moving. Then someone came up with the idea of introducing CMMI. It's not a bad idea in concept. "If we are going to have processes, then let's make sure that they are mature and that we improve them."

In the next few posts I will examine how the introduction of controls that started with a simple desire to increase CMMI compliance has led to escalating levels of process and complexity that I will refer to as "Death by Process."