Summary

Resu!t Centre was LogicaCMG's high-maturity delivery unit. Stephan led the Microsoft process and tooling area, coordinating approx ten consultants to lift practices across ~1200 Microsoft developers and help the unit reach CMMI Level 3.

Situation

LogicaCMG IT Consulting wanted faster and more predictable project delivery so that net profit per project would go up. To achieve that, a dedicated business unit, Resu!t Centre, was created around high-maturity processes and tooling. Inside the unit sat the Software Engineering Process Group (SEPG), chaired by the Resu!t Centre director and staffed by consultants representing each IT delivery discipline: business analysis, development, testing, operations, support, and more. Development was split into Java and Microsoft. Stephan represented the Microsoft Development process area.

Tasks

• Represent and lead the Microsoft Development process area inside the SEPG while remaining hands-on on customer projects (process work was ring-fenced at 15% of his time).
• Coordinate a sub-group of 10 consultants to raise the maturity of Microsoft delivery across the company.
• Contribute to the unit's CMMI Level 3 assessment.

Actions

Stephan and his group produced the building blocks that Microsoft project teams at LogicaCMG reused on every engagement.

• Microsoft project templates that new teams could start from on day one.
• Coding standards for the Microsoft stack.
• Continuous integration on TFS (the closest thing to CI/CD at the time), including an organisation-wide upgrade of TFS 2003 to TFS 2005 for all ~1200 Microsoft developers.
• Peer-to-peer training so that improvements spread through the consultant community rather than sitting on a shelf.
• Re-usable propositions so that sales and delivery could reach for proven solutions instead of reinventing them per bid.

Results

• CMMI Level 3 achieved through these process improvements.
• Projects delivered through Resu!t Centre ran at least 50% faster than comparable LogicaCMG projects, and were far more predictable.
• ~1200 Microsoft developers migrated to TFS 2005, unlocking consistent source control and CI across the Microsoft practice.