Improvement to a development practice often gravitates toward looking for a process that will help increase value. This approach, unfortunately, neglects discussions on asset value that are implied in the type of project and the culture of the organization. The process level objective for a development practice should not be focused on a purist model that follows an ideal model by the book. Instead, a pragmatic approach that lends itself to driving business value should be the focus.
- All artifacts developed in a development practice are owned by the business. As such, they hold a certain value. Artifact value management is critical when considering the value of all software practice assets owned by the business. Most organizations have not considered this.
- Mature organizations need to quantify this value for any artifact as an asset of the organization.
- If not managed, artifact value naturally deteriorates over time due to new code enhancements, resource changes, and infrastructure upgrades.
Focus with a software practice should be on the value generated by the artifacts not on a particular process which can easily change over time.