Method Description Document

Definition

Method Description Document (a.k.a., Process Description Document: a document that describes a endeavor-specific method in terms of its method components

As illustrated in the preceding figure, Method Description Document is part of the following inheritance hierarchy:

The typical responsibilities of a Method Description Document are to:

The typical contents of a Method Description Document are:

The typical stakeholders of a Method Description Document are:

Producer:
- ProcessTeam
Evaluator:
- Evaluation Teams
- Management Teams
- Quality Team
- Customer Representative
Approvers:
Maintainers:
- ProcessTeam
Users:
The Method Description Document is typically used by practically every producer except tools including:
- Performing Stakeholder Organizations
- Performing Stakeholder Teams
- Performing Stakeholder Roles
- Performing Stakeholder Persons

A Method is typically produced (i.e., enacted) during the following phases:

Phase	Applicability
Business Strategy:	Completed and maintained if within scope of the method
Business Optimization:	Completed and maintained if within scope of the method
Initiation:	Completed and maintained if within scope of the method
Construction:	Completed and maintained if within scope of the method
Initial Production:	Completed and maintained if within scope of the method
Full-Scale Production:	Completed and maintained if within scope of the method
Delivery:	Completed and maintained if within scope of the method
Usage:	Completed and maintained if within scope of the method
Retirement:	Completed and maintained if within scope of the method

A Method Description Document typically can be started if the following preconditions hold:

The typical inputs to a Method Description Document include:

Work Products:
- Process Needs Assessment
- Process Framework Description Document
Stakeholders:
- domain expert (i.e., methodologist)

This work product can be a paper document, an electronic document, or a set of related webpages.
This work product can often be derived from the method framework documentation via selection and tailoring.

A Method Description Document is typically constrained by the following conventions: