Getting started 

Begin by making sure the team, including the key stakeholders, understands the and the key concepts and the roadmaps.

The Practice Authoring practice assumes that the method authoring environment and the underlying method framework in which the practice is to reside has been set up. Make sure that all team members can access the environment and understand how to use it.

This practice supports authoring a new practice, as well as customizing an existing practice.

• To adopt the "author new practice" aspects, start by identifying the practice to be authored. It is recommended that the first time you apply this practice that you apply it to author a practice where the content to be included in the practices is well understood and where subject matter experts of the practice are part of the authoring team. Author the practice incrementally, defining the overall practice structure (the practice design) first, followed by the detailing of the practice elements. See Roadmap: Author a New Practice for details.
• To adopt the "customize existing practice" aspects, start by identifying the practice you want to customize and how you want to customize it. It is recommended that the first time you apply this practice that you apply it to customize a practice that is well understood and where subject matter experts of the practice (and the customization) are part of the authoring team. See Roadmap: Customize an Existing Practice for details.

As you apply the recommendations described in the practice, capture what you have learned, what worked for your team and what didn't so that you can continually fine-tune how your team applies the practice.

Common pitfalls

The following are some common pitfalls when adopting this practice.

• Selecting a practice whose content is not well understood as your first practice using this practice. If this is done, more time is spent understanding the practice itself rather than in effectively applying the practice techniques.
• Spending too much time structuring the practice. If this is done, the time it takes to deliver the practice is extended as a lot of time is spent structuring as opposed to just enough to get an initial practice out to get feedback, refining the structure, as needed. Try to keep the documentation clear and concise. Make sure that the consumers of the practice documentation (the development team) are comfortable with the format and content of the documentation.  Is there more or different information they would like see? Would they like to see less?