A capability pattern is a special process that describes a reusable cluster of activities in a general process area that provides a consistent development approach to common problems. Capability patterns can be used as building blocks to assemble delivery processes or larger capability patterns.
Before creating a capability pattern, do the following:
A capability pattern does not relate to any specific phase or iteration of a development lifecycle, and should not imply any. In other words, a capability pattern should be designed in a way so that it is applicable anywhere in a delivery process. This enables the pattern's activities to be flexibly assigned to whatever phases there are in the delivery process to which it is being applied.
You do not need to develop your process from scratch; you can reuse existing capability patterns or even capability pattern parts. There are several ways to populate a process with method elements: