Why I'm going to SEPG (again) this year - Reason #8!

The #8 Reason to Attend SEPGNA: To Have Meaningful Conversations

Howdy, Partners!  Albuquerque Jeff here.  I know some bushwhackers who wouldn’t know a blog post from a hitchn’ post, so you must be purdy smart to be reading my Top Ten Reasons for coming out west to the SEPG North America rodeo on March 12-15 in Albuquerque.  (Case you missed ‘em, you can point your six-shooter and click on Reason #10 and Reason #9.)  Now I’ll just drop my phony cowpoke accent, and get straight to Reason #8.

You know, if I keep this up, I might forget how to talk in plain English!  So, with no more nonsense, allow me to continue my list of Top 10 Reasons to attend SEPG North America 2012.

Drum roll, please!  Reason #8 is …

It’s a great place to have meaningful conversations.

Every year, the SEPG North America conference draws a wide variety of engineering and software professionals, who come from a vast array of disciplines.  Some want more information on multi-model approaches.  Some are interested in practical process improvement, while others get passionate about high maturity.  And don’t get me started on agile and CMMI!

This year, with the theme Reaching New Levels of Excellence, the 24th annual SEPG North America conference will give Partners and companies even more to talk about.  We’ll discuss both principle and practice.  We’ll talk about CMMI and process improvement.  We’ll share best practices, tips and techniques.  We’ll dig into what we’re all doing to deliver value.  And we’ll have a back-and-forth on how to maximize impact and business results that we can all take home to our organizations.

And what better place for conversations about the power of process improvement than at SEPG North America, with people like you and me, who get it?

So come on down and talk with folks who understand.  And don’t forget to register by February 10, 2012.  You’ll save up to $300 off regular, full-conference registration rates.

Need more reasons?  Check back soon for Reason #7.

Jeff Dalton is President of Broadsword Solutions Corporation and the incoming Chairman of the SEI’s Partner Advisory Board.  He is a SCAMPI Lead Appraiser and Certified CMMI Instructor and can be reached at appraiser@broadswordsolutions.com.

Why I'm coming to SEPG 2012 this year - Reason #9

The #9 Reason to Attend SEPGNA: To Form Strategic Partnerships

Howdy, Partners!  My name is Jeff, but most people call me … Jeff.

Now, I know some of y’all cow-punchers saw my last hitchn’ post – I mean blog post – about the Top Ten Reasons for coming to the SEI's big shindig "SEPG 2012" on March 12-15, and are already on that dusty trail down to Albuquerque to pick up your badges.  But I reckon some are saying, “Badges? We don’t need no stinking badges!”  And so it’s time once again for me to drop my phony cowpoke accent and give you Reason #9.

Whew, it almost hurts my jaw to talk like that!  So now, in plain English, allow me to continue present my list of Top 10 Reasons to attend SEPGNA 2012.

Drum roll, please!  Reason #9 is …

It’s a great place to form successful business partnerships.

Let’s face it, we’ve all got one thing in common.  We’re all trying to make our companies as successful as possible.  That’s why it’s good to have strategic relationships with compatible companies when you need them.  And there’s no better place to form these relationships than at SEPGNA!

You want proof?  At last year’s SEPG conference in Portland, I had a discussion with another SEI Partner about his service offerings and our service offerings.

This Partner runs a very successful and innovative training business and we run a CMMI consulting firm.  We discovered our offerings were complimentary, so we struck an informal agreement to refer some business to each other when it made sense for our clients.  Nothing fancy, just a handshake.

Since then, I’ve referred him a number of class participants.  And, just recently, he referred us to a great new client, an information technology company.  Although we were already in discussions with this company his referral helped them make a decision that was right for them – and we earned their business.

That, my friend, is a first-hand account of the type of relationships and partnerships that are formed at every SEPGNA conference.  That alone is a good enough reason to go, isn’t it?

Need more?  Check back soon for Reason #8.

Jeff Dalton is President of Broadsword Solutions Corporation and the incoming Chairman of the SEI’s Partner Advisory Board.  He is a CMMI SCAMPI Lead Appraiser and CMMI Instructor and  can be reached at appraiser@broadswordsolutions.com.

Why I'm coming to SEPG 2012 this year - Reason #10

The #10 Reason to Attend SEPG NA 2012: It’s all about you!

Howdy, Partners!  So you want to know why y’all should hop on ‘ol Hot-n-Dusty and mosey on down to Albuquerque on March 12-15 for the SEPG 2012 Conference?  I may be a blue-bellied Yankee from the mitten state, but I’m fixin’ to give you the top 10 reasons for headin’ down to the BBQ.   Just as soon as I drop this phony cowpoke accent!

OK, enough of that!  To go along with the 12 Key Take-Aways that Brittney posted here last week, I’ve developed my own list of Top 10 Reasons to attend the SEPG NA 2012, starting today with Reason #10.

Drum roll, please!  Reason #10 is …

It’s all about you.

As you know if you’ve attended the conference in the past, SEPG NA is the premier software process improvement conference.  Hundreds of professionals come from around the world to learn, network and explore solutions to their performance problems.  These are the folks who have been driving SEPGNA’s reputation as the Greatest Show on Earth.

This year, the Show is even greater.  The format has been honed even sharper to meet you where you are in your professional growth.  The theme is Reaching New Levels of Excellence … and that’s YOUR excellence we’re talking about. 

What this means is that you can expect to come away with real life, practical and implementable solutions that will help you take your business to that next level.  The Program Committee selected approximately 100 technical sessions.  Whether your interest is multi-model, practical process improvement, high maturity, agile and CMMI, or any number of other disciplines, each is designed to dive into the principles and practices that can help your organization better understand how to harness the power of process improvement.

The variety of learning opportunities alone is incredible.  Whether you are new to the profession or a seasoned practitioner of the organizational excellence within the CMMI, there is a technical session for you.  Check out the full slate of programs.

Oh, and don’t forget to register by February 10, 2012.  You’ll save up to $300 off regular, full-conference registration rates.

And check back soon for Reason #9!

Jeff Dalton is President of Broadsword Solutions Corporation and the incoming Chairman of the SEI’s Partner Advisory Board.  He can be reached at mailto:appraiser@broadswordsolutions.com.

Can CMMI+Scrum Break the Vicious Cycle?

CMMI Appraiser,

Thank you for answering the questions from my Scrum team. To be honest, I don't know what's gotten into them!  I made the call to send them to your upcoming CMMI training in Albuquerque because, as I told them, we have been spinning our wheels.  Boy!  They didn't like that!  The more I ask them for information, the more secrecy I encounter. And the more secrecy I get, the less willing I am to trust. Can your CMMI training break this vicious cycle? ~ Dave Arling

Dave,

You are right – it’s a vicious cycle - and a recursive one at that!  Yes, address trust among teams in my CMMI training classes.  But, the sad truth is that software engineering has been a low-trust, high demand environment for decades. It is an "antique" problem!

Before we talk about breaking it, let’s look into its history.

I believe it all started because managers wanted more guarantee and control, not because they were control freaks, but because they were getting burned. Projects would be late, or over-budget, and they’d have upset customers, unhappy bosses, late nights, and unhappy wives or husbands. So managers instituted more and more oversight. The concepts of phases, milestones and gates in software engineering are the result of one company or another having problems that they were trying to solve. The managers said, “I’m never going let that  happen to ME again! No sir!  This is going to be a part of every release now. I’ll have a gate at every phase. I’ll make sure that at every step of the way they are doing what I asked them to do. I'll make them PAY!!!!!"

Were they wrong to feel this way? Given their experience at the time, probably not. They were suffering just as much as anyone else.  In this low-trust environment, managers felt they could not trust their employees to do the right thing. But perhaps they overreacted, because eventually employees resented the extra controls and oversight. It became the norm in our business.  Engineers and project managers started withholding information even more!  They stopped reporting risks and issues and were not communicating them to managers. Managers were surprised more and more often with unexpected, yet easily anticipated, problems.  In other words, it got worse!

Dave, you aren't alone.  As a CMMI Appraiser, I hear this all the time from managers: “If I knew about this six months ago when this problem happened, I could have fixed it, but now it’s too late.”

So they point the finger at the Project Manager or engineer who did not involve the Manager, because they did not want the Manger breathing down their necks.

The vicious cycle evolved over time. Managers wanted more and more control. Now we have an environment where engineers don’t tell management what they need to know to run the business. So management institutes more oversight. And engineers become more secretive.

Wow, I'm getting a headache!

Finally, in the '90s a group that eventually became the agile community threw their hands up and said, “This is useless to us. We can’t write good software this way. We’re going to create a high trust environment, with a framework around it, and remove the yolk from around our necks.” They’ve created a lot of awareness around this idea, so much so that now a lot of companies are starting to adopt it.  Today the concept is known as "agile" and it manifests itself in the deployment of one of it's more specific techniques such as Scrum, XP, or Spiral.

But the problem is, just like any revolution, it may have gone TOO far to the other side. The pendulum of Scrum and other agile communities has, at times, swung to the opposite extreme. Now, too many teams insist on zero command and control. You sometimes have to remind the team that they are at WORK, have a job, and are being paid by the company!  They tell their managers they "you just don't understand what we're doing."  You have to tolerate their hostility and insulting remarks.  (Are you reading this Leslie and Arthur?).  Now that I write this I realize how much that sounds like my kids telling me I'll never understand what they're going through.  Of course, I was never their age!

The oppressed have become the oppressors.  The Freedom Fighters have become the .... oh you get it.

But hear this, Dave. I’m not calling for a management counter-revolution. Not at all.  I’m advocating that we all meet in the middle.

I'm suggesting that the iteraters connect with the waterfallers to write great software! That’s the beauty of CMMI+Scrum.  I'm advocating that we do what makes sense.

Rodney King even gets it - why can't we?

Check back later and I’ll share exactly how your team’s participation in the CMMI+Scrum training can help break the vicious cycle.

Like this blog? Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec!

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.


Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about running a successful CMMI program.

Is CMMI+Scrum for Agile Puritans?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser,

I work with Leslie (from the last post) and, come on, where do you get off telling us to “be real”?  Our Scrum team is made up of true agile evangelists.  We have no use for process models or BPUF or any of that old school garbage from stuffed suits like you.  The CMMI certification is a necessary evil in our company, so we put up with it.  Now it looks like we’ll have to put up with you at SEPG NA.  ~ Arthur X.

Hey, Arthur,

Thanks for your sweet message!  It’s not often the CMMI Appraiser gets a love letter.  With Valentine’s Day coming up next month, I guess you were overcome with the urge to whisper sweet nothings in my ear.  I love it!

But seriously, Arthur, what I would really love is for us to get on the same page about CMMI+Scrum.  Yes, they really can and do coexist.  When you get to my class at the conference, you’ll see exactly how.  In the meantime, if you are willing to suspend your disbelief in my sincerity, I’d like to point out a few things about CMMI and Scrum that you may not be aware of:

1. This CMMI Appraiser doesn’t wear suits.  The closest thing I came to wearing a suit was last month, when I put on a red Santa suit, and sang the "Twelve Days of CMMI."  The neighbors are still recovering from THAT adventure.

2. You say, “We have no use for process models,” but did you realize that Scrum is a process model also?  When you look at all of the different techniques of a Scrum team, all the "Scrum Elements," every one of them is a process.  They are not the same processes that maybe you think people want to make you use, but they are still a process.  And they're pretty darn good ones too!  And every one of them is in the CMMI! For example, Planning Poker is represented in the CMMI's Project Planning Specific Goal One.  Refactoring is in Requirement Management,  Pair Programming is part of Verification, Velocity is part of Measurement and Analysis, and Test-Driven Development is part of Requirements Development.  And so on.

3. “We have no use for BPUF (Big Plan Up Front).”  That’s OK!  I don’t either. To be clear, the CMMI is not a methodology.  It does not have to be BPUF. That’s a perception based on implementation, not a perception based on fact.  Are you saying that because the CMMI is most often used in BPUF types of organizations, therefore the CMMI is a BPUF process model?  Correlation is not causation Arty.  The real meaning behind CMMI is that it looks to make anything that you are doing better.  So why not use CMMI to make a Scrum better?

4. You’re too cool for “old school”?  Guess what - me too (and it kind of creeps my kid's friends out)!  The beauty of Scrum teams is that they tend to be fiercely independent.  Unfortunately, that perception is one reason why most companies are using Scrum for only a small subset of their projects.  As I was explaining to your teammate, Leslie, part of the challenge with using Scrum is sometimes upper management doesn’t understand it.  It’s well suited for bottom-up implementation, but not so much for "top-down."  But because everything in Scrum is on-time and on-budget by definition, Scrum teams can boast to their management, “things worked really well.  We are on time and on budget with every release.”  But you don't hear so much is whether they met the full number of features they committed to delivering.  Their velocity may be lower than they expected.  If that happens to you, CMMI can help.

5. The CMMI is a “necessary evil”?  Does that mean agile project are full of rainbows, unicorns, goodness and light?  Well, I don’t dispute that the agile community has got great ideas, but Purism is dangerous and damaging in any form.  Whether you are a Tea Partier or an anarchist, Puritanism is dangerous because it chokes off the flowering of new thought. It eliminates the possibility that new, better ideas are out there.  Isn't that kind of an agile "anti-pattern" in itself?

There has always been this sort of antagonistic relationship between the Agile and CMMI communities.  So much so that that I co-wrote a white paper called "CMMI or Agile? Why Not Embrace Both?" for the SEI along with several of my peers on why that perception is hurting the software community, and why the CMMI is an excellent fit for agile environments.  And no, they don’t wear suits either.  


Although whether or not they wear Santa suits, I can’t venture to say.

That’s the history and philosophy, Arthur.  Embrace CMMI+Scrum as a tool to make your organization a great company.  Every framework, including Scrum, has weaknesses, and you can use CMMI to make it even stronger.

Like this blog?  Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec!

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about running a successful CMMI program.

Is CMMI+Scrum the real deal?

Hey CMMI Appraiser, 

Our Scrum team is going to SEPG North America in Albuquerque this year, and our boss wants us to attend your CMMI+Scrum Learning Experience. We are an agile shop that has ZERO interest in following the CMMI, because we know the two are not compatible at all. Are you for real? ~ Leslie B.

Hey, Leslie,

I think so ... let me pinch myself. OUCH! That hurts! Yes, I'm for real.

And here's the real deal. Scrum and the CMMI actually ARE very compatible. But maybe in not the way you think. Together, they actually make each other, your team AND your company better.

Please keep an open mind, Leslie, and I'll try to lay out the User Story.

First, as you may know, both agile and the CMMI are frameworks. Scrum and process improvement are implementations of those frameworks. In other words, agile is a framework, which Scrum was developed to fit within. And the CMMI is a framework that process improvement fits within. So you can think of both agile and the CMMI as being like containers which hold the keys to implementing whatever it is you’re implementing.

CMMI is not a process that you follow, it’s something more conceptual. You don't "implement CMMI."  Likewise, agile is not a process that you follow, it’s conceptual. The improvements you make in your company require specific implementations, like implementing Scrum, XP, or spiral for example.

In my "CMMI+Scrum Learning Experience," which will be delivered on the first day of the conference, your team will learn a few things about the CMMI that can help your company get better:

1. On the Scrum side, CMMI can help strengthen and improve what your team delivers.

2. On the management side, CMMI can help your boss understand what’s going on and what information he should expect.

Just guessing here, but it could be that your boss wants you to attend my CMMI+Scrum training so that you can help him come up with ways for you to help him understand what you're up to. It's pretty common in my experience that management sometimes mis-understands the power of Scrum. They see it as black magic that somehow is getting results. They may not really know what is going on and are mostly afraid to ask.  It happens.

Look at it from their perspective.  They're used to numbers, MS Project schedules, and spreadsheets.  They often live in a waterfall world with suits, ties, and fancy tassels on their shoes.  They get the willies when they see team rooms, skate boards, jolt cola, sticky notes, and user stories.  Scaaaaary!

Ultimately, Leslie, that hurts you more than it helps you. For one thing, companies tend to relegate the smaller and less important projects to the Scrum team. They have the perception that agile and Scrum are not scalable for large, complex and meaningful projects. As a result, folks like you and your colleagues are not always given the big, cool projects, and you may be unable to contribute in the manner that you would like to, which hurts professionally and personally.

So let me flip that around, Leslie, and ask YOU to get real. Understanding how to integrate the CMMI with your Scrum implementation can have a real, lasting impact on your company and your career.

Here's the link to register: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/sepg/na/2012/registration.cfm.  I hope I'll see you there!

Like this blog? Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec! 

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.


Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about running a successful CMMI program.

My company wants me to be their Lead Appraiser. When can I start?

Dear Appraiser,


Our organization wants to go to CMMI level 5, and we are currently at level 2. Our management wants to sponsor me, their employee, to be CMMI Lead Appraiser for the following reasons:

1. They can start their own consultancy service
2. Get process improvements and maturity effectively
3. To reduce the cost of SCAMPI A by getting it conducted by their own Lead Auditor (which is due every after 3 years)


I've looked up the requirements and I think I can become an LA for the cost of the Introduction to CMMI class, the Intermediate CMMI Class, and the SCAMPI Lead Appraiser Class.  How much does it cost and how soon can I start the Appraisal?


Whoaaaaa Nellie!  Take a step back 'der pard'ner!

Wow!  That's so cool that they want to start a whole service offering based on you only taking a couple of classes.  Parrrrrrrrrty!!!!  I bet they can't wait for the big Lead Appraiser bucks to pile in!  And that super-easy CMMI ML5 Appraisal - how cool is that?

I'm sorry, but there are a few teensey-weensy steps you left out.

First of all, appraising your own organization is, shall we say, highly suspect, so I'm not sure that's a good business plan.

As far as training, you did identify some of the basic training, although if your going to conduct CMMI ML5 appraisals, you also need to take the "Understanding CMMI High Maturity Practices" class.

An of course, the SEI Observation - a grueling 5-10 day appraisal where an SEI Observer is watching your every move.  Stressssssssfuuuuuul!

And then there are the exams.  One after the Intermediate class, one after the SCAMPI Lead Appraiser Training Class, then the SCAMPI Certified Lead Appraiser Exam, and the SCAMPI Certified High Maturity Lead Appraiser exam.  Whew!  And you can't take them all at once!

There are waiting periods and experience requirements between each step of course - because it's more about real-life experience than it is about classes. 

Of course, all along the way there are pre-requisites to progress to each next step.  Plan on about 3-5 years of intense study, practice, and experience before you even try to go there.

The bigger problem is that I think you have missed the point entirely.  A Lead Appraiser is a highly experienced practitioner whose skill set only begins with knowledge of the CMMI.  A good Lead Appraiser has excellent communications, consulting, and teaching skills.  This is important because a Lead Appraiser's job is not to help you pass the appraisal, it's to help you become a better company.

I recommend you begin your CMMI study and begin using the model everyday so that you can learn all the great things it can help you with.  Take the Introduction to CMMI class and then work with the model some more.  Then a couple of years later, take the Intermediate class.  If, after that, you're convinced you want to become a Lead Appraiser, apply to the program.

Being a CMMI Lead Appraiser is a vocation - not a something you do quickly.

Like this blog? Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec! 

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.


Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about running a successful CMMI program.

Do I have to take the High Maturity Class again with CMMI v1.3? Say it isn't so Jeff!

Dear Appraiser,

I have an issue asking you for help. I have taken the course of "Understanding CMMI High Maturity Practices." Now SEI has upgraded the course. I think there must exist some differences but not very big. However I hope I can get the copy of new version of the course lecture note. Of course, I can pay some dollars to SEI but I don't want to attend the course. Is there a way to solve this issue? Please help me to solve this issue. ~Bosheng


Bosheng,


I don't blame you - I wouldn't want to take that CMMI training course again either!

The Understand CMMI High Maturity Practices course (ironically called "UCHMP" - pronounced "You Chump") is a 5 day course about applying statistical techniques to process improvement using the CMMI Maturity Level Four and Five Process Areas.  I took it four or five years ago myself.


When v1.3 of the CMMI came out last year the upgrade featured some major changes to ML5, including the removal of a ML5 Process Area (Organizational Innovation and Deployment - OID) and the inclusion of a new Ml5 Process Area (Organization Performance Management - OPM).


The differences between OID and OPM are numerous, but there is not an upgrade class just for so-called "high-maturity."  So even if you wanted to "pay some dollars to the SEI," you wouldn't be able to get it.  But there is hope.


The SEI offers a CMMI v1.3 model upgrade course that you can take online.  That has a complete description of OPM and a comparison between that and OID.


If you wish to be a member of a ML4 or ML5 CMMI Appraisal team you MUST take this upgrade course, as well as participate in some face-to-face training with your certified lead appraiser.


If you don't intend on being a member of the appraisal team, you might consider connecting with you friendly CMMI Consultant to sit down with you an explain their interpretation of the changes.


Like this blog? Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec! 

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about running a successful CMMI program.

You mean I have to collect and analyze my own data?

Dear CMMI Appraiser,

I sent my software engineers to your CMMI training class recently to get them ready for the CMMI Appraisal we will be starting next month. While I am satisfied that they are now prepared, I don’t like what they apparently learned about data collection and characterization. I told them we need our Lead Appraiser to perform this time-consuming work. According to the team, you think WE need to do it? ~ Paul B.

Hey, Paul,

You know, I distinctly remember getting a lot of push-back from some folks in a recent CMMI training about data collection and characterization. Now I know why!

Let me tell you what I told them, and will tell anybody else from your company who tries to delegate this critical responsibility: It is up to you to collect and begin characterizing this important data.

That’s because appraisals are about you - not about me.  They're about people inside your company know more about operations than anyone else.  Why?  Because I can't fix your problems, only you can!

Appraisals are about you and your team - not about a consultant.

True, collecting and characterizing data can be difficult. It can be time consuming. But the same is true for eating healthy, right? Taking the time to plan, shop for, prepare and eat a nutritious meal can be pretty rigorous. It’s far quicker and easier to roll through the drive-thu and grab a bag of hot, greasy fast food. But that type of behavior can have negative health consequences over time.

mmmmm....sure looks good though, doesn't it?

Which brings me to my favorite thing about the CMMI. It’s all about changing behaviors that have negative consequences.

So let me play that back for you again. “Jeff, could you provide someone to perform data collection for us?”

Sure I could! Just like I could plan, shop for, prepare and eat a delicious, nutritious meal for you! You sit in traffic, gorging on French fries, and I’ll eat right.

How nice for me!  But exactly what benefit would YOU get out of that?

None. For the same reason, I won’t let you deny yourself the chance to become a great, continually improving company.

Call me Dr. CMMI, but I’d much rather see you get healthy. I’d much rather see you master the data collection process and make it your own.

I may be more passionate about this topic than others, but it’s not just me anymore. Now that the "managed discovery" approach has been introduced in SCAMPI v1.3, you’ll find more and more Lead Appraisers recommend that you to collect and categorize your own data.

Though it is a new requirement in the SCAMPI process, I've always conducted CMMI appraisals this way, as have most of the leading Lead Appraiser (leading lead appraisers? I'm getting a recursion headache).  I've always told companies to collect and characterize their own data. Or, more precisely, that we will do a lot of it together.

Yes, your Lead Appraiser will HELP you collect an analyze the data.  But a good one will teach you how to develop this important skill for yourself.

After all, why are we doing this in the first place? NOT to get the artifacts to complete the CMMI appraisal. NOT even to achieve "CMMI certification."

No, the purpose of collecting and characterizing data is to give yourself more ways to become better as a person and a company.

So get with the program, Paul!  You’re a good executive. You’ve got a good team.  And a good company!

It’s time to start learning the behaviors that will make you great.

Like this blog? Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec!


Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.


Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about running a successful CMMI program.

Help! It’s the CMMI Appraisal Day Massacre - on Friday the 13th!

Dear CMMI Appraiser,

Our CMMI Appraiser is torturing us! You would not believe the hours he has us spend in meetings. This whole thing is worse than a tax audit. He is demanding work product evidence for every single sub-practice in the model … and as far as I can tell, there are thousands! When will this ever end? It is so over-engineered and burdensome. Is the CMMI supposed to be like this? ~ Steve C.

Steve,

Maybe you should have called 911. It sounds like you are under siege!  It’s more than a little eerie that your question comes on Friday the 13th … there are so many similarities to your plight and that of the camp counselors in the horror film by the same name.

I’m not trying to make light of your situation (well, maybe a little - if you don't laugh, you'll cry). But it’s really scary to think that some of my brethren Lead Appraisers are so far off the deep end that they are making the CMMI feel like murder.

Similar to the purpose of summer camp, the intention of the CMMI is that you gather together, have fun, learn new skills, establish new traditions and come away the better for it. Where, oh where did your sick and twisted CMMI appraiser go wrong?

Let’s set the record straight.

First, as you are experiencing, too many meetings are a productivity KILLER. It’s a pretty good rule of thumb that the more meetings you have, the less you can accomplish. I’ve heard Lead Appraisers say things like, “We need to have a lot of meetings because they need everything clarified face-to-face, or else how can they understand the projects, resolve issues or risks or assumptions or any of those things?”  AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!  Shoot me now!

Somebody call the process police! That explanation is just criminal.

Second, a SCAMPI appraisal is NOT an audit! A good Lead Appraiser is the OPPOSITE of an auditor. The CMMI is a model for continuous improvement, and a Lead Appraiser is tasked with not only ensuring that you’re using the model properly, but that you are getting value out of it, and that your company is using it to become a better or – as I call it – a great company. That’s the bottom line of CMMI.

If your Lead Appraiser is insisting on seeing “work product evidence,” or what they now call “artifacts” for every single sub practice in the model, he’s acting like an auditor. The CMMI does NOT call for an audit of subpractices! Talk about shattering the stillness of the night with blood-curdling screams!

A Lead Appraiser who behaves like an auditor is driving wrong behaviors, wasting money, and making people hate CMMI. He might as well come at you with a machete.

Clearly what’s happening is that your Lead Appraiser is over-engineering what his task is. He probably thinks the way to win business is to force you down a path where you are terrified of him and think you need to memorize everything that’s in the book. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no reason for anyone in your company to do that.

Steve, this may be difficult, but I want you to remain calm. Stay on the line, and know that the practices in the CMMI are valuable guidance for you. They are not things to comply with, as written. They are guidance for you, like honest-to-goodness camp counselors, whose job is to help you make yourself incrementally and iteratively better.

A good Lead Appraiser won’t care if you know what the GPs are, by their numbers. All a good Lead Appraiser will care about is: Are you training people? Do you have a process for doing work? Do you have policies? Are you improving as an organization? Are you learning about yourselves?

You need a good Lead Appraiser, Steve. Wake up from the nightmare.  Fast. We’ve seen that movie. What a horror show!

Like this blog? Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec! 

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.


Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about running a successful CMMI program.