Too Late to Join the CMMI Appraisal Team?

Dear CMMI Appraiser,

Hi, I found you by searching for “CMMI Consultant” on Google and I love your posts! Here’s my situation.  In November, my boss told our CMMI Consultant that it would help my career to have me join the CMMI Appraisal Team. I agree! But it’s been frustrating because the CMMI Consultant keeps putting me off when I ask what I need to do to join.  Now that our CMMI Appraisal is underway, is it too late? ~ June D.

Hi, June. It’s great that you are taking it upon yourself to find out how to join the CMMI Appraisal Team. Because the CMMI is about creating an environment of continuous improvement, and you clearly want to improve yourself, the company will benefit from having you on the CMMI Appraisal Team.  Bravo!

Assuming there are a few months before the current CMMI Appraisal onsite has started, and you have been working with the CMMI,  it's not too late for you. In fact ...

By this I mean, it’s never too late to do the things we need to do to improve, both individually and as a company. To join the CMMI Appraisal Team, a few things have to happen:

• You need to successfully complete the Introduction to CMMI training class
• You have to demonstrate the pre-requisite experience as outlined in the SCAMPI MDD for engineers, project managers, or managers
• You need to fill out, sign, and submit the SEI’s FERPA form (if you are in the USA) after you've completed the class
• You need to register on the SEI’s ATM Pool registration page (sas.sei.cmu.edu). If you were able to do this then the first two items were satisfied.
• Your Lead Appraiser must create the Appraisal Record in SAS
• Your Lead Appraiser must add you to the appraisal as an ATM
• You need to complete the SCAMPI Team Training given by your Lead Appraiser.

This all SHOULD be done prior to starting the CMMI appraisal!

Since the first step is CMMI training, start looking into your options today. There are good CMMI Training courses available through the SEI. You can also take a CMMI Training class with an SEI Partner, like Broadsword Solutions Corporation (www.broadswordsolutions.com).

The advantage of taking the CMMI Training with SEI Partner Broadsword is that they are a real-world practitioner of CMMI, and they use real-life stories, examples, exercises, and case studies as they go. They even cover dynamic concepts like CMMI and Agile, and the cutting edge approach of CMMI+SCRUM, which could help you accelerate your career.

I'd love to have you in my CMMI training class.  It's always a pleasure to have participants who are as motivated as you.

As far as your CMMI Consultant, her silence it telling.  Why hasn’t she answered your question?  My guess is that she may not know what it takes to join a CMMI Appraisal Team.  What else doesn't she know?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Feel free to share this post with your boss. It may be time to find a new CMMI consultant.

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.