Agile Is Fragile? Really?

Hey CMMI Appraiser, “Agile is Fragile?” Really? ~ Roland

Dear Readers,

In our recent webinar, "Agile Resiliency: Scaling Agile So That It Thrives and Survives," we presented a concept that was new for some, the idea of utilizing the architectural strengths of the CMMI to make Agile more resilient to change and large-scale corporate pressure. We received many questions, which I promised to answer right here on this blog, starting today. ~ the CMMI Appraiser 

Dear Roland,

Yes, I said it, and I meant it. Agile is fragile. If we want Agile to survive, we need a Resilient Agile Architecture because Agile is about to get crushed.

The good news is, Agile is undeniably on track to be the most popular and fastest-growing set of methods for software development in the world. Companies of all sizes are hearing about the benefits of Agile, and are starting to adopt the techniques. This means that Agile developers, like you, have done a great job spreading the word. But the downside is, you’ve attracted the attention of a few new adopters.

These new adopters happen to be very large organizations.  They have decided that, strategically, they are going to start running their projects using Agile methods. Some of the biggest newcomers in our industry right now are General Motors, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Just thinking about the sheer size of these organizations can be mind-boggling. General Motors is one of the largest companies in the world. They already employ thousands of IT professionals, and they've announced they are hiring even more. When they announced that they were putting Agile front and center of all of their software development, and that they would in-source much of their IT, they created openings for thousands more IT professionals.

These organizations have the largest IT and engineering spend of any organizations on the planet. For example, General Motors, the Department of Defense, and Veterans Affairs have a combined external spend of close to $10B for IT and engineering.  There is a tremendous amount of momentum and influence from these organizations.

We have an old saying in the automotive industry, where I’ve been working for 30 years: “Suppliers don’t change General Motors, General Motors changes suppliers.”

The same problem happens when working with the Department of Defense. A supplier can have all the best intentions and the right way of going about things, but they will eventually get changed.

One of my favorite writers on IT and engineering systems from the 70s, Gerald M. Weinberg, had a phrase for this phenomenon. He called it “getting pickled in the brine.”

Oh, you can try to resist. You can try to stay a cool Agile cucumber. You can go into an organization like a General Motors and have the best intention of being Agile, and running projects in an Agile manner. But these big organizations have a lot of momentum and weight behind what they’re doing. They have a lot of cultural differences with your company -- a lot of brine.

Make no mistake. They will change the way you behave.  Not because they don't want to be Agile - but because they are NOT Agile.

This is a big problem for our industry, because, as I said, Agile is fragile. Agile is new. Agile is young. We all have great intentions to run our project using fixed time boxes based on negotiated sprint backlogs, to negotiate scope and perform backlog grooming, to conduct sprint demos and retrospectives, and all the things that those of us who are passionate about Agile think are important. But we get sidetracked by our big customers. The ones who are decidedly NOT agile.

I'll say it again.  Agile is fragile. We need to strengthen it with tools like the CMMI to create a "Resilient Agile Architecture,” which keeps us focused on what's most important to our business and our process, and ultimately, our product.  It keeps us Agile.

Did you miss the webinar? Soon we will announce the REPLAY of "Agile Resiliency: Scaling Agile So That It Thrives and Survives.”  Be sure to check back.

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He 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 engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

To download eBooks about CMMI, visit Jeff’s Author Page on Amazon.

How can we establish agile values across a 5000-person enterprise?

Dear CMMI Appraiser, I was referred to your blog by a friend in the industry who said you write about getting agile and CMMI to work together. In January, my agile shop was acquired by a national IT consulting and software solutions firm that is a CMMI Level 3 organization, with an intent to scale agile company-wide.  It’s no problem to establish a set of values with a Scrum team, but can we do the same across an entire enterprise of 5000 people? ~ Steven K.

Steven, glad to hear that we have a mutual friend!  And welcome to the CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration).  Yes, the Model is one of the tools you can use to help establish agile values across the enterprise.

Think of the CMMI as a set of guidelines to improve organizational performance. The CMMI is a framework that helps you learn how to design a flexible architecture for continuous process improvement. And the CMMI is a tool that can help you set the right goals and objectives and keep asking the right questions.

Now, there are four areas within in the CMMI that specifically address values. You can establish agile values across an organization of 100, 500 or 5000 employees by using the CMMI to help you ask questions from these process areas and using the guidance. I will touch on them briefly.

Organizational training

• Are we training people enough so that they understand what’s important to us as a set of values?
• How are we training them?

Organizational process definition

• Are the values clear?
• Does everybody understand the values?
• Do we have our values presented in a format that enables everybody to know exactly what they are? (Examples include emails, posters in every team meeting, messages scribbled on everybody’s white board, etc.)

Organizational process retrospective

• What can we learn from the lessons that came before?
• Have we captured information from the lessons learned and shared it with the rest of the company?
• Have we put our team on a vertical improvement trajectory?

Generic Practices (GPs)

• Have we established an organizational policy? (Generic Practice 2.1)
• Have we planned the process? (Generic Practice 2.2)
• Are we providing resources? (Generic Practice 2.3)
• Have we assigned responsibility? (Generic Practice 2.4)
• Have we trained people? (Generic Practice 2.5)
• Are we controlling work products? (Generic Practice 2.6)
• Have we identified and involved relevant stakeholders? (Generic Practice 2.7)
• Are we monitoring and controlling the process? (Generic Practice 2.8)
• Are we objectively evaluating adherence? (Generic Practice 2.9)
• Do we consistently review status with higher level management? (Generic Practice 2.10)
• Have we established a defined process? (Generic Practice 3.1)
• Are we collecting process related experiences? (Generic Practice 3.2)

That’s a lot to digest, I know. But all this means is that you can use the guidance of CMMI to help establish a set of methods and frameworks by asking and answering many questions.

For more in-depth information on establishing agile values enterprise-wide, Steven, you want want to participate in our upcoming Webinar presentation of "Agile Resiliency: Scaling Agile So That It Thrives & Survives." We will address these questions, and more.

Click HERE to register for the Live Webinar (Friday, June 21st @1pm EDT)

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He 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 engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

To download eBooks about CMMI, visit Jeff’s Author Page on Amazon.

CMMI Certification doesn't exist? Whaaaat? But customers are ASKING for it!

Dear CMMI appraiser, we need to look at CMMI certification because we’d like to bid on certain government contracts. I just got off the phone with a Virginia CMMI appraiser who said there’s no such thing as CMMI certification. How can there be “no such thing” as CMMI certification when clients are specifically asking for it? ~ Rudy J.

Dear, Rudy, yes, CMMI certification exists … in our industry’s vernacular ONLY. But not officially. So the Virginia CMMI Appraiser was right. The concept of CMMI certification is not recognized by the SEI or the CMMI Institute.  We use the term "Rating" in its place.

But don’t be upset that you can’t actually get a CMMI certificate, because you kinda-sorta can. Something far more valuable is available to you. If you decide to not focus on CMMI certification, you end up getting all of the value of the CMMI. In other words, don't end up chasing the paper instead of the performance.  Chasing paper just gives you “plaque buildup.”

So what is the real value of the CMMI? Adopting the CMMI is about the transformation of the culture of your company. It’s about changing the way we behave, so that we build products that are better than other companies that are building similar products.

That’s what your clients really want. They don’t want you to be a “good” company. Good companies typically have lame processes that cost more, produce lower quality, and make employees unhappy. No, what your clients want from you is to be a GREAT company. And that means, most likely, you will need to transform.  But it's all good.

You can’t transform a culture by going out and getting certificates. When we put a “certification” mindset around getting better, it drives the wrong kind of behaviors.

So why do clients ask for CMMI certification, if it doesn’t exist?

It started with our friends in the federal government sector, who created an environment where a CMMI mandate feels and looks like a certification. By extension, many engineering and software companies in the commercial sector are routinely inserting requirements in their RFPs and contracts that suppliers be at a certain CMMI Level.  Pretty much the same as the feds.

But focusing on CMMI certification is a misguided interpretation of the value of CMMI.

Instead, focus on getting better at what you are ALREADY doing - using the CMMI as a guide,

That’s what your clients are really asking for. They want you to be better at what you do. And, honestly, what could be more appropriate? We all want to improve, and to be in a continuously improving environment.

And that’s what the CMMI is all about.

Now, you said you want to win their business. I get that. I fully acknowledge many small and large suppliers in Virginia and elsewhere must achieve a CMMI Maturity Level in order to bid on work. In some cases, we’re talking about millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts. It's a business reality we all share.

But CMMI certification can’t be your only goal – or you will not get the results you were hoping for.

To help make my point, let’s go back to the Virginia CMMI Appraiser you mentioned. If he was a good CMMI Appraiser, he might have asked you “Why are you doing this to yourself?” That might have led to discussion about the possibilities of adopting CMMI as model to be a great company - not a model to get a plaque.

Had you called me, you may have been surprised by my approach. I would have tried to talk you out of having CMMI appraisal altogether. I’d do that to try to figure out just how important it really was to you. That would help me understand how much you have thought it through.

Then I would have tried to help you understand that having a so-called CMMI Certification isn't what’s most important. It’s far more important to put your company on the path to greatness.

That’s what makes the CMMI so valuable and useful. Adopting the Model puts you on the path to greatness by getting you to think about things like how well you are running your company, how well you are delivering products, and how happy your customers are.

It’s not about what’s hanging on your wall.

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 engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

To download eBooks about CMMI, visit Jeff’s Author Page on Amazon.

Is it OK to stop at CMMI Level 3?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, our company writes embedded software used by commercial and government clients. We’ve successfully completed our SCAMPI A appraisal and achieved our goal of being CMMI Level 3, but I’m nervous. At the end of the findings presentation my boss blurted out "Level Four in six months!" Is it OK to stop here? I’m not ready to start pursuing CMMI Level 4. ~ Andrea A., Engineering Executive

Hey, Andrea, congratulations on successfully completing the SCAMPI A appraisal and achieving your CMMI Level 3 rating! If you are thinking ML4 is the inevitable next step, it’s no wonder if you feel anxious. (Hint: it might not be.)

Here’s my advice:

RELAX! Appreciate what you’ve achieved. Understand that you are now on the path to being the kind of company you’ve always wanted to be.

Often when I give this advice early on in my introduction to CMMI training classes, I get a lot of blank stares.  So, what have you achieved?  Looking beyond the tactical objective of achieving a CMMI Maturity Level 3, what you’ve achieved, strategically, is a new way of doing your work.

Starting to feel better yet?

Now, this is a big assumption, BUT, assuming your Lead Appraiser was a good CMMI consultant, he or she helped you learn to ask questions about your company and work that were tailored to your organization's situation. So you learned to ask challenging questions about the way you do your work, and how to apply the CMMI as one of the tools that can drive behavior change and performance improvement. In the end, you got your ML3 rating.

Woo-hoo!  Party time!

But your CMMI Appraiser should also help you realize that you were building something as you went along. Did that happen in your case? All the while you were gathering evidence, did you take the broader perspective and understand that you were actually working toward something of far greater value than achieving your Maturity Level? You were developing a new engineering system for the company.

Surprised? I hope not. Hopefully, your LA kept you focused on building an architecture that is multifaceted and organizational in nature, involving a process infrastructure, a performance infrastructure, a financial infrastructure – all the company’s business systems.

That’s what I meant by asking you to appreciate what you’ve got here. You’ve really got two things for helping the company improve performance:

1. On the one hand, you designed an architecture (the performance improvement model).
2. On the other hand, you built the infrastructure (the physical instantiation of that model).

That’s how it is when we at Broadsword work with clients. We help them build an infrastructure that is the physical instantiation of the architecture we’ve helped them develop.  (Check out some of their testimonials about what that was like.)

The infrastructure includes the people that have been organized, the process assets that have been created, the measures instituted, and the specific way everything is communicated. The infrastructure is a physical thing that has been built – a product of people, processes and technologies. It’s YOUR infrastructure, developed by you, and based on an architectural model.

Now, you indicated that your goal in adopting the CMMI was to achieve a Level.  That's common enough.  Many companies build the infrastructure in part because they are trying to achieve a CMMI Level.  That was their tactical objective. But if you were working with an experienced Lead Appraiser, what they really helped you build, strategically, is an architecture with which to run your business.

So that’s what you have now! The company made a significant investment in performance improvement infrastructure. And you built an architecture with which to run your business.  Now you are asking: is it OK to stop there?

No, it’s not OK to stop. To be clear, I am NOT saying go get an ML4 – there may be little value in that for your company at this time. Instead, your goal should be to integrate your engineering system with your other business systems.

I’ll talk more about that in a future post. Meantime, stay calm, apply what you've been learning, and start writing better software.

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 engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

To download eBooks about CMMI, visit Jeff’s Author Page on Amazon.

It's time for the “Agile Resiliency” Webinar, summer edition!

Dear Readers,

Once again, summertime is just around the corner, and your fun-loving CMMI Appraiser is letting the good times roll with a HOT new “Agile Resiliency” Webinar on Friday, June 21st at 1pm EDT.

Registration is now open for our FREE presentation of "Agile Resiliency: Scaling Agile So That It Thrives & Survives."

Click HERE to register for the Live Webinar (Friday, June 21st @1pm EDT)

Why attend?

One of the hottest issues for engineering and software professionals today is how to make agile scale despite opposition – or, to coin a phrase, how to create “agile resilience.” The Webinar offers a new way of thinking about scaling agile by taking a look at your agile methodology through the perspective of the “Agile Resilience Architecture,” which keeps you focused on what's most important to your business and your process, and ultimately, your product.

In this practical, interactive, fast-paced Webinar, you’ll learn the following:

• How to think of agile in terms of a 3-tiered Architecture consisting of your values, your methods and your techniques
• How to start with agile values and see them as guiding your work
• How to apply the Architecture as a method or framework for managing the work of Scrum
• How to use the Architecture to focus on the techniques for doing the work, such as Planning Poker, Continuous Builds, Story Time, Backlog Grooming, Retrospectives, etc.
• How to integrate the architectural strengths of the CMMI with your agile approach to bring about the transformation of the culture of your company

 … Plus, many more strategies, tips and insights for improving ourselves and making our agile methodology scalable.

Space is limited ... sign up now!

Register for the FREE Live Webinar.

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He 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 engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

To download eBooks about CMMI, visit Jeff’s Author Page on Amazon.