The #8 Reason to Attend SEPGNA: Meaningful Conversations

As a longtime speaker at SEPGNA conferences and practitioner of the CMMI, I love thinking and talking with people about using the Model for process improvement and performance innovation. I’ve found no better place to do that than at the SEPGNA Conference every year. That’s why I put together this list of Top 10 Reasons to attend SEPGNA 2013 – to share all the ways you, too, may come to make North America’s premier CMMI experience the number one conference of the year.
 
So let’s continue the countdown with Reason #8.

Drum roll, please! Reason #8 is ... 

SEPGNA is a great place to have meaningful conversations.

Do you enjoy a good, spirited conversation about process improvement and performance innovation? Of course you do! And you’ll get a lot of that at the CMMI Conference.

Every year, the SEPG North America conference draws a wide variety of engineering, project management, and software professionals, who come from a vast array of disciplines. Some are organizations that are getting started with CMMI, and are interested in hearing user stories that offer applicable lessons. Some are experienced in using the guidance of the CMMI and are looking for ways to take the next step in performance improvement. And some are industry experts who are excited about sharing some new and powerful ways the CMMI is being used by companies small and large around the globe.

As a CMMI Appraiser, I always enjoy to talking about the amazing results I’ve seen companies achieve with the CMMI. I know that if you adopt the CMMI you will likely experience improved performance, increased productivity and fewer project delays. You’ll be on-time and on-budget more often, and your workforce will be happier and more productive.

Whatever your interest, this year, you’ll have plenty of chances to join the conversation, as the CMMI Institute is planning an even richer, more interactive CMMI conference experience. Some of the hottest topics in the industry are slated for discussion, including:

• Protecting agile values in the presence of demanding customers
• Utilizing the architectural structure of the CMMI to strengthen what you are ALREADY doing
• Drawing insights from stories aggregated from dozens of CMMI users
• Using the CMMI to strengthen and compliment Kanban, DevOps, and Agile

With this year’s theme of Connect. Explore. Apply. Achieve, the 25th annual SEPG North America conference promises to give companies even more to think about. There is a full slate of high-quality, proven speakers, workshops and break-out sessions to choose from, with opportunities to discuss both principle and practice that we can all take home to our organizations.

What better place for conversations about the power of process improvement than at SEPGNA, with people like you and me, who get it?

So come on out to Pittsburgh and join the conversation! Register here.

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.

The #9 Reason to Attend SEPGNA 2013: Partner Up!

Hello, my friends, and welcome to the countdown with the Top 10 Reasons to attend SEPGNA 2013!

If the past is any indicator of the future, this year’s SEPGNA 2013 Conference promises a CMMI experience that will pay dividends for years to come. How will your organization benefit? Let me count the ways.

Recently we posted our #10 Reason: To help you get better at what you do. Today, we’re sharing Reason #9 to attend SEPGNA 2013.

Drum roll, please! Reason #9 is …

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

Engineering and software professionals tend to be straight-forward people. We make no bones about the fact that we are all trying to make our organizations as successful as possible. That’s why we look for opportunities to create strategic relationships with compatible companies, so that we have them in place when we need them. And there’s no better place to form these relationships than at SEPGNA!

Care for some proof? Two years ago, at the SEPGNA Conference in Portland, I had a discussion with another CMMI Institute Partner about his service offerings and our service offerings.

Having discovered that our offerings were complimentary, 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 times. In turn, he has introduced us to several companies, one of which was an information technology company with whom we were already in discussions. His referral helped them make a decision that was right for them – and we subsequently earned their business.

We connected with more Partners to form alliances for sharing work at last year’s Conference in Albuquerque. So far, this has led to several new opportunities to help spread the word about CMMI and conduct SCAMPI A or SCAMPI B Appraisals.

For full details about the Conference logistics and to register for the Conference, visit the SEPG North America Conference site (http://sepgconference.org )

Need more reasons to attend this year’s SEPGNA? Check back soon for Reason #8.

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.

The #10 Reason to Attend SEPGNA 2013: Helping you get better at what you do!

Hello, my friends!

It’s that time again! The SEPGNA 2013 Conference is coming to Pittsburg, PA on October 1st and 2nd. And I know that many of you – whether you are just starting to think about adopting the CMMI for your organization, or already have extensive experience with the Model – may be wondering whether this year’s CMMI experience is for you.

Wonder no more! As veteran attendee and sometimes speaker at SEPGNA conferences, and longtime practitioner of the CMMI, I feel so strongly about the value of the Conference that I’ve developed a list of Top 10 Reasons to attend SEPGNA 2013. I will be counting down the reasons in the weeks ahead, starting today with Reason #10.

Drum roll, please! Reason #10 is …


It’s all about helping you get better at what you do.

As you know if you’ve attended the Conference in the past, SEPGNA is the premier software process improvement conference. Hundreds of professionals come from around the world come to learn, network and explore solutions to their performance problems. I like to call it “the greatest show on earth!”

This year, the show will be even better! The new host, the CMMI Institute, has been working hard to make sure this year’s Conference has something for everyone who attends, wherever you are in your professional journey. Following a theme of Connect. Explore. Apply. Achieve, the Program Committee has created two days of content focused on positively impacting your performance. The re-imagined format is designed to help you explore using the CMMI to improve performance through first person case studies, interactive workshops, and powerful presentations that can help you to get started with CMMI or take your organization to new levels of success.

Whether your interest is multi-model, practical process improvement, high maturity, agile, DevOps or any other discipline, you will find ample opportunities to dive into the principles and practices that can help your organization better harness the power of performance improvement with the CMMI. Click here to check out the great speaker line-up.

The variety of learning opportunities alone is incredible. You can expect to come away with real life, practical and implementable ideas. For full details about the Conference logistics and to register, navigate around the SEPG Conference site (http://sepgconference.org )

SEPGNA 2013 is an amazing opportunity to spend two days focusing on how you can get better at what you do. For some, this will be reason enough to attend this year’s conference. Others may be preparing for their SCAMPI A or SCAMPI B Appraisals and just want to learn more about it.  Still others may appreciate more of our Top 10 reasons to attend, so be sure to check back soon for Reason #9!

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.

Top 10 Reasons to Attend SEPG 2013! Number 10 is up!

Friends,

The CMMI Institute has been gracious enough to host my annual "Top 10 Reasons to Attend SEPG 2013" this year on their site.  You can link to it here: http://sepgconference.org/the-10-reason-to-attend-sepgna-2013-helping-you-get-better-at-what-you-do/

Join us in Pittsburgh to hear User Stories from other companies, cutting edge tips on how to use the CMMI to make your company as great as it can be, and to establish or continue the connections made at North America's premier conference for Performance Improvement and the CMMI.

Broadsword will be there where I will be presenting my theories on "Agile Resiliency."

Enjoy - and see you in Pittsburgh!

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 much is CMMI Certification worth?

Dear CMMI Appraiser,

I’ve recently transitioned to a new organization.  Based on my most recent experience with the CMMI, I am trying to educate my new bosses about the contracting opportunities that are available to a company that has a CMMI Certification. These are strictly numbers guys. Can you give me some figures in terms of hard dollars? ~ Tom F.

Tom, good to hear that you have experience with the value that a proper adoption of the CMMI can bring. But if you're looking to nail numeric value in dollars and cents for your use of CMMI, I'm afraid the answer is “it depends.”

In fact, there are several contributing factors. You might want to sit back with a cup of coffee while I take you through them.

First off, there are billions of dollars in contracts in play where CMMI has a role, all over the world.  Some of these contracts "require" you to have a "level" of CMMI, but many more give preference in the form of "points" during their evaluation process if you have a CMMI Rating (for good reason).  You are right to alert your new bosses to the opportunities available to companies that successfully complete a SCAMPI A appraisal and achieve a CMMI rating. It can be a true game-changer. Maybe you saw that at your last company.

Secondly, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as “CMMI certification.” It’s true that the phrase “CMMI certification” is commonly used in the industry, thanks to some large-scale early adopters who created an environment where a CMMI mandate feels and looks like a certification. But you can't become great by focusing on so-called CMMI certification - it drives the wrong behavior.  So when you speak to your bosses, the correct phrase to use is, “Achieving a CMMI rating.”

Now let’s talk numbers. Every CMMI Lead Appraiser would love to be able to say, “With a proper adoption of the CMMI, your productivity will increase 80%.”

Or, “Follow the guidelines of the CMMI and reduce defects and rework by 60%.”

Or, here's one that would make the decision easy on everyone: “Learn to spell CMMI, and you'll make 70% more profit.”

But the truth is, there are so many factors that these kinds of statistics are merely hypothetical. It really does depend on your company's individual situation. Also, the reason WHY you adopt the CMMI will have a major impact on your results.

I find it fascinating that there have been many attempts over the years to quantify the value of CMMI. Most of the efforts, in my humble opinion, have come up short in terms of data quality. That's why, at the process improvement and performance innovation company I head up, Broadsword, we commissioned our own aggregation of CMMI Users Stories (the CMMI Users Stories report is available here) and found the following numbers:

• 80% of users experienced an increase in performance and improvement in the quality of products and services
• 54% noted that defects had decreased, sometimes dramatically 
•  69% said they had seen an ROI, with one respondent who was leading the CMMI effort for a division reporting: “It was one of our most profitable divisions.”

These figures suggest that you will probably see substantial gains in productivity. How much?  It depends.  On you, on your boss, on you company, and on who you work with to help you get started.

Adopting the CMMI can also help open the door to bid and win government and corporate contracts. How much? Again … it depends.

I can tell you that there is a LARGE amount of business in both the federal/state government sector AND the commercial sector that request that you have a CMMI rating to bid and maintain a contract. And many more that consider a CMMI rating positively in their scoring system for contract award. For instance, some automotive companies require CMMI Level 3 to bid on electronics, software, and engineering business. These opportunities can be many times the annual revenue of even the largest service company.

But there are better reasons to adopt the CMMI. I will go so far as to say that 99% of your success depends on WHY you choose to adopt the CMMI.  Getting a certificate is useful for marketing (sometimes), but it's an incomplete reason to go through such a complex project.   As I said above, you can't become a great company simply by focusing on certification.

See, the real value of the CMMI comes from the transformation of the culture of your company. When properly adopted, the CMMI helps change the way you behave, so that you build products that are better than other companies that are building similar products. If you pursue so-called CMMI certification, you may get a piece of paper that says you have a CMMI rating.  But you won’t get the value.

Which would you rather have, the paper or the value?

And don’t say, “It depends!” That’s MY line!

Need to know EVERYTHING about the CMMI. Broadsword is hosting another FREE, LIVE Webinar on Friday, August 16, 2013 at 1PM ET. Click here to join us for “CMMI - Everything You Need to Know!”

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.

Don’t miss the August 16th Webinar: “CMMI – Everything You Need to Know!”

Dear Readers,

Good news for those who need to know EVERYTHING about the CMMI. Broadsword is hosting another FREE, LIVE Webinar on Friday, August 16, 2013 at 1PM ET. Click here to join us for “CMMI - Everything You Need to Know!”

Why participate? Are you an executive, engineer and/or business professional who is trying to create an environment in which your organization can manage its uniqueness in a structured way? This fast-paced, in-depth Webinar shows how to use the CMMI to reach this outcome, and more.

Here are just a few bullets of information you will learn about what the CMMI is and does:

• The CMMI is a tool to help solve business problems 
• The CMMI helps you change and improve requirements churn and volatility, so that you can spend less time and money on requirements
• The CMMI helps you be on-time and on-budget
• The CMMI helps you motivate your staff, and make them better at what they do
• The CMMI helps you understand and deal with risk, before it hurts you
• The CMMI helps you avoid having too many meetings, unhappy customers and unpredictable projects

And the CMMI can do this whether you choose Agile, Waterfall, and any other set of methods.

The great take-away of this Webinar is that it helps you learn to see the CMMI as one of the tools that can help drive the transformation of the culture of your company. This means improving and changing the way your company behaves, so that you build better products, win new business and retain the customers you have.

So, whether you have been told you need to achieve a so-called “CMMI Certification” or you have been working with CMMI for years, you’ll want to check out the Webinar. You are sure to pick up some new ideas to help you get better at what you are ALREADY doing. And if you know someone who needs this information, please direct them to: “CMMI - Everything You Need to Know!”

Don't miss this informative event! Register here.

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

The Webinar is presented by Jeff Dalton.  Jeff 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.