“Go agile”? What's going on?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser – Customers are asking us to go agile in 2015. They don't seem to realize we are already an agile shop.  What's going on? ~ Isaac B.

Hey, Isaac,

I see this happening more and more. Agile has become so popular that large scale adopters are exerting pressure on their suppliers to “go agile” – even before they fully understand what they are asking for. In my opinion, the best approach is one we’ve coined “Agile Resiliency,” which uses the architectural rigor of CMMI to strengthen agile. Strengthening agile will help us when our customers, who are decidedly not agile, start pushing us around and telling us we need to behave more like they do.

Why are customers pushing us around?

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 other large organizations that have made the strategic decision to start running their projects using agile methods. As a supplier, you can have all the best intentions and the right way of going about things, but these large new adopters have tremendous weight and momentum behind what they are doing, and you will eventually get changed. Not because they don’t want to be agile, but because they are NOT agile.

What can we do about it?

One thing we can do is get informed. If you can make it to the Washington, DC area on Tuesday, December 9th, at 6:30PM, I am giving a LIVE presentation that will help you.  The talk, “Agile Resiliency: How CMMI Will Make Agile Thrive and Survive,” is hosted by the Agile Leadership Network of the Washington, DC metro area.

Click HERE to register:

December 9, 2014 @ 6:30PM in Vienna , Virginia – “Agile Resiliency: How CMMI Will Make Agile Thrive and Survive!”

Attendees are sure to learn a lot of useful information to put in practice right away. Over the course of two hours, I will show you how integrating the architectural strengths of the CMMI with your agile approach can help you make agile resilient enough to resist the pressure to change – and even scale and thrive.

Join us and our hosts on December 9th.

Register here for the Live Presentation on Agile Resiliency.

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.

SPaMCast Question #12: Is agile dead?

Jeff, is agile is dead? I’ve heard you say that agile is dying because it lacks resilience. Therefore, would you say that the combination of agile and CMMI constitutes sort of a rebirth? ~ Tom Cagley, SPaMCast 

[NOTE: Over the past several weeks, the CMMI Appraiser has been sharing excerpts from a recent conversation with Tom Cagley on SPaMCast about whether agile is resilient – i.e., whether it will be able to spring back into shape after being bound or compressed by the pressures of development and support – and how frameworks like the CMMI can be used to make agile more resilient. Listen to the full interview at SPaMCast 296.] 

Tom,

Yes, that's what I believe. I believe that without integrating the architectural strengths of the CMMI with your agile approach, agile will never be resilient enough to resist the pressure to change … and it will die a cruel death.

As such, I believe that using CMMI to strengthen agile is really the only way for agile to experience a rebirth. But organizationally, something is preventing that from happening today. For one thing, you have senior executives driving CMMI and project teams driving agile. That’s an inversion from what we really need. It should be the other way around. We need more senior executives to adopt agile values and apply them to their CMMI adoption. And we need more project teams to harness the architectural strengths of CMMI to add rigor to their agile approach. Only then will we have a meeting of the minds.

But once that happens, once we can combine these two things together, not only will we flip this inversion, but we will be able to strengthen agile. Strengthening agile will help us when our customers, who are decidedly not agile, start pushing us around and telling us we need to behave more like they do. We’ll have some strength to defend our approach to them. We’ll have data to take back to them as proof that agile really works. Then we can take our own advice and apply Agile Resiliency to our entire company.

That’s right – our entire company, not just software engineering. For example, in terms of marketing and sales, I always tell my clients that they should lead with their methodology. That is, your company “Way,” or the Way your work gets done. Having a well defined Way helps you improve all areas of the business, and reach your goals faster. And if your Way includes having Agile Resiliency, so much the better.

I have found that clients often struggle with this at first. But then I show them how logical it is. For example, if you consider your company to be a company with great agility -- and, thanks to Agile Resiliency, you have data to prove that – you will be able to show that your agility really improves performance and puts you at the top tier of your competitors. I don’t know about you, Tom, but if I'm a marketing executive, I'm leading with that.

So that’s a powerful, powerful message. But we’re not going to get it with either CMMI or agile alone. We can get it by combining them together.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Agile Resiliency concept is invited to attend our live presentation of “Agile Resiliency: How CMMI Will Make Agile Thrive and Survive.” The event takes place on in Vienna, Virginia on Tuesday, December 9th, at 6:30PM, and is hosted by the Agile Leadership Network of Washington, DC.

Click HERE to sign up!

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.

A Thanksgiving Cornucopia, CMMI-Style

Happy Thanksgiving!

In the spirit of the season, this CMMI Appraiser has so much to be thankful for, and it all starts with YOU! Your focus on using the CMMI to pursue organizational greatness has helped transform the industry and raise the standard of excellence for everyone. Thank you!

This year and every year, I am especially grateful for all of those engineering and software professionals who have taken on the challenge of using CMMI to improve performance in their organizations. Thank you for:

• Understanding that the CMMI is a journey, not a destination;
• Staying focused on continually learning to make your company better;
• Setting the right goals and objectives in your organization;
• Asking the right questions;
• Using the CMMI to put your company on the path to greatness.

It's all about you!  Without your effort to learn as much as you can about being a great company, those of us who are passionate about organizational performance improvement and engineering strategies wouldn’t have the chance to help organizations like yours use the CMMI to get even better at what you are ALREADY doing.

That’s why we’ve made it our holiday tradition to share our best ideas with you. We want you to continue learning to be a great company, using the CMMI as your guide.

So here you go! Just for you, please accept this veritable cornucopia of links. Click to open up an abundance of content that we hope you’ll find useful and valuable for the long holiday weekend, and beyond:

• Our popular article, "CMMI vs. Scrum? NO! CMMI + Scrum!" Originally published in the prestigious Cutter IT Journal, the article is designed to help you learn to maximize your investment in agile and the CMMI.
• Our entertaining CMMI-TV channel on YouTube. CMMI-TV is a place where we can add value to the engineering and software development community by offering advice on engineering strategy, performance innovation and software process improvement.
• Our informative CMMI and agile eBooks. The fastest way to get up to speed on the basics of CMMI, agile, and software process improvement, our easily digestible eBooks are available from $0 to 99 cents on Amazon.

Whether you are traveling or staying local this holiday season, we hope you enjoy abundant health, happiness -- and useful insights on being the kind of organization you’ve always wanted to be.

From our family to yours,

Happy Thanksgiving!

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.

Agile Resiliency is here! Sign up for the presentation in DC

Hey, everybody!

Still trying to do more with agile? Good news – our popular “Agile Resiliency” presentation is back and better than ever!

Registration is now open for our interactive presentation of "Agile Resiliency: Scaling Agile So That It Thrives & Survives" on Tuesday, December 9th, at 6:30 PM, in the Washington, DC metro area.

The event, hosted by the Agile Leadership Network of Washington, DC, promises to be a lot of practical information, and a lot of fun.

Click HERE to sign up!

Why Agile Resiliency?

One of the biggest 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 presentation 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 presentation, you’ll learn how to integrate the architectural strengths of the CMMI with your agile approach to bring about the transformation of the culture of your company. You’ll come away with strategies, tips and insights for improving your organization and making your agile methodology scalable.

Space is limited ... sign up now!

Register for the Presentation.

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.

Need to Know EVERYTHING about CMMI? Sign up for our FREE Webinar!

Dear Readers,

Do you need to know EVERYTHING about CMMI? Then have we got a deal for you! Our popular, highly informative Webinar, “CMMI: Everything You NEED to Know” is back and better than ever!  And best of all ... it's FREEEEEEEEE!

Registration is now open for our presentation of “CMMI: Everything You NEED to Know!” on November 20, 2014, from noon-2PM EST.

Click HERE to register for the “CMMI: Everything You NEED to Know!” Webinar (Thursday, November 20th @12pm EST)

Why CMMI?

Some engineering and software professionals – and even some of my fellow CMMI Lead Appraisers – operate as though they have not heard the news that CMMI is 100% about solving business problems. They still are laboring under the misconception that the CMMI is this heavy, command and control, document-centric cauldron of hard, dreary work and pure nonsense that tells you how to do your job. CMMI has none of that.

On this Webinar, you’ll learn that the CMMI doesn’t tell you HOW to do anything. It doesn’t “require” anything. Here’s 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. So the question is not “why CMMI” … it’s: “Why not?”

Ah, but there is so much more to learn about CMMI.  Space is limited ... sign up now!

Register for the FREE CMMI 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.

SPaMCast Question 11: What two things should engineers do to make agile more resilient?

Jeff, if you could wave a magic wand and cause people to do two things to make agile more resilient, what would those two things be and why? ~ Tom Cagley, SPaMCast 

[NOTE: Over the past several weeks, the CMMI Appraiser has been sharing excerpts from a recent conversation with Tom Cagley on SPaMCast about whether agile is resilient – i.e., whether it will be able to spring back into shape after being bound or compressed by the pressures of development and support – and how frameworks like the CMMI can be used to make agile more resilient. Listen to the full interview at SPaMCast 296.] 

Tom, if I could wave a magic wand and cause people to do two things that would make agile more resilient, I’d have them focus more clearly on their values and their mental model for agile. If they were able to change their focus in these two important ways, they’d find that the path to greatness is not an illusion!

Let’s break down these how these two "magic tricks" can transform any organization into a great organization.

First, the values. I would encourage C-level executives and senior management to focus whole-heartedly on the values of your company. I mean real values, not just token values stamped out in sheet metal and attached to the conference room wall that no one ever looks at. The real values that inform the way you do what you do.

For example, if your aspiration is to be a company with great agility, focus on agile values throughout your organization. This means everywhere, not just engineering. It means purchasing - especially purchasing! It means marketing and sales, operations and manufacturing. To be a company with great agility, you need to focus on agile values, and make sure everyone in the organization is clear on what is expected of them as it pertains to those values. They would need to change their focus to live and breathe their values. That would be my first magic trick.

The second would be to help people understand, through training and coaching, how to adopt a mental model around these agile values. The mental model would give them a construct for using tools like CMMI and ISO in the way that they were intended to be used, so that we can improve and get better and better. This really is the trick to making our company more successful. It’s the trick to making our careers more successful, as well. When people really understand how to create and maintain a mental model for continuous improvement, it's a win-win for everybody.

But here's the real magic, Tom: You don’t need a wand to make it happen! You need a strong desire to improve on what you’re already doing. If I woke up tomorrow and there was no magic wand, I'd do the same thing I always do. I'd make sure our values were defined, understood and embraced throughout the organization. And I'd create a mental model for adopting a flexible, agile approach to the CMMI that fits within my company's particular situation.

This is sometimes easier said than done, so if anyone following this interview is interested in learning more about applying the lessons of CMMI and agile to be a great company, they are certainly invited to participate in our upcoming Webinar: “Agile Resiliency Scaling Agile so that it Thrives and Survives.” The Webinar is happening on November 6, 2014 from 12-1PM EST.

Click here to register for the Webinar.

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.