Have a Happy CMMI New Year!

Dear Readers,

We want to take this time to wish each and every one of you a happy and prosperous 2016!

Thank you for being one of the 350,000 readers of "Ask the CMMI Appraiser.  And thank you for your passion for learning new ways to get better.  Whether that means better software, better finance, better product development, better marketing or HR, you’re always ready to learn how taking a lighter, leaner approach to performance improvement can help you make immediate, lasting improvements in your company. You've worked hard to prepare your organization to be wildly successful, and it's time to celebrate!

Our pledge for 2016 is to continue to bring you strategies, tips and techniques for CMMI, Agile and performance improvement to help you be even more successful.

After all, life is a journey.  Make it a great one for your organization by setting the right goals and objectives, and by continually asking the right questions. With learning as your goal, you’ll stay on the path to greatness and increase your capability to become wildly successful in 2016 and beyond.

And THAT'S a New Year's resolution worth keeping!

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.

Wishing You a Happy CMMI!

Dear Readers,

In this time of joy and reflection, this CMMI Appraiser is grateful for those who see our blog as a source of ideas for practical, agile, incremental ways to make their companies better, using the CMMI as one of the tools that can help. We welcomed our 300,000th visitor to the blog this year, and feel privileged to be traveling the “path to greatness” with you.

To show our appreciation, we have something for you.

Please accept as a token of our appreciation a FREE copy of our holiday classic, “CMMI for Executives: The 12 Days of CMMI”. This eBook takes you, as the leader of your organization, on a twelve-day celebration designed to show you the good times of CMMI, so you can help your organization be a great organization by adopting one Generic Practice (GP) per day.

Click here and enter our "Premium Content" section to download your FREE copy of “CMMI for Executives: The 12 Days of CMMI”.

The holidays are a wonderful time of year for parties and exchanging gifts. But every day is a holiday when you see the CMMI as we see it - as an ongoing celebration, a model for being joyful in the quest for becoming a great company.

So click and download the FREE eBook for yourself, or send it along to that special engineering or software professional on your list.

Have a happy CMMI!

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.

What is the Capability Challenge?

Dear Readers, below is an excerpt from my recent interview with celebrating podcaster Tom Cagley of SPaMCAST, to let folks know about the CMMI Institute’s Capability Counts 2016 ongoing webinar series. Enjoy! ~ the CMMI Appraiser

Jeff, what is the Capability Challenge and how did it come about?

Well, Tom, it’s great to talk to you again. I was thinking that you and I have done online interviews many times, and have only met in person once. It’s nice to see you again in this virtual way.

The Capability Challenge was an idea that came up when we were doing some work at the CMMI Institute, planning for the Capability Counts 2016 conference, which takes place in Annapolis, MD on May 10-12, 2016.

Register for Capability Counts 2016 by March 11, 2016 and save $200.

The way it came about was, we started with a question: How could we give everyone in the industry access to the some of the many, many great stories out there, so that they can learn from them, and grow?

We thought, you know something, this really would be useful for the industry. So how we could give some of these people a platform to tell their stories? Webinars were a viable option, and so was the stage at Capability Counts 2016. And then we took it to the next level and said, wouldn’t it be fun to have a competition that takes place online AND in person, and is judged by a live audience? That’s how we came up with this idea of the Capability Challenge.

Tom: So how does the Capability Challenge work?

Jeff: On a series of webinars, and finally on stage, in person, people will tell their stories about what they did that was great, what kind of great results they got using the CMMI and other techniques. At the end of each presentation, the audience will vote for the winner. The story that gets the largest percentage of votes on each webinar, wins. So, each of the four webinars will have one victor, and the four of them will have the opportunity to speak in front of the entire capability conference in a plenary presentation. They’ll get to tell their story in front of an audience of government employees, purchasing agents and people that are professions in the process improvement and software and engineering worlds. The audience will vote using their cell phones. And the winner will be announced at the end of the conference as the 2016 Capability Challenge champion.

Tom: What you don't see me doing is rubbing my hands together! Do you see this becoming a little bit of blood sport?

Jeff: (Laughing) Well, you know I haven’t considered that, but would be something if people would get that excited about it.

We really think people will be excited to participate as audience members. The kind of stories being told here are stories of companies that have great cultures and companies that do great things. And, I’ve noticed, companies that do great things want to learn from one another. They don’t want to compete at that level. They want to learn from one another. That’s another great benefit of being a presenter. Some of the winners are going to find out that the other presentations that they were competing against are just as interesting and just as exciting and just as results-oriented as the stories they told. It’s a good opportunity for everybody to learn from everybody else in our community.

Tom: So, if you’ve gotten to this level, you’ve actually done something fantastic within your own company to begin with. When they go head-to-head, that’s when the most different, the most interesting, the best emerges?

Jeff: Yes. Each of the contestants –

Tom: Gladiators. Let’s just call them gladiators. Kidding.

Jeff: Well, we’ll have the world-famous Tom Cagley moderating, and maybe acting as a referee, getting in between all of these people that are competing. Tom, you’re sort of like in the boxing match. You’re keeping people safe as possible, and you’ll be doing it in interview style! That’s the reason we asked you to come. We know you can evoke the best stories from of our contestants. With all of the SPaMCAST interviews you’ve done now, you’re an expert at pulling out information from people.

Tom: Well, I’m going to have fun doing that and I hope everyone else does too!

Jeff: Here's how to join the fun:

 

What:     2016 Capability Challenge Webinar Series: Round 1

When:    December 15th at 11 a.m. EST 

Sign up: Click here

[Check back soon for the next interview excerpt about Capability Counts 2016!]

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.

What’s the best approach to process improvement?

Hey, CMMI appraiser, we’re considering adopting CMMI for process improvement, and my boss suggested that we need a CMMI consultant to tell us what to do.  Can you tell us, in your experience as a Lead Appraiser, what’s the best approach to process improvement?  We’re a mid-sized IT company using agile methods. Thanks ~ Tooley C.

Hey, Tooley,

Please tell your boss that it really won’t help for your CMMI consultant to tell you what you should do—that’s not even part of what we do.  We also don’t write a process for you.  It’s not even our responsibility to get you to write a process and propose one and deploy it, although that is useful. No the lasting value any CMMI consultant brings is teaching you to clear your biggest hurdle.

So what’s your biggest hurdle in a successful process improvement program?

For most companies, the biggest hurdle is how you deploy process improvement to the community. In other words, how you get people to embrace it and use it.

The approach my company Broadsword uses has been very successful.  It is an iterative and incremental approach we call agileCMMI, our branded approach.  Here’s how it works:
agileCMMI uses agile methods such as incremental delivery, continuous build, collaboration, etc. It applies the same techniques we use when writing software to deploy process and get people to embrace process.

The purpose of agileCMMI is to help organizations embrace processes successfully.  agileCMMI is an incremental method where we deploy small components of the process in releases over time. For example, we might release two or three sub-processes and test it out, and then once the company has embraced those small, easy to digest, useful things, we’ll give them another set of small, digestible, useful things.

We plan it all out in advance.  You are getting appropriate pieces at the appropriate times. And the reason it works is that’s how we learn. We learn as human beings by digesting things in very small pieces. So when you look at so many process implementations that have failed, you see some commonalities.  Typically the company tried to throw a big binder or a big website at all their employees and said, “This is going to be your new process.”  They were trying to get them to eat an elephant in one bite.

agileCMMI goes about this differently.  We're not going to force you to do anything.  We’re giving people very small components to start working with.  We'll keep feeding them those small bites over time until they have their complete process suite and their process improvement architecture and their methodology and everything they need will be implemented.  Sometimes this will take months.

During that time, you get these things in small, right-sized pieces, so that you can understand them, can put them in context.  Then you can start to embrace them and use them successfully.
Embracing the process is key to overall success.  After all, the best process in the world is useless if you can’t get people to actually embrace it and adopt it.  And until they embrace it and adopt it, you don’t even know if the process you developed is even useful.

That's what agileCMMI is all about, and that's why I would say it is the best approach to process improvement we've used.  It's how we learn.  It’s how we clear our biggest hurdles.

To learn more about combining agile and CMMI, check out our upcoming FREE webinars:

Monday, 12/14: “All About CMMI” -- This is a great place to start. Find out EVERYTHING you need to know about CMMI by signing up for the introductory webinar.

Tuesday, 12/15: “Agile Transformation” – Learn to take advantage of Agile for a lighter, leaner approach to solving business problems incrementally and iteratively.  Check it out!

Wednesday, 12/16: “Scaling and Strengthening Agile" -- By participating in this webinar, you'll come away with an understanding of the work that needs to be done to strengthen Agile in a way that makes sense for your organization, while staying true to Agile methods.

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.

Announcing the Capability Challenge – Round 1!

Ladies and gentlemen,

Hurry, hurry, hurry! Step right up for the main event! The contestants are entering the ring, and the 2016 Capability Challenge is about to get underway on Tuesday, December 15th at 11 a.m. EST. Register now for the webinar so you can watch the bout, learn from some real-life business success stories, and help choose the winner!

Here’s the scoop on the Capability Challenge. Hosted by the CMMI Institute, and moderated by celebrity podcaster Tom Cagley of SPaMCAST, it’s a contest strictly for successful engineering and software organizations who have agreed to square off against other successful companies to demonstrate how improving capability has brought them business value and superior results. The purpose of the competition is to extend the impact of Capability Counts 2016 conference beyond the physical gathering that takes place in Annapolis, MD on May 10-11, 2016.

What:     2016 Capability Challenge Webinar Series: Round 1
When:    December 15th at 11 a.m. EST
Sign up: Click here

Help us crown the 2016 Capability Challenge Champion. The webinar is informative. It’s free. It’s a whole lot of fun, and it all starts on Tuesday. Be 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 and performance improvement program.

What is CMMI and how does it work with Scrum?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, so that I can assess whether there is a fit with our growing, Virginia-based health care technology company, I need to know exactly what the CMMI is. Please tell me what it helps companies do, and how it works with Scrum, if at all. Thank you. ~ Betsy F.

Hey, Betsy, welcome to the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)! As a certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser who has worked in the industry for many years – including with several health care technology clients – I’m always thrilled when someone new asks about the Model and whether it works with Scrum. There are so many great ways to use CMMI and Scrum together to put your company (and your career) on the path to greatness!

First, practically speaking, there are three things to know about the CMMI. Here’s what CMMI is:

• The CMMI is a tool to help solve business problems 
• The CMMI is a framework and set of guidelines for changing behaviors and changing culture
• The CMMI is a time-tested, industry-proven model for positive outcomes

And here are just six of many things the CMMI helps you do:

• 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 
• The CMMI allows you to do what you are already doing, better

As to your question about how the CMMI and Scrum work together, the secret of CMMI and Scrum is that they are more alike than they are different. A lot of folks see CMMI and Scrum as polar opposites. But CMMI and Scrum both exist to solve problems. This makes CMMI and Scrum allies, not adversaries.

To learn how to make CMMI and Scrum work for you, check out our upcoming FREE webinars:

Monday, 12/14: “All About CMMI” -- This is a great place to start. Find out EVERYTHING you need to know about CMMI by signing up for the introductory webinar.

Tuesday, 12/15: “Agile Transformation” – Learn to take advantage of Agile for a lighter, leaner approach to solving business problems incrementally and iteratively.  Check it out!

Wednesday, 12/16: “Scaling and Strengthening Agile" -- By participating in this webinar, you'll come away with an understanding of the work that needs to be done to strengthen Agile in a way that makes sense for your organization, while staying true to Agile methods.

We hope to see you on one, two, or all three webinars ... and good luck!

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 and performance improvement program.

Don’t miss the December 11th Webinar: “Integrating CMMI, ISO9001 AND A-SPICE”

Dear Readers,

Good news for those who need to know EVERYTHING about integrating CMMI, ISO9001 and A-SPICE! Broadsword is hosting another FREE Webinar on Friday, December 11, 2015 at noon EST, specifically to address your challenges. Click here to join us for “Integrating CMMI, ISO9001 AND A-SPICE.”

From the "Everything You Need to Know" Webinar Series

Integrating CMMI, ISO9001 AND A-SPICE

What would it look like if your company were effectively able to integrate CMMI, ISO9001, A-SPICE and other process models into a single program for performance innovation? Here are some of the benefits:

• Improve communication between management and engineering
• Streamline and strengthen the way you do business
• Have better quality products 

Who should sign up for the webinar? 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, by integrating the frameworks and methodologies you use to do your work? This fast-paced, in-depth webinar shows how to reach these outcomes, and more. Typically those who receive the most value are dealing with the following challenges:

• You are frustrated by the lack of communication between management and engineering, who use process models that aren’t aligned
• You are concerned about the widening gap between the “ISO/TS side of the business” and the “CMMI and Auto SPICE side of the business”
• You are tired of wasting effort by doubling your work – i.e., doing your work in one tool and reporting in another

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. By aligning the frameworks, models and methodologies you are using, you’ll be improving and changing the way your company behaves, so that you build better products, win new business and retain the customers you have.

So spread the news! And we’ll see you on 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 running a successful CMMI program.

Come by and visit us at Broadsword!

www.broadswordsolutions.com

Happy Thanksgiving, CMMI-style!

Dear Readers,

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving, as Mrs. CMMI Appraiser and I sit down at the holiday table with our Little Appraisers, friends, and extended family, we are humbled and grateful for all that we have received.

We’re thankful for …

Engineering and software professionals who have taken on the challenge of using CMMI to improve performance in their organizations.

We’re thankful for …

SEPGs that are open to learning how to deploy processes.

We’re thankful for …

CMMI program managers who embrace the CMMI as set of guidelines for performance improvement.

We’re thankful for …

CMMI sponsors who accept help in guiding their program.

We’re thankful for …

CEOs who accept help in facilitating strategic decisions.

And most of all, we’re thankful for YOU, our Reader. Without your effort to learn as much as you can about being a great company, those of us who are passionate about 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.

May you enjoy a plentiful feast and share gratitude with family and friends this holiday season. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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

Call 9-1-1! Our CMMI Appraiser is killing us on Friday the 13th!

Dear CMMI Appraiser,

Our CMMI Appraiser is killing us! He’s demanding work product evidence for every single sub-practice in the model … and there seems to be no end of them! We are spending incredible hours in soul-crushing meetings. Is the CMMI supposed to be so over-engineered, heavy-handed and burdensome? Honestly, I think I’d prefer a tax audit. ~ Charles D.

Charles,

How frightening that your question comes on Friday the 13th! Your CMMI Appraiser reminds me of the evil Freddy Krueger in the horror film by the same name.  Better call 9-1-1!

Of course it’s no laughing matter when you’re in the middle of it – except for the fact that, if you don't laugh, you'll cry. Clearly, some of my fellow Lead Appraisers are so far off the deep end that they are making the CMMI feel like an attack on your life – and that’s scary.

The intent of a CMMI Appraisal is not to lock you in a meeting room and torture you. It’s supposed to be an event that brings you together to 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 and a mask!

No wonder you feel 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.

Charles, 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. Their 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, Charles. Otherwise the torture will continue. You may indeed end up with a CMMI Maturity Level 2 or Maturity Level 3, but you will not have realized any of the benefits of the CMMI. 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, 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.

I need to know EVERYTHING about CMMI - where to begin?

Dear CMMI Appraiser – Help!  I need to know everything about CMMI!  Where to begin?

Dear Readers,

When you need to know everything about CMMI, you have options.  But in my humble opinion, the best place to start is with the “Everything You NEED to Know” webinar series from Broadsword.

Check it out and you’ll see what I mean.  The "Everything You NEED to Know” series take a different approach to CMMI.  Rather than focusing on documents, forms and CMMI ratings, each webinar helps you focus on the fact that Process Improvement, Agile, and CMMI are about improving and changing the way your company behaves, so that you can improve performance, build stronger products and have happier customers.

Click here to view all webinars, and sign up: bitly.com/allwebinars

November 10th and 20th: “Everything You Need to Know: PPQA!” -- On “PPQA!” you’ll learn about an engineering strategy that leverages the Process and Product Quality Assurance (PPQA) process area in the CMMI to help you emphasize quality over compliance, and be the great company you want to be.

November 12th: “Everything You Need to Know: CMMI for Extra Small Companies!” -- Are you a small IT or engineering firm (< 25 people) that is blocked from bidding on lucrative, multi-year government contracts because you haven’t figured out how to take advantage of the value of CMMI? Check out “Everything You Need to Know: CMMI for Extra Small Companies!”

November 13th: “Everything You Need to Know: Implementing Multiple Process Models!” -- Implementing Multiple Process Models (IMPM) is an engineering strategy that integrates CMMI, Auto SPICE and ISO/TS into a single program for performance innovation.

November 16th: “Everything You Need to Know: CMMI!” -- So your boss wants you to know EVERYTHING about CMMI? Sign up for the introductory Webinar that started it all!

November 17th: “Everything You Need to Know: Agile Transformation!” -- Do you dream of escaping the heavy-handed, command-and-control Waterfall practices, and embracing all the benefits of being Agile? Check out “Everything You NEED to Know about Agile Transformation!”

November 18th: “Everything You Need to Know: Agile Resiliency!" -- By participating in this webinar, you'll come away with an understanding of the work that needs to be done to strengthen agile in a way that makes sense for your organization, while staying true to agile methods.

November 19th: “Everything You Need to Know: Project Management!” -- Management is an engineering strategy that helps companies become the company they want to be by learning to stop doing Performance Management to people, and start doing it for them, giving them the resources they need to be great employees.

These are just a few opportunities for you to get better at what you are ALREADY doing this month, using tools like CMMI to guide your journey.  Even more cool happenings are unfolding next month.

Hope to see you on a webinar soon!

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.

SPaMCAST Interview: Where did '12 attributes of great agile organizations' come from?

[NOTE: I recently had the honor of being one of the few thought leaders to be interviewed multiple times on the popular SPaMCAST podcast by host Tom Cagley. Below is an excerpt from our conversation about “12 Attributes of Great Agile Organizations” on SPaMCAST 366. A link to the ful interview appears below. ~ the CMMI Appraiser]

Hey, Jeff, you’ve been talking recently about the attributes of successful organizations. Where did this come from? I would have guessed that it came from your process background. But I saw a presentation that you did recently, which suggests that this concept predates your process background by a lot! ~ Tom Cagley

Hey, Tom. When I was fortunate enough to be asked to give that keynote talk that you attended, I really struggled with what to talk about that would be really meaningful to such a large crowd of highly esteemed professionals and executives in software engineering. My team suggested, “Why don’t you tell our own personal story, and find a way that it makes sense for it to be everyone’s story?”

So that’s where the idea of sharing the attributes of great companies came from. I thought a lot about my childhood, and my upbringing, and the fact that my father was a music teacher and a musician who had a vision for creating an incubator for musicians. When his children were born, he began grooming them to be musicians, assigning three instruments to each child. His idea was, as we grew up, he could have a folk band, a jazz band and a rock band.

So, we were given these instruments as a result of our father’s pre-planning – which I would now call Project Planning SP1.1. From before we were even born, my dad was asking, “What’s the scope of work that we’re going to do here?”

My father created a formula for how to be great as a musician. He nurtured this vision in a very disciplined way. We were up at 6AM every morning. We did tons of performances. We toured the world. We made records, and we lived that way our entire lives. We did a lot of cool stuff that, when I was eight, I thought every family did. I even said to my friends, “Hey, we’re going to China this summer! Where are you guys touring?”

They looked at me like I was a nutcase!

[To hear the full interview, click SPaMCAST 366.]

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.

Will there be a CMMI Training class in Florida this winter?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser – will you be teaching your CMMI Training Class in Florida this winter? ~ Paul A.

Hey, Paul,

Ohh, yes … now you’re talking!  This February, when most of us from colder climes are struggling through another deep, dark winter, your fun-loving CMMI Appraiser will be off conducting an awesome, warm-weather CMMI training class for YOU to escape to!

So pack your sunglasses and catch up with me in Tampa.  Our popular “Intro to CMMI-DEV” class happens February 1-4, 2016.  Sign up here!

Designed for software and engineering professionals, “Intro to CMMI-DEV” helps you learn about the CMMI, process models, and how to use them to be a great company.  This training class also includes an optional 1-day Scrum Learning Experience supplement, which gives you hands-on and practical experience using Scrum, and making Scrum better with the CMMI.

Why is this CMMI Training better than the other guy’s?

We help you learn to use the CMMI to learn about yourself, so you can get on the path to greatness. With learning as your goal, achieving a Maturity Level of the CMMI will be just one byproduct of your journey.

In addition, professionals can earn 21 PDUs towards your PMP Certification (or 2.5 CEUs) while learning to improve software and engineering performance with the CMMI.

What is the CMMI Training Class all about?

Helping you learn about the way you work, so that you can get better -- that's what the CMMI is all about.  By participating in "Introduction to CMMI" will help you understand how to set the right goals and objectives, and keep asking the right question, such as:

• How do you know you are good at what you do?
• How do you know if you are improving?
• How do you know if the process you use is working well?
• How do you know if your requirements change process is useful?
• How do you know if your products are as good as they can be?

So sign up for "Introduction to CMMI", and tell a friend. Our CMMI training class is hands-on, interactive, practical, and a lot of fun.

Hope to see you in Tampa this winter!

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 and performance improvement program.

How do you stack up against other great companies? The 2016 Capability Challenge is ON!

Dear Readers,

If you’ve been reading this blog lately, you know how excited we are about the 2016 Capability Counts conference (formerly SEPG North America), coming to Annapolis, MD this spring. One of the ways our host, the CMMI Institute, is building up to the event is with a tournament for engineering and software companies to compete to see who can tell the best capability improvement story.

It’s called the 2016 Capability Challenge, and it's YOURS to ...

Yes, the 2016 Capability Challenge is still accepting applications from great companies that have the stories to prove why they are better than the competition.  Here's what's in it for YOU:

• Visibility
• Community engagement
• Industry recognition 
• Hardware for the trophy case
• Opportunity to collect data relevant to your ROI

It works like this: All of the applicants will be divided into groups of four companies. Each applicant will tell their story and be interviewed in a 15-minute segment on a webinar hosted by the CMMI Institute and facilitated by SPaMCast celebrity Tom Cagely. At the end of each webinar, the audience will vote for the best story. The winners will move on to face a slate of other semi-finalists at the conference.

The contest begins online with webinars, and concludes in person, with the final two rounds taking place on the stage at Capability Counts 2016 in Annapolis, MD on May 10-11, where you'll present your story in front of the entire community – giving everyone a chance to hear about your successes.

So tell us your story! What business challenges or problems were you trying to solve when you launched your improvement program? Why should your deployment be considered successful or unique? What lessons can others learn from your approach?

Convince your entire industry that you’re good at what you do – better than all the rest – and you’ll walk away the winner!

Get started sharing your capability improvement story today. Click here to accept the 2016 Capability Challenge!

See you in Annapolis!

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.

This Halloween, why dress up as great company when you can BE one?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, I became concerned recently when our Virginia-based engineering division interviewed a CMMI appraiser from Maryland who said he would get us dressed up and looking like a great company, so we could pass the appraisal. Is that really useful for us? ~ Janet M.

Hey, Janet,

Is it useful for your CMMI consultant to make you look like something you’re not, rather than try to acquire a deep understanding of your business and help you do what it takes to truly be a great company? Your question is appropriate for this time of year. That’s one SCARY proposition!

No, it’s not useful.  But it's also not unusual that a so-called CMMI consultant would say something like this. We hear from companies all the time who call to say, “Hey, we need to look at CMMI certification because we’d like to bid on certain government contracts.”

I get that. I fully acknowledge many small and large engineering companies in Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Michigan 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 have to deal with.

But “looking like a great company” can’t be your only CMMI Appraiser’s goal – or you will not get the results you were hoping for.

Now, if your CMMI Appraiser was any good at what he does, 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 (we call this "plaque buildup"). Was that your experience?

I kinda doubt it.

One technique I often employ is to try to talk the sponsor out of having an appraisal altogether - just to see how important it really is to them and to understand how much they have thought it through. Sometimes, as it turns out, it isn't that important. Sometimes it's about greatness . . . as it should be.

See, a good CMMI Appraiser would know that learning about your company and how to make it better is the real goal – not achieving a level.

A good CMMI Appraiser would teach you to start to think like a great company. He or she would help you use the CMMI as a strategic weapon to help you attract and retain new customers.

A good CMMI Appraiser would help you set the right goals and objectives, and ask the right questions that keep you on the path to continuous improvement, where the real deals are won.

Unfortunately, too many CMMI professionals don't get this. Some are only interested in helping companies get a so-called CMMI certificate or achieve a CMMI Maturity Level. We call these companies "appraisal mills." They see no value in providing advice, strategy, and helping to ensure that you get the results you were hoping for.

The CMMI is so much more valuable and useful than that, Janet. It’s about things like how well you are running your engineering division in DC, Maryland, Virginia, or elsewhere, how well you are delivering products, and how happy your customers are.

It’s all about KNOWLEDGE, and nothing to do with dressing you up to look like something you’re not … even on Halloween.

Note: for those who are already see themselves as a great company, would you care to find out how you stack up against other great companies?

The CMMI Institute has just announced the 2016 Capability Challenge, and they are currently accepting participants. Contestants will be asked to tell their capability improvement story – the story of how they became a great company.  Through a series of short webinars, voters will pick the best stories, with finalists being featured prominently at the annual “Capability Counts” conference.  

Click here to take the 2016 Capability Challenge!

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.

Need to Know Everything about CMMI's PPQA?

Dear Readers,

People often ask me, "Hey CMMI Appraiser, why are you so fired up about CMMI?"  Well, what do you expect?  It's hard to keep cool when you see the CMMI as we see it - as an ongoing celebration, a model for being joyful in the quest for becoming a great company.

So if you share my passion for getting better at what you are ALREADY doing, please accept this invitation to join us as we dig into one of the Model’s most useful and least-explored process areas: Process and Product Quality Assurance (PPQA).

Yes, indeed! It’s time for “Everything You Need to Know: PPQA!”  The webinar, hosted by Broadsword, and presented by Cathy Henderson, premiers Thursday at noon Eastern. Click HERE to register.

The big question this webinar tackles: How do we transform our quality program into something that actually helps the company improve?

Too often, companies focus on tracking incidences of non-compliance, only to find that everyone fears the audit process (sometimes, even the auditor fears it!) and they aren’t getting any better. A more effective strategy is to emphasize quality over compliance. Establish a structure for collecting data that can help you align your processes with the engineers who are using them, driving quality by providing a direct feed of the QA information collected into process improvement activities. “Everything You Need to Know: PPQA!” shows the way.

Space is limited ... sign up now!

Register for the FREE 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.

Announcing the 2016 Capability Challenge! How do you know you’re good at what you do?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, because we consider ourselves a great company, I decided to invest in capability improvement a few years ago. The data we are collecting now enables us to answer any customer that asks, “How do you know you’re good at what you do?” Why doesn’t everyone do this? ~ John E.

John, I love that you see yourselves as a great company, and are focused on becoming even better. It’s true that not everyone commits to continuous improvement – but plenty do. You might be surprised. Would care to find out how you stack up against other great companies by accepting the 2016 Capability Challenge?

Yes, the 2016 Capability Challenge is underway! This contest gives you the opportunity to tell the story of how you became a great company, in front of audiences of customers who care about performance improvement.

Click here for more information about the 2016 Capability Challenge!

You know, it’s interesting. As a CMMI Appraiser, I hear a lot of companies make comments like yours – “We’re a great company” – but have no metrics for understanding project performance. Unlike you, they are not ready to be asked, “Are you good at what you do?”

For different reasons, our customers want the same thing we want. They want to know how we know we are good at what we do. And that means you must communicate in THEIR language, not yours.

For example, let’s say your customer has asked you to do agile projects. They might sit down with you and say, “John, help us understand how your being agile helps us. Does the way you do your work enable us to receive better service?”

Regardless of the values, methods or tools you are using, customers want answers:

“How is it going? Are you any good at this? How do we know?”

Sounds like you can respond with confidence, John, so tell us your story! What business challenges or problems were you trying to solve when you launched your capability improvement program? Why should your deployment be considered successful or unique? What lessons can others learn from your approach?

This goes for YOU, too, Reader! Here's an opportunity to compete with other great companies, communicate your vision, reach new audiences and be recognized as an industry expert. Submit your bid for the 2016 Capability Contest ... and good luck!

Like this blog? Forward to your nearest software or engineering 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.

How does CMMI make Agile better?

Hey, CMMI appraiser, I saw your recent post about Planning Poker. We’re an agile shop, and I admit I don’t know CMMI very well at all. When you say we can use CMMI to make Planning Poker better, how does that work? Does CMMI state, ‘These are the people you need to do certain specific things?’ If so, how does CMMI make it better? ~ Dale E.

Hey, Dale, thanks for your question and welcome to the CMMI! I’ll answer your question below, but first I want to invite you to a webinar we’re hosting tomorrow (October 15th at noon EST) that is custom made for organizations like yours that are interested in ways to make agile better, stronger and more resilient with CMMI. Sign up here for “Everything You Need to Know: Agile Resiliency!”

There are many ways that the guidance of the CMMI can help you. Within the Model are 12 characteristics of the process, called the Generic Practices. Think of these practices as the 12 things that need to be done.

One of the 12 things we need to do is, we need to figure out who the right people are, and make sure they are there. Another characteristics is, we need to make sure people are trained on how to use the tools and techniques we are asking them to use. So, if we have Scrum teams using Planning Poker, but we have never really given them good training how to make that work, that’s a problem that the CMMI will help us address.

Take a look at the Generic Practice 2.5 in CMMI. The fifth GP, as it is known, guides us to train the people performing or supporting the process. It encourages us to ask, “How are we training people?” We may look around and decide that we really aren’t! So then we know, using CMMI as our guide, that we need to conduct training classes.

Your organization might say, “Hey, we are already using Planning Poker, but we’re not getting the results we want. It’s not that accurate.” Next step is to ask, “Why isn’t working?” Then take a look at the 12 characteristics of your process for answers:

• Oh, the right stake holders aren’t showing up! That’s one problem we’re having. Let’s fix that.
• Oh, people aren’t trained! That’s another problem. Let’s fix that.

In this way, the CMMI is almost like a checklist. It guides us to consider, in this case, all the things about Planning Poker that we didn’t think about when we implemented it. Back then, maybe we just passed out the packs of cards and said, “Go read an article and start playing.”

CMMI can help make all of our agile processes better if we go through the 12 attributes, and use the Model as a checklist to help make the process better.

There’s a whole lot more where this came from, Dale. Sign up for “Agile Resiliency” on Thursday, October 15th at noon EST – and we’ll go into greater depth tomorrow!

Register for the free webinar 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.

CMMI-TV: Is Planning Poker for Scrum Teams Only?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, can Planning Poker be used by a company that uses CMMI, or is it for Scrum teams only? ~ NY-SPIN Attendee

Dear Readers,

Today’s episode of CMMI-TV was filmed at an NY-SPIN event in New York City, where I was asked what I thought about Planning Poker for estimating for a company that uses the CMMI. Below is a video clip with my answer, followed by a synopsis of my response. Enjoy!

OVERVIEW

To embrace Agile in a way that makes sense for the organization, we need to strengthen it with tools like the CMMI to create an "Agile Resiliency Architecture,” which keeps us focused on what's most important to our business and our process, and ultimately, our product.

When organizations are out of alignment with the "Agile Resiliency Architecture,” everything starts to go wrong.

WHAT'S WRONG

Teams say, “We play Planning Poker.  We don’t actually have the cards, but we play Planning Poker.”  I say, “How do you do that?”  They say, “We don’t have any cards, so we all talk about what number we were thinking of.”

But that’s missing the point! Planning Poker is an agile technique designed to eliminate the overbearing voice in team meetings. Playing the game isn’t the point. The point is eliciting proper behavior.

For example, if Bill is really loud, and Joanne isn’t, that doesn’t mean Bill has the right answer. But in a traditional estimating environment, Bill wins because he dominates the room.

WHAT'S RIGHT

With Planning Poker, estimating is very different.  Teammates sit quietly at a table, holding numbered cards they’ll use to rank or estimate a project’s difficulty.  When everyone is ready, they flip the cards over, and the number in front of each teammate has equal volume, weight and importance.  They say, “OK, let’s talk about it.”  And they play again: 1-2-3 … flip!

WHAT IT MEANS

Planning Poker is an estimating tool that is designed to eliminate the bullying that goes on in some companies.  When used correctly, it becomes directly tied to our organizational values, such as being collaborative or a fun place to work or having a focus on people, or whatever your values may be.

THREE-TIERED STRUCTURE

Planning Poker is a technique, and like all techniques and methods, it has to be aligned with the organizational values to be effective.

This is true across the entire company.  What we do (our techniques) must be tied to why we’re doing it (our values) and the way we’re doing it (our methods).  If we are using agile techniques like Planning Poker, but we don’t embrace agile values like failing fast, being iterative and incremental and improving continuously, then we’re not aligned vertically, and we will fail.

To understand the Agile Resiliency Architecture, you need to look at the company vertically, not horizontally:

• Tier I – Values = Guiding the work (fail fast, iterative and incremental, etc.)
• Tier II – Methods = Managing the work (Scrum, XP, Kanban, Spiral, Crystal, etc.) 
• Tier III- Techniques = Doing the work (Planning Poker, Daily Standups, Sprint Demos, Retrospectives, etc.)

Yes, Planning Poker can be a fun, collaborative tool that is highly useful, but it's a horizontal technique, and can be a waste of time if not aligned with your values. The real question is, do you know why you are using it?

LEARN MORE ON OUR WEBINARS:

To learn how to transform your company to agile, and strengthen agile within your company, sign up for our upcoming webinars:

Sign up for “Agile Transformation” on Tuesday, October 13th at noon EST

Sign up for “Agile Resiliency” on Thursday, October 15th at noon EST


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.

Just the FAQs – How can we REALLY know how things are going?

[Dear Readers, for the past several months, our good friend Pat O’Toole, CMMI expert and seasoned consultant, has been collaborating with us on a monthly series of CMMI-related posts, "Just the FAQs." Our goal with these posts is to provide answers to the most frequently asked questions about the CMMI, SCAMPI, engineering strategy and software process improvement. This month, Jeff shares his secret for assessing the capabilities of product development teams. Take it away, Jeff! ~ the CMMI Appraiser]

Hey, Jeff – We want to assess the capabilities of our product development teams. I’m reluctant to schedule a SCAMPI appraisal because, I understand, they are no fun at all. How can we really know how things are going? ~ Bradley S.

JEFF: Wait a second. I love conducting appraisals. No – I really do!

I know what you’re saying, Bradley. Appraisals are lengthy, tedious, soul-sucking events that drive the joy and passion out of the otherwise happy-go-lucky appraisal team members who have been “volun-told” to spend weeks locked in a room ….with me! Seriously, what could be more fun!

But what I love most about appraisals is how eloquently and predictably developers, project managers, line managers, CIOs, and CEOs tell me how awesome they are. Planning, designing, traceability (OF COURSE!), peer reviews, collecting lessons learned (OBVIOUSLY!), and more are all described in excruciating and colorful detail. And they’re always so great! Heck – they’ve “self-assessed” at ML5, and if I only understood them I would agree. It’s a hoot!

After listening to all of the colorful descriptions of their awesome behavior, I train my gaze to the other side of the room, and in the furthest corner, in the darkest reaches of that corner, in the most hidden part of that corner, a tester is waving her hand across her neck while mouthing the words “NOT SO MUCH.” It’s always the best part! My personal record for the length of time it takes to see this is 37 seconds, but who’s measuring?

See, if you ever REALLY want to know what is going on in your organization, ask a tester. As consumers of distorted vision, weak requirements, poor design, and sloppy code, they are asked to behave like one of Harry’s Potter’s Dementors, the fantasy non-beings that takes in chaos and misery, leaving the developers and project managers happy and burden-free. Tough job!

While the most common reaction to busy testers is MORE testers and tools, building great technology products is about more than just testing code. In fact, it’s hardly about code at all. Yet most books, articles, and conference speeches about improving software quality focus on testing tools and automation. While these are all good and necessary discussions, we have thus far fallen short of reaching the goal line: consistently building high quality products that delight our customers.

Isn’t it about time we add something new to the discussion?

As a Lead Appraiser and Agile coach, I am often asked to assess the capabilities of product development teams, and I can usually ascertain strengths and weakness within fifteen minutes – if I start with the test team.

Great software is an ecosystem borne from a glimmer in someone’s mind, matures into needs, grows into requirements, transforms into designs, manifests itself as code, all the while being validated and verified, until it finally emerges to delight and satisfy our customers.

Instead of starting the discussion with expensive tools (who doesn’t like a new toy?), take your first step toward building better products by using the tool between your ears to answer the following questions that every tester asks:

1. What is the Product Vision? Unclear product vision manifests itself as chaos during testing because developers and analysts take it upon themselves to interpret – or even create – product vision. Product vision exists at multiple levels: company, product, team, and individual, and should be clearly defined and written down at all of them. You’ll need it later when you’re pressured to cut corners after everyone forgets why they’re building the product! Guidance and tips for developing a comprehensive product vision live in Requirements Development SP1.1 and SP1.2, Technical Solution SP2.1, Measurement and Analysis SP1.1, and elsewhere. Put them to work to create an integrated view of your organizational and product goals, objectives, and outcomes so that everyone clearly understands them.
2. Are the Requirements any good? Most industry studies peg misunderstanding of requirements as the primary reason we experience product defects and unhappy customers. Many testers know intuitively that this is a serious problem that costs our industry billions of dollars – and they know it because they are beaten up day-in and day-out by the downstream effects of weak requirements. The CMMI’s REQM SP1.1 provides’ excellent guidance for identifying the most insidious defect – lack of clarity – and correcting this process defect will results in a dramatic improvement in customer satisfaction and product quality. Adopting Test Driven Development, a staple in the agile community, is a solid implementation of practices in Requirements Development Specific Goal 3, and this can be your best tool to avoid the frazzled hairstyles that most testers are sporting after the “night-before-launch” test party. 
3. Is the Code any good? The CMMI gives scant attention to code quality, but some guidance is available in Technical Solutions SP3.1 and a thorough examination should be included in any software development appraisal effort. Clean code doesn’t happen on its own, but is the result of well-established behaviors, processes, and coding standards: naming conventions, formatting standards, variable passing conventions, complexity guidelines, and of course, code reviews. I learned this lesson many years ago when I received a curt note from the head of the testing team titled “thank you for letting me do your unit testing for you.” If a tester tells you they are capturing defects that fall into the aforementioned list, it’s a strong indicator that clean code is not on the top of anyone’s list.
4. Are we always improving? I tell my classes that “those who are always improving, win.” There is ample guidance in the CMMI about continual improvements, in fact the ENTIRE CMMI model is about this subject, but that doesn’t stop numerous Maturity Level Three companies from ignoring the advice in Generic Practice 3.2, or the dynamic duo of Integrated Project Management and Organizational Process Focus. Testers will immediately tell you whether they are seeing the same types of defects over and over (and over) again. Listen to them.

Appraisals can be tedious and time consuming, and everyone is looking for ways to optimize and accelerate the process (while reducing cost). So, with that in mind, I have a humble suggestion – start by asking a tester. You’ll be glad you did, and they might enjoy being in the spotlight for once!

© Copyright 2015: Broadsword Solutions and Process Assessment, Consulting & Training

“Just the FAQs” is written/edited by Jeff Dalton and Pat O’Toole. Please contact the authors at jeff@broadsword.com and pact.otoole@att.net to suggest enhancements to their answers, or to provide an alternative response to the question posed. New questions are also welcomed!

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

Webinar announcement: NEED to Know Everything about CMMI?

Dear Readers,

For those who need to know everything about CMMI, Broadsword is proud to present the flagship webinar in our “Everything You Need to Know” series: “CMMI!”

Participating in “Everything You Need to Know: CMMI!” is an excellent choice for anyone who is interested in learning new ways to get better.  Whether that means better software, better finance, better product development, better marketing or HR, learning more about the CMMI can help you make immediate, lasting improvements in your company.

Sign up here.

I find it fascinating that the misperception continues, even among CMMI appraisers today, that the CMMI is this heavy, command and control, document-centric cauldron of hard, dreary work and pure nonsense.

CMMI has none of that. It doesn’t tell you how to do anything. It doesn’t “require” anything. The CMMI says, “Here’s what great companies do.” That’s all it essentially says.

On the webinar, you’ll learn everything you need to know 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.

So come on! Join us on the Webinar, and start taking advantage of the benefits of the CMMI. Whether you are an Agile shop, still seeking the kind of results you’ve been hoping for, or a CMMI-focused organization, looking for guidance on being lighter and more flexible, this practical, entertaining webinar will give you new insights into addressing persistent problems, and help you improve upon what you are ALREADY doing.

See you on 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 running a successful CMMI program.

How long does it take to get a CMMI Level 3 rating?

Hey, CMMI appraiser. My boss is telling us we need to get a CMMI Level 3 and be CMMI certified by the end of the year, or else. I told him, doing things right takes time. But from your experience, how long does it take to achieve a ML3 rating? ~ Daria Z.

Hey, Daria. It’s no fun working with a boss who makes threats. Normally when someone asks me how long it takes to achieve a CMMI Level 3, I say, “It depends on where you are today.” If leadership is onboard and focused on being a great company, it will take less time. If they are not, it will take more. In the case of your boss and his rush to get a so-called “CMMI certification,” he’s setting your CMMI adoption up for failure.

How much time will THAT take?

I love your response, though. Doing things right does take time. As a Lead Appraiser, I’ve found that transforming the leadership of an organization is always the biggest task in any successful CMMI adoption – and one that takes the most time.

There are several reasons leadership might not buy-into CMMI at first. CMMI is big. It’s a lot to focus on, if you’re new to evidence-based performance improvement frameworks like CMMI. Plus, management wants to delegate and keep hands-off. They think they are being effective managers when they don’t want to know the details.

If I were your boss' business coach, I'd ask, “Why wouldn’t you want to? Insisting on certain behaviors is the responsibility of management. And behavior is about what differentiates us as a company.”

By the way, this is why templates won’t work. Why normalize yourself to someone else’s definition of greatness?

Great companies know the importance of focusing on changing and improving behavior. Arbitrary time frames hardly matter when you are focused on being a great company. Being a great company means focusing on doing things as well as you can do them, and being better than the companies you are competing with. When you learn to use the CMMI as one of the tools that can keep you focused on producing the best products and being the best in your industry, your CMMI level will surely follow, regardless of how long it takes.

On the other hand, if you focus on getting a CMMI Rating and achieving a CMMI Level 3 as fast as you can, and you don’t care much about being a great company, you will spend a lot of time and money producing a lot of overhead that will not result in business value.

As I said, your CMMI adoption will fail. Things won’t get any better.

The moral of the story: Focus on being a great company, and a nice CMMI certificate will follow. That’s just the way it works.

Still, people often ask me, “How fast can I get a CMMI certificate?” And my answer is, “How fast do you want to transform and change your company to be a great company?”

Because if you understand that question, you’ll understand it’s not something you can do in a couple of weeks or months. It’s a major undertaking to be a great company. As I say to my clients, this is a journey, not a race. You focus on being a great company, I will focus on helping you achieve a Maturity Level, and we’ll meet at the end.

Ask not, "How long is it going to take?"

Ask, "How focused are we on being a great company?"

For more information about changing and improving behaviors, please visit our Webinar Calendar and choose from 6 new presentations on solving software and engineering business challenges in Broadsword's “Everything You Need to Know” webinar series.

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.

CMMI-TV: What should our process architecture look like?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, What should our process architecture look like? ~ NY-SPIN Attendee

Dear Readers,

I had an opportunity at a recent NY-SPIN event to present on “Agile Resiliency,” our strategy for making agile strong enough to survive, thrive and even scale. Today’s episode of CMMI-TV was filmed ON LOCATION in New York City, where I was asked what a company’s process architecture should look like. Below is a video clip of my answer, followed by a synopsis of my response. Enjoy!

OVERVIEW

Process has an architecture best envisioned as a 3-tiered structure. At the highest level of the architecture are the values of the company, which trickle down to the methods we use to do our work. Methods are the second tier. Techniques are the third tier. All three tiers all go together, and you can transform your company culture by paying attention to each tier in relation with the others.

TIER I: VALUES

Agile values, such as high trust, transparency, collaboration, are values represented in the agile manifesto. In an agile organization's architecture, these values can be traced to the methods we use to do our work, as well as our techniques.

TIER II: METHODS

Methods can also be traced back to values.  In my company, Broadsword, our values happen to be agile values. We trust our people. We are open and transparent. Everybody in the company has ownership stake, and we’re a collaborative team. At one point, the team said, “Hey, if we’re going to have these agile values, shouldn’t we use Scrum, because Scrum fully supports those values.”

The values drive the methods.  Up to that point, we had been running in a Waterfall environment. We were making plans every year and putting estimates together for all the things we did.  But this method wasn't consistent with our desire to fail fast, be collaborative and transparent, and all the other agile values we upheld.  It only made sense that we would transform our company to agile and adopt the one method that was designed to support agile values, Scrum.

TIER III: TECHNIQUES

What techniques will we use? With values and methods in alignment, we can choose agile techniques that support our values and are part of the Scrum method, like Planning Poker, for instance.  This is how all three tiers tie together to create a well defined, well connected architecture.

SIGN UP FOR THE WEBINAR

If you’d like to know more about guiding your team to embrace agile values, methods and techniques to drive performance improvement, you are invited to participate in the newest webinar in our “Everything You Need to Know” series: “Performance Management!”

Webinar registration: “Everything You Need to Know: Performance Management!” on Wednesday, September 30th at noon EST

It's free, it's useful, and it's a whole lot of fun. Join us, won't you?

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 and performance improvement program.