Can CMMI V2.0 help companies reinvigorate Performance Improvement?

CMMI 2.0 is here. Do you think the new instantiation of the model will reinvigorate the use of CMMI as a tool to help people get better, versus just getting business via contracts? ~ Tom Cagley, SPaMCast

[Editor's Note: On the most recent episode of the Software Process and Measurement Cast (SPaMCast), Tom Cagley and this CMMI Appraiser are talking CMMI V2.0, and how to begin transitioning to and using the new Model upgrade. Listen to the full interview at SPaMCast 512.]

Tom, yes, it appears that CMMI 2.0 is capable of helping companies reinvigorate performance improvement. But I think there's going to be a fairly long transition period. In the last seven or eight years, the industry has spent an awful lot of time and money in gearing up for CMMI v1.3, and understanding finally how to pull it all together, and the new release changes that. CMMI 2.0 changes everything.

I think the transition period is going to be a little rough for companies that are doing reappraisals, which account for about 70% of all appraisals each year. In our case, about 20 or 30 companies that I'm working with are all asking me can they reappraise at CMMI v1.3, because they're just completely oriented around CMMI v1.3, and they don't want to have to make a change.

I also believe that the market for CMMI will continue to be strong in the contractor community and the corporate supplier community, due to mandates, as well as the many things the CMMI Institute is doing to increase awareness that CMMI V2.0 is a performance improvement model. I think we are going to see more and more companies adopting CMMI as an improvement model. And we’ll even see some other use usage modes.

For instance, I'm working with a company that recently bought eight of their largest competitors. They ate up the market. In the process of doing that, they wanted to use CMMI as a way to evaluate capabilities. Since then, we've been hearing from M&A houses in New York, asking us to help them evaluate mergers and acquisitions, using CMMI to evaluate capability. And they're not at all interested in a rating. They don't care about SCAMPI. They never even heard of it. They're looking for someone to go in and give them advice on how to use an improvement model like CMMI to establish a capability roadmap.

Another example: We're seeing a new program that's gone up with the FDA, the brainchild of Kirk Botula at the CMMI Institute, where the FDA has permitted the use of CMMI as an alternative to some of the audits that they were doing, mostly in the pharmaceutical industry. There are some Lead Appraisers specializing in that.

The trend is towards performance improvement. You are starting to see more and more organizations that don't care about ratings when adopting CMMI. I'm not sure that's a result of CMMI V2.0 as much as a result of the Institute reaching out and making that case actively. And for those organizations that respond to that message, I think you're going to see a lot of them adopting CMMI V2.0 as their standard, as opposed to CMMI v1.3.

For folks who are interested getting training on all of the changes in the new model, seats are already filling up for our CMMI 2.0 Training Class this Spring. Learn more about CMMI V2.0 Training, plus our optional Agile/CMMI Integration Workshop on April 1-5, 2019.

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I hope my readers have enjoyed this segment of my interview with Tom Cagley on SPaMCast #512. We'll be talking more about the changes in the new upgrade, CMMI V2.0, in the next segment. Please check back soon.

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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 training classes 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.