The Art of CMMI: Maneuvering

[Our good friend Shawn Rapjack, CMMI expert and seasoned consultant, is back with a another installation on CMMI based on Sun Tzu's "The Art of War: Maneuvering."  We're excited that Shawn has agreed to share segments of his article with you here on "Ask the CMMI Appraiser"]

Continuing the ‘Art of CMMI’ discussion, let’s go on the offensive with the Art of War’s seventh chapter, ‘Maneuvering’.  The theme of the seventh chapter revolves around wisely marshaling one’s forces to out-maneuver various types of engagements.  But who are our ‘forces’? When we ‘do war’ on process debt and poor engineering will we fight as a cohesive force or a chaotic mob?  Sun Tzu observes:

Maneuvering with an army is advantageous; with an undisciplined multitude, most dangerous.

Fortunately, there are CMMI practices that assist us with composing our army of process warriors – as in OPD SP 1.7 – Establish Rules and Guidelines for Teams. 

Process teams often align with engineering disciplines such as ‘the requirements team’ or ‘the testing organization’.  But flexibility is required:

Whether to concentrate or to divide your troops, must be decided by circumstances.

Thus, teams may also be created to address specific hot issues dear to the program, such as ‘improving customer satisfaction’. Teams must be composed of individuals with the correct training who represent the entire organization.

So we don’t have an ‘undisciplined multitude’, rules must be established that govern responsibilities, clear lines of authority, and reporting – both within and between teams.  Elements to consider when founding and chartering teams include:

·       Specific mechanisms to approve, assign, accept, monitor, and review tasks

·       Organizational charts

·       Resource allocation

·       Measurements

—and certainly communication. While this would be amusing:

Gongs and drums, banners and flags, are means whereby the ears and eyes of the host may be focused on one particular point.

A Communication Plan would probably work better for us. Among many other things, the Communication Plan defines team intercommunication, organizational reporting chains, and specific communication 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.

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

What are some guidelines for process design that I can share with the rest of my team?

Dear Appraiser,


Last month some of the members of our scrum team attended your "Scrum + CMMI Learning Experience" workshop.  They mentioned you have developed an "Agile Process Manifesto" that helps guide companies as they develop their processes.  Would you mind sharing that with the rest of us?" ~Ed


Ed,


First of all, thanks for sending some of your team members to our Scrum + CMMI Learning Experience.  You missed out on a great time!


I authored the "Agile Process Manifesto" in 2006 after working with many clients (including "agile" organizations) whose approach to process improvement was straight out of the waterfall handbook.  ugh!


The first audience to see this was at the SEI's SEPG 2006 conference - I'm not sure they knew what the heck I was talking about.  Back then, Agile and CMMI together were, well . . .   misunderstood.


If you want to watch something funny, sit in on a session of "agile project managers" as they list all of the dozens of work products, templates, and meetings they are going to "force" their people to adhere to as they go through the process design stage of their project!  It's  hoot!  You've heard of "technical debt?"  We call this "process debt."


Inspired by the authors of the "Agile Manifesto" (but sans all the books, certifications, and conferences they've spawned), I've come up with with something that I think makes sense to software developers and project managers alike.  Similar in format - in that there are "things on the left and things on the right" - I've tried to help guide companies who become too focused on certifications and compliance - so focused that they completely waste their valuable time and money.


Like the "Agile Manifesto," I also want to remind you all that while the "things on the left" are most important, the "things on the right" are ALSO important - just not as important in the big scheme of things.


So here it is:

With appropriate attribution to Sutherland, Jeffries, Schwaber, Beck,  Highsmith, et al

So, when you develop your process, especially if your moving toward a CMMI Appraisal or planning on some CMMI training, check yourself against the Agile Process Manifesto - and keep it Agile!

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, Candidate SCAMPI Appraiser Observer, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations.  Jeff has taught thousands of students and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

He has recently developed the "Scrum+CMMI Learning Experience" for Broadsword.

Learn more about CMMI Appraisals at www.broadswordsolutions.com