The Art of CMMI: Laying Plans

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

Laying Plans

Reinventing the wheel is never wise.  As process improvement professionals, we strive to establish sound engineering strategies, to help our coworkers work more efficiently, to provide mentorship, and to be sound, diplomatic mediators. 

But such noble pursuits have already been invented and successfully employed – thousands of years ago by Sun Tzu.  (Talk about GP 3.2!!!!)

Sun Tzu was a Chinese military strategist and philosopher who authored the Art of War – a broad strategic masterpiece spanning military training, strategies and tactics – but also governance and social interaction. This book has been the bulwark of military institutions and the foundation of business strategies.  But let’s focus on its application to CMMI and process improvement!

The Art of War is divided into 13 chapters – for this, our first blog in a series, let’s discuss Chapter One, ‘Laying Plans’.

Sun Tzu knew that planning was where the ‘war’ was fought – and he provides us with many teachings to this effect.  This excerpt summarizes the Laying Plans chapter nicely:

The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand.  Thus do many calculations lead to victory and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all!  It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.

So, in our CMMI implementation experiences, promoting initial organizational planning is vital. The process team must establish and analyze business goals; implement organizational change management; and define / tailor engineering solutions.

Project plans must be written and tailored, reviewed, agreed upon and updated.  Such plans are valuable resources for reference, but importantly, it’s the thought that goes into them that’s key – this is where the ‘general is making his calculations’. 

Providing resources and creating estimates (more important calculations!) are crucial to winning your campaign!  Good estimation anticipates and counters many problems before they appear.  Cost and schedule estimates must be comprehensive and well-considered – for Sun Tzu, this would have been a matter of life and death, for us, this is a matter of project success.

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.

Meet an agile legend

Hey, readers. I have a question for YOU today. How many times in life do you get to meet someone who changed the course of your industry? ~ The CMMI Appraiser

Jim Highsmith, an outstanding author, and one of the original signatories of the Agile Manifesto, is such a man. And we all get a chance to meet him. Jim will be the Keynote Speaker at AgileDC 2012 on October 23.

Are you getting excited? This is a great opportunity to learn something new for those of you who work in the federal government sector. And it’s a great opportunity to meet Jim for agilistas, ScrumMasters, engineers, and software executives whose careers and lives have been shaped – like mine – by Jim’s work.

This CMMI Appraiser will be presenting at AgileDC as well. All are invited to come and learn about ways to make agile survive and thrive in the Federal Government.

If you’ve been reading Ask the CMMI Appraiser’s recent posts, you know how passionate I am about making agile survive by making it stronger. I think the way to make it stronger is with CMMI.

One point I emphasize in my presentation is that agile methods and values – indeed, every part of the agile architecture except for the techniques – are applicable to both agile and Waterfall. And CMMI is applicable to those also! This means, no matter what approach you take to developing software engineering solutions, the CMMI helps you get better at what you are ALREADY doing.

Here’s the link to register for the AgileDC conference, October 23, 2012, in Washington DC.

Come learn more!

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 do we strengthen our agile approach when the Federal Government keeps changing what we're doing?

Dear CMMI Appraiser,

Just found your blog.  We’re a Virginia-based contractor to the Federal Government and a “Waterfall” lifecycle company. For the past two years we’ve been switching some of our projects over to agile methods like Scrum, but so far we haven’t been able to scale it beyond the smallest projects. Part of the problem is that our government clients keep trying to change what we’re doing so it looks more "waterfall."  How would you deal with this? ~ Pete McC.

Pete, welcome to Ask the CMMI Appraiser. It’s good to have new readers. Thanks for your question.

The way this CMMI Appraiser sees it, you're fighting a two-headed monster.  And it's an ugly one, at that.

The first head of the monster that you face in adopting Scrum, or any of the agile methods, is internal. While you are off trying to be a Scrum team, your company’s leaders are off trying to be a Waterfall team.  In fact, I bet if I were to look through all of your departments, not just software engineering, but accounting, marketing and sales, operations, I would find that your CEO, CIO and COO are off living in a Waterfall world.  That's one reason Scrum projects can’t scale and why you might feel you're not getting much traction. 

The second head of the monster is external. By trying to change what you are doing, the Federal Government is actively, but probably un-knowingly, weakening your agile values. And if it’s a struggle between the Federal Government and agile, we all know who is going to win!

Both of these challenges are fixable, Pete.  But neither is going to get solved this year. The problem is bigger than you and I. I recommend that you start working on techniques you can use to strengthen Agile, and build a process integration layer to get your agile teams to talk to the business leaders. The CMMI is the perfect tool for that.

By using CMMI as a framework (as opposed to slavishly adhering to practices) you’ll be in a position to deal with BOTH heads of the monster. Consider:

First, the CMMI provides a framework for your agile teams to talk to the business leaders, helping them understand how well agile methods are working for THEM, and to communicate important information to other stakeholders like middle management, customers, and accounting. And when you're ready to test it - go ahead and have a CMMI Appraisal.

Yes, I said it.  CMMI Appraisals can be very beneficial for Agile organizations - assuming the Lead Appraiser you're working with gets it - not necessarily an easy task!

Second, the practices that CMMI makes available to you include those that help bring greater clarity and strength to the Scrum ceremonies themselves (the “Specific Practices” in the CMMI), and those that help strengthen the understanding, adoption, and continuous improvement of the Agile values and behaviors (the “Generic Practices” in the CMMI).  So, the way to make agile survive and flourish in the Federal Government is to make it stronger. And the way to make agile stronger is with CMMI.

Don't CHANGE it - make it better!

Now that you found us, keep checking this blog for updates, Pete.  I will be posting much more on the topic of using the CMMI to strengthen agile, so that you will be in a better position to defeat the two-headed monster once and for all.

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.

When is Broadsword Presenting at SEPG 2012?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, 

Our engineering executives don't seem to get that the CMMI Appraisal process is more about organizational performance improvement and less about getting a CMMI certificate. Will you be presenting on this topic again at the SEPG conference next month? If so, when?  I'd like them to attend.  Cheers, Sean M.

Hey, Sean,

Yes, for the 7th consecutive year, Broadsword has been selected to speak at the SEPG North America 2012 Conference on March 12-15, 2012 in Albuquerque, NM. But to be clear, it’s not only me. This year, three senior CMMI consultants from Broadsword have been tapped to speak.

Joining me will be Broadsword’s own Julie Calfin and Laura Adkins. Julie and Laura are senior CMMI consultants who share your passion for using the CMMI as a tool to pursue organizational performance improvement.

As you know, some of the best thinkers and speakers in our industry are selected for these presentations. The review process is conducted anonymously, and speakers are chosen based on expertise, not name or company affiliation. That’s why I’m so proud and excited for our team!

I’ll be happy to give you the details about our four presentations (including two trainings). But before I do, I want to touch on your comment about what the CMMI Appraisal process is all about.

In many companies, as you are experiencing, there is a tendency among executives to focus more on “CMMI certification.” You know that this is a misnomer – there’s no official CMMI certificate. But there is a good reason for this. Executives everywhere are hearing clients say things like, “We require you to have a CMMI certification.” They don’t hear them saying, “We want you to be a great company.”

So my advice is to let your executives come to their own conclusions about the CMMI. I think you’ll see them start to turn in the direction you want.

Here is more detail on our presentations:

• On Monday, March 12th, I will be speaking and delivering our famous "CMMI+Scrum Learning Experience" in a half-day format. We've delivered this course to many of our CMMI Consulting clients, and they've all loved it – especially the executives! Come by and see what all the hoopla is about.

• I will also be co-presenting with my good friends (and clients) from ADNET Systems about using the CMMI at NASA. These guys are super-smart and pretty cool! 

• On Tuesday, March 13th, Laura will be speaking about running successful process pilots. Something she knows A LOT about! Laura also helps us out with our CMMI Training classes.

• On Thursday, March 15th, Julie will be speaking about Organizational Change Management: The key differentiator for sustainable process improvement. Julie is a world-class thought-leader on OCM. Her presentation is packed with valuable information, not to be missed!

The SEI has worked hard to put together an outstanding slate of speakers again this year. No matter what sessions your executives attend, they are bound to gain valuable perspective on the CMMI. I’m confident that you’ll be able to go back to your company afterward and start to drive the changes you are seeking.

So we’ll see you and your executives in New Mexico, Sean – and please be sure to introduce yourselves!

THIS JUST IN: Jeff will be delivering the "CMMI+Scrum Learning Experience" at SEPG Europe in Madrid in June!

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.

My boss said we need to choose between Agile and CMMI. Which should we choose?

Hey Jeff,


My boss is a software guy, and he seems to know a lot of life-cycles and software development processes.  The other day he was having an all-hands meeting and he said to us "look, you guys gotta choose.  It's either Agile or CMMI - but not both.  So let's cut the crap and get our act together." 


We need to do SOMETHING.  What should it be - Agile or CMMI? ~Ross

To CMMI or to Agile - that is the question.... to paraphrase Billy Shakespeare.

Well Ross, your boss is right, you've gotta choose.  But the question is, choose what?   We COULD spend some time choosing between two completely different concepts, or we could make the right choice.

Choosing between CMMI and Agile is like choosing between a hamburger and a tractor.  One is good if you're hungry, the other is good if you need to plow some dirt.  Huh?

Agile is a philosophy that stems from a set of guiding principles known as the "Agile Manifesto."  It is purposely vague so as to allow people to make the right decisions based on their individual projects.  CMMI is a model that suggests a set of best-practices you might use to improve what you are doing.  It's a "what to" not a "how to" set of suggestions.  So if "what you are doing" is using an Agile method like "Scrum" you could use the CMMI to make it better.  If you are approaching life in a waterfall fashion, then CMMI could make that better.  And don't let any CMMI Consultant tell you otherwise!

CMMI is not a collection of methods, and Agile is not a best-practices model.  See?  A hamburger and a tractor.

So instead of choosing between CMMI and Agile, choose between being a good company or being a great company.  If that were my choice, I would not be choosing between CMMI and Agile, I would be embracing both CMMI and Agile even more!  Except be sure you understand what they both mean.

As Mr. Shakespeare liked to say "Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course"

Agile methods are an excellent way to manage software project using iterative and incremental techniques such as Scrum, Spiral, and XP.  CMMI is an excellent tool to both improve upon HOW you adopt those methods, and to fill in any gaps you (or your management) might have.

CMMI is also an excellent tool to help you understand how well Agile methods are working for you, and to communicate important information to other stakeholders like Management, Customers, and Accounting. And if you want to test it - go ahead and have a CMMI Appraisal.

Many of my Agile purista friends argue that all that matters is what goes on inside a Scrum team. As a matter of fact some insist that no one else is allowed into their daily standup.  This just is not realistic in the real world - and it's not useful.  Customers, management, accounting, and marketing all have a legitimate stake in software projects - no matter how annoying software developers believe them to be.

To paraphrase the Bard again - "me thinks they know not from where they're paid.  Perhaps a bodkin is in order."

So make the right choice Ross.  Choose to be a great company.    Wrap your arms around both and hold on tight!

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.