Pilot Testing: Real World Problems (and their Solutions)

Dear CMMI Appraiser, I find your posts about pilot testing very useful. What do we do when we don’t have enough projects using the process we want to test? ~ Kevin D.

Dear Kevin, thanks for making Ask the CMMI Appraiser a part of your day! All posts on pilot testing come from Laura Adkins, a Senior CMMI Consultant with Broadsword. Laura does amazing work with companies that are piloting processes that are strengthened by the CMMI, throughout North America. Take it away, Laura! ~ The CMMI Appraiser

 Thank you, CMMI Appraiser!

Kevin, great question! We always love to hear from companies like yours that are applying our piloting tips and techniques in the real world. Since we all live in the real world, I will take this opportunity to answer your question by listing the top three problems (and their solutions) that companies are telling us about.

Top 3 Problems with Pilot Testing:

1) Not enough projects – As you pointed out, Kevin, sometimes organizations do not have enough projects of the right type, size, or complexity to pilot the process they want to test.

2) Not enough time – Organizations are in a hurry. They may feel they don’t have the time to pilot processes. Management may not see the benefits of performing pilot testing.

3) Misaligned projects – Schedules don’t align, where projects are already past the point where you need them to be, or the Lifecycle Phases aren’t measuring up the way you’d want them to be for piloting specific processes.

Top 3 Solutions for Pilot Testing:

1) Not enough projects? It’s important to analyze the project pipeline ahead of time and anticipate what is coming up. That way, if you know a viable project is available within a couple weeks of when you want to pilot test, you can adjust your piloting timeline so that it captures that project at the right time. You might also consider widening the scope of the pilot to other parts of the organization that are not going to be a part of your CMMI appraisal. For example, you can take some other business unit in the company, and have them test the processes. It’s better to have some feedback than none at all.

2) Not enough time? We find the best approach is to build a process release plan, up front, that includes time for pilot testing processes. It should be clear to management that, when you take the extra time to pilot processes and update the processes with feedback from the pilot, you are preventing rework down the road, and eliminating the need to deploy a process a second time. This saves time and effort, and avoids confusion.

3) Misalignment? We recommend that you take what you can get, even if it means piloting a project that’s already in progress. For example, a project may already be past a certain point, but there will still be other phases that you can learn from. It also may make sense to review a project that is recently finished. In that case, you can go through and analyze what they did, and how your new processes would have affected them, and identify some lessons learned that way. It’s kind of like an on-paper pilot testing. If it’s recent, you can find value in that.

I hope this information is useful, Kevin. Please let us know if you encounter any other challenges with piloting your processes. We’re here to help!

Like this blog? Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec!

Laura Adkins is a Senior CMMI Consultant with Broadsword Solutions Corporation. She has years of real world experience using pilot testing strategies and tactics to help her clients achieve their goals. Laura also uses the CMMI, in partnership with her clients, to set-up, monitor, and sustain process improvement programs.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about running a successful CMMI program.

How do we test our process without adding even more process?

Dear CMMI Appraiser, is there a way to test our new process without adding even more new process? It seems we are at risk of getting bogged down by layering process of top of process. ~ Samuel B.

Dear Samuel, great question! We are often answering this question for our clients – whether we’re doing a CMMI appraisal, CMMI consulting or CMMI training – which shows that there is a lot of confusion about what process actually is. Allow me share your question with Laura Adkins, a Senior CMMI Consultant with Broadsword, who does amazing work with companies who are piloting processes that are strengthened by the CMMI, throughout North America. Take it away, Laura! ~ The CMMI Appraiser

Thank you, CMMI Appraiser!

Samuel,

As the CMMI Appraiser likes to say, engineering IS process. Process is nothing more than a name for how we perform our tasks. There should be no heavy rule book hanging over our heads that gives us overhead and makes us do extra work. We like to say that, done properly, process is “underhead,” not overhead.

To answer your question, yes, there is a way to pilot your new process efficiently and effectively. We recommend three actions to perform when testing projects that are using a new process: Mentor, Monitor and Measure. To help make them memorable, we call them “The Three M’s”.

M is for Mentoring

Mentors are a valuable aspect of piloting your projects because they are responsible for teaching others, so that the new behaviors they’ve learned can be tested. We recommend that you use criteria to select mentors, including the following:

• Availability: The people you select as mentors must be able to commit the necessary time (perhaps 2-3 hours per week, depending on how many projects are in the pilot) to do the mentoring.
• Knowledge: Mentors need to be knowledgeable enough of the process to be able to educate others to use it. Not everyone is a teacher.
• Proactivity: Mentors need to meet weekly with pilot projects, and they have to be proactive about approaching them and setting up meetings, then regularly meeting with them and following through.

M is for Monitoring

In addition to meeting weekly with the participants in the pilot project, the mentor should then report the status of the pilot to your SEPG or EPG so that the engineering process group is current on how the pilot is progressing. They will also be making sure that PPQA evaluations are planned at the end of pilot projects to see how they did.

M is for Measuring

We all know measuring is important with process and performance improvement initiatives – otherwise it is impossible to know if you’ve improved. But what measures should you look at when piloting projects? Each of the newly developed processes that you are looking at should have had measures defined. Your goal during the pilot is to collect those measures. You want to make sure that the measures you’ve defined make sense, and that people are able to understand what they are and capture them. You also will collect process related experiences when you have your retrospective, which is another form of measuring. Finally, you will analyze your PPQA findings when the project does finish.

As you go forward, Samuel, remember that you are building a product, and that product is the process you use to do your work. Furthermore, that product has work products and training and tools and techniques associated with it, just like any software product does. And the product needs to be tested.

At Broadsword, we use our branded agileCMMI approach, which allows organizations to build things, pilot them, learn as they go, get feedback, determine what changes to make and make them. Because agileCMMI calls for performing incremental actions and building upon everything that has come before, work is done in short iterations. Organizations go through an incremental and iterative process over time, until they have a complete, high performing engineering process.

The reason I share this is to reinforce our statement that process is nothing more than the way you do your work. You can call it “process,” “engineering,” or even “fixing egg salad sandwiches,” but the one constant with adopting the agileCMMI approach, or any other approach to piloting, regardless of constellation or model, is the ability to take what you are already doing, and make it better.

Performing the three M’s will help you do that.

Like this blog? Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec!

Laura Adkins is a Senior CMMI Consultant with Broadsword Solutions Corporation. She has years of real world experience using pilot testing strategies and tactics to help her clients achieve their goals. Laura also uses the CMMI, in partnership with her clients, to set-up, monitor, and sustain process improvement programs.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about running a successful CMMI program.

3 Reasons the CMMI Works in the Health Care Industry

Dear CMMI Appraiser, can CMMI work in the health care industry, or is it only for IT? ~ Larry P.

Larry, the CMMI is a process improvement model that can be adapted to any industry. So yes, it can and does work in the health care industry. Currently the CMMI has broad adoption by organizations that are partnered with the government through Medicare or Medicaid, or with organizations that deal with Blue Cross Blue Shield, because these are two entities that are starting to look to CMMI as a framework for improving service and product delivery.

As in any industry, health care business leaders are responding to many factors that impact their bottom line. Here are three reasons people in the health care industry are adopting the CMMI:

 

Reason #3: Marketing

Large health insurance providers are often interested in adopting the CMMI strictly for marketing reasons. Some believe that having the so-called “CMMI certification” or achieving CMMI Level 2 or CMMI Level 3 will allow them to level the playing field against their competitors.  It's a strategy, of sorts.

In my opinion, that approach alone will NOT level the playing field. I’ll explain why, below.

Reason #2: Customer Mandates

The CMMI Appraiser often hears from companies who call us and say, “Hey, we need to look at CMMI certification because we’d like to bid on certain government contracts that are requiring CMMI.”

I always respond by asking, “Is that really why you are doing this? I understand that you want to win that business. But the CMMI is so much more valuable and useful than that. Let’s talk about things like how well you are running your process, how well you are delivering, how happy your customers are.”

These are the kinds of questions they should be asking, and learning should be their goal – not achieving a level. The sooner they grasp this concept, the sooner they start to think like a great company. Which leads me to …

Reason #1: To Be a Great Company

I find that more and more organizations understand the value of process improvement and increasing performance. They think about the CMMI as one of the tools that can help them learn how to behave like a great company. And while they know it won’t be easy to do the work necessary to learn the behaviors and transform their culture, they willingly take on the challenge, knowing that the journey can be its own reward.

I tell them, “You worry about being a great company. I’ll worry about helping guide you toward this CMMI goal.

This approach works across the industries. If you focus setting the right goals and objectives, and asking the right questions, you are going to be a great company. I promise.

Now, to return to my comment above about marketing, let’s consider the case of two organizations that are competing for a contract: a Virginia health care organization and a New York health care organization.

The Virginia health care organization does the hard work of focusing on the transformation of the culture of their company, using the CMMI as one of the tools that can help them. Their goal is to improve and change the way their entire organization behaves, so that they deliver a work product of greater value to the customer.

The New York health care organization invests significant time, money and effort to go through a SCAMPI-A appraisal, only to “check the box.” Having done so, they ignore the guidance of the CMMI, and go right back their old culture … complete with late, over-budget projects, heavy process debt, etc.

All other things being equal, which organization would you hire?

I appreciate your taking the time to send in your question, Larry. With a little context and creativity, the CMMI is a powerful solution for any industry that plans, designs, and delivers any type of product or service.

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.

Register for "Introduction to CMMI-DEV," February 11-13 2013 in Fairfax, VA.

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 exactly is the CMMI?

Dear CMMI Appraiser, I need to know exactly what the CMMI is, so I can determine if it is right for our organization. What does it help companies do, and how do we get CMMI certified? Thank you. ~ Pat C.

Dear Pat, welcome to the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)! As a certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser who has worked in the industry for many years, I’m always thrilled when someone new asks about the Model. I’ve come to think of the CMMI as one big party, and everyone is invited!

Practically speaking, there are three things to know about the CMMI:

• 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

… here are just six of many things to know about what 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, “How do we get CMMI certified?” I will answer in a moment. First, while the phrase “CMMI certification” is common on Web sites and conversations throughout the industry, the CMMI Institute does not recognize "CMMI certification," Instead, they recommend the following phrasing: “How do we achieve a CMMI level rating?”

You achieve a CMMI Rating ("a level") by building, deploying, and managing a process architecture within your engineering and project management organizations and you use the best practices identified in the process areas of the CMMI model to make it better. That's it!  Once institutionalization is apparent, you can then engage with a CMMI Institute-certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser to lead you through a SCAMPI Appraisal. For many organizations, it makes sense to work with a CMMI consultant to help you decide when it is best to appraise your organization.  There are many certified lead appraiser who can help you as a consultant as well.

Depending on the appraisal type you select, it will result in either a gap analysis report or a set of formal findings that identify your company as having achieved (or not achieved) CMMI Level 2, CMMI Level 3, Level 4 or Level 5.  You can achieve both "Maturity Levels" or "Capability Levels" depending on your business goals or how you wish to scope the appraisal.  Again, your friendly Certified Lead Appraiser is the right person to ask about this.

But keep in mind: The CMMI is not about getting a CMMI certificate or achieving a CMMI Maturity Level. As I said above, the CMMI is more like a party, an ongoing celebration, a model to help guide you in your quest for becoming a great company … and you’re invited!

Need to know more? Here’s another invitation. Click here to register for our FREE Webinar on March 13th.

CMMI - Everything You Need to Know!

We hope to see you 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 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.

So your boss asked you to look into CMMI and Agile ...

Dear Readers, not long ago, I met a software engineer who said her boss asked her to look into “getting certified at CMMI ML3" while converting her development team to be "an agile shop,” because “that’s the way the industry is heading.” Clearly frustrated, she asked me, “What does that even look like?”

I tried to get her to a happier frame of mind. I said, “Imagine you have accomplished everything your boss is asking for. You’ve put your company on path to greatness by integrating the CMMI model and the agile methodology. Now you are ready for your CMMI SCAMPI appraisals and agile assessments, and you feel perfectly relaxed.”

As a CMMI Lead Appraiser, I love walking into this type of environment. You stand in the middle of the Scrum team room, and everywhere you look, you see evidence, including:

• “Information radiators” all around, "radiating" information about 50+ practices from the CMMI
• White boards covered with sticky notes, with risks identified, carefully prioritized ('what keeps you up at night') with their sources associated with them
• Photographs and drawings
• Comments in the code
• Sketches that can be scanned, stored, retrieved, shared, and used to make other projects better 

That’s just a glimpse of what it looks like when a company has successfully integrated the agile methodology with the architectural strengths of the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). But one glimpse can tell a lot. While your CMMI Lead Appraiser will certainly dig much deeper, all signs point to productivity without a lot of chaos and headaches.

As I said to the woman at the conference, the cool part is, agile and the CMMI are not only compatible,  they are essential together!  They're both intended to do the same thing, which is to help solve business problems. Having an agileCMMI infrastructure guides and supports your team to learn new behaviors, which can establish a flexible and resilient environment for building good software.

So that’s the big picture. That’s what agileCMMI looks like. It’s all about helping companies scale and thrive.

Anyone interested in learning more about getting CMMI and agile to work together is invited to attend one of our presentations on the East Coast next month:  

March 6, 2013 @ DC SPIN – Agile Resiliency: How CMMI Enables Agile to Thrive and Survive (RSVP for DC SPIN by sending an email to dcspingroup@yahoo.com) 

March 19, 2013 @ Boston SPIN – Agile Resiliency: Using CMMI to Make Agile Stronger for the Next Century (No RSVP is necessary)

And yes, tell your bosses! They are invited.

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.

A CMMI Valentine

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, do you remember me? When I did one of your CMMI+Scrum trainings a while back, I was really rude, I’m afraid. I said that I saw no value in the CMMI, and that the mere fact that I was there proved that management didn’t have a clue about what our Agile teams were doing anyway. Well, we’ve been using CMMI and Scrum together for over a year now … and guess what? We love it! ~ The CMMI Lady

Hey, CMMI Lady, that’s great to hear! I’m thrilled you cared enough to send a note about your newfound appreciation for the CMMI. So appropriate for Valentine’s Day ... even better than a box of chocolates.  I love it!

Like you, a lot of agile practitioners don’t love the concept of CMMI+Scrum, at first. Your message is a reminder that many folks are still burdened with misinformation about the CMMI.

And so, on this widely celebrated day of love, I thought it would be useful to list some of the complaints I hear most often from agile practitioners ... things they DON'T LOVE about the CMMI ... along with some reasons to reconsider:

“I don’t love the CMMI because I don’t love process models!”

Really? And did you realize that Scrum is a process model? When you look at all of the different techniques of a Scrum team, all the "Scrum Elements," every one of them is a process. And every one of them is in the CMMI. For example, Planning Poker is represented in the CMMI's Project Planning Specific Goal One. Refactoring is in Requirement Management, Pair Programming is part of Verification, Velocity is part of Measurement and Analysis, and Test-Driven Development is part of Requirements Development. And so on.

“I don’t love the CMMI because I don’t love BPUF (Big Plan Up Front)!”

That’s OK! I don’t, either. But make sure you understand, the CMMI is not a methodology. It does not have to be BPUF. That’s a perception based on some implementations, not based on fact. Because the CMMI is SOMETIMES used in BPUF types of organizations, the CMMI must be a BPUF process model, right? Uh … no. The real meaning behind CMMI is that it makes anything that you are doing better. So why not use CMMI to make a Scrum better?

“I don’t love the CMMI because I don’t love being forced to conform!”

Another way this complaint is often expressed is, “Leave me alone! I need to be independent!” Unfortunately, that perception is one reason why most companies are using Scrum for only a small subset of their projects. Strengthening Scrum with CMMI can change that. By providing a framework for changing behaviors and changing culture, the CMMI can help establish an environment for allowing you to operate like a great company – for the long term.

As you pointed out, CMMI Lady, part of the challenge with using Scrum is sometimes upper management doesn’t understand it. It’s well suited for “bottom-up” implementations, but not so much for “top-down.” CMMI is a tool that can help bring discipline to agile methods, helping you solve business problems in a way that management can understand and support.

There has always been this sort of love-hate relationship between the Agile and CMMI communities. It’s so prevalent in our industry that I co-authored a white paper called "CMMI or Agile? Why Not Embrace Both?" for the SEI, along with several of my peers, on why that perception is hurting the software community, and why the CMMI is an excellent fit for agile environments.

So don’t feel bad if you didn’t love the CMMI at first. Every framework, including Scrum, has weaknesses, and you’re learning to use CMMI to make it even stronger. It’s awesome you’ve embraced CMMI+Scrum as a tool to make your organization a great company.

Thanks for being our CMMI Valentine!

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 is the status of the SEPG Conference?

Dear CMMI Appraiser -- I saw a mysterious tweet from you about the “future of the SEPG conference”? Could that be true? What about the rumors that the SEI had canceled the SEPG conferences series? ~ Gary G.

Dear Gary, thanks following @CMMIAppraiser on Twitter. While it is still too soon to share the details, we’re excited to say: yes! The SEPG Conference has a future!

Rather than give credibility to the rumors, here are the facts.  In December 2012, the SEI officially transitioned operations of the CMMI to the CMMI Institute (www.cmmiinstitute.com), headed up by global technology executive, Kirk Botula. At that point, the future of the SEPG Conference Series was unknown, and rumors were flying.

I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Kirk in my capacity as Chairman of the Partner Advisory Board. I have been particularly impressed by Kirk’s passion for the SEPG Conference, and the community as a whole. We agreed there are several aspects of the annual get-together that engineering and software professionals have really come to appreciate more than anything else:

• The end-user (customer) experience.  Learning from other end-users how they used CMMI to make their companies stronger
• Seeing speakers who are industry leaders with a proven record of successful conferences
• The social experience. It’s great to have dedicated time to build stronger relationships with customers, peers and potential partners.
• The learning experience. It’s cool to come together with professionals from around the world to learn, network and explore solutions to organizational performance problems.
• The bigger picture experience. It’s beneficial for everyone when organizations learn to better understand how to harness the power of process improvement.

There’s a reason our industry has embraced these opportunities. We’re all trying to make our companies as successful as possible. Throughout the years there has been no better place to come together and make that happen than at SEPG Conferences.

We envision the "next generation" SEPG to be leaner, filled with useful information, face-paced, and end-user focused.  More customer talks, hands-on workshops, and lightning talks.  We see less "speeches" and more interactive sessions.  Less grandiose and more hands-on.  Exciting stuff!

Also, look for the partners (like www.broadwordsolutions.com) to be more visible in order to bring the conference closer to our clients and customers.

No dates have been set, but we are currently discussing locations and timing for 2013  . . . did I say 2013?  Yes!  Stay tuned.

So, Gary, we're excited to share the good news that the SEPG Conference will be back. In the meantime, we are working on getting more details together for you. You can catch the latest by subscribing to our email, following us on Twitter @CMMIappraiser, or visiting www.cmmiinstitute.com.

Stay tuned ...

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.

How do we get accurate information on the success of our processes?

Dear CMMI Appraiser, we are a defense contractor providing command and control systems, information technology, intelligence, engineering and networking professionals worldwide. As we scale, ensuring the success of our processes before we implement them is critical. What method do you recommend? ~ Holland W.

Dear Holland, great question! We agree that organizations need to ensure the success of their processes before they implement them, in order to successfully scale. Allow me to pass your question along to Laura Adkins, a Senior CMMI Consultant with Broadsword, who does amazing work with companies who are piloting processes that are strengthened by the CMMI. Take it away, Laura! ~ The CMMI Appraiser

Thank you, CMMI Appraiser!

Holland, we recommend piloting as the method for testing your process to make sure you have it right before deploying it. Projects selected for testing as pilot projects serve as guinea pigs versus those projects that are not tested.

So, what makes a good pilot project? And what should be considered when you are looking to pilot your processes? We recommend that you look at the following aspects of projects that you will select for a pilot project: Size, Complexity, Risk, Project Schedule, and People.

Let’s address these individually:

SIZE: When selecting pilot projects, you will want different sizes – a large project and a small project. You should also consider different project types, such as an Agile team approach versus a Waterfall approach, in your selecting.

COMPLEXITY: You want to look at the level of project complexity, depending on what the process areas are. If the process areas that you are piloting relate to technology or requirements, you are probably going to want to pilot a project that will allow you to fully execute your processes on that particular phase of a project.

RISK: You need to be somewhat practical and avoid projects that have a tight timeframe or budget and therefore won’t have the resources to devote the extra time to piloting the processes. If you know that there are time or budget constraints up front, it’s better to find an alternative.

PROJECT SCHEDULE: When looking for projects to pilot, you need to be sure the project is in the right phase of its current schedule or lifecycle. For example, if a project is nearing close-down, and you are looking to pilot project planning processes, then it wouldn’t make sense to select that one. You need to anticipate what’s coming up, so you can pick wisely. As another example, if you are only pilot testing for 6 weeks, you need to make sure that the pilot project is in the right phase, or will be executing the processes you want to pilot during that six week period. It’s about looking ahead.

PEOPLE: You need to select the right people, those who are willing and open to learning the processes and spending time participating in the process pilot, which helps with overall feedback at the end.

Focus on these criteria, Holland, and you will be sure to select the projects to pilot that will give your organization the most meaningful data as you scale.

Like this blog? Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec!

Laura Adkins is a Senior CMMI Consultant with Broadsword Solutions Corporation. She has years of real-world experience using pilot testing strategies and tactics to help her clients achieve their goals. Laura also uses the CMMI, in partnership with her clients, to set up, monitor and sustain process improvement programs.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about running a successful CMMI program.

Why get "jazzed" about using the CMMI?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, why are you so jazzed about using the CMMI for software process improvement? ~ from a recent conversation with the CEO of a San Diego electrical engineering firm

Dear Readers,

This CMMI Appraiser has never been one to hide his enthusiasm for the things I care about. So I wasn’t too surprised, the other day, when the leader of an electrical engineering firm in San Diego asked why I was so “jazzed” about software process improvement, using the CMMI as one of our tools.

I thought his choice of words was very appropriate. He’s right: I am jazzed! And here’s why.

As I’ve mentioned on this blog before, I started my career journey as a classical musician. Although I ultimatley earned my degree in Computer Science, my first was in Music Performance.  Today, while I still love to play music,  I spend most of my time working with CMMI and helping companies improve performance. And I also play music semi-professionally whenever I can.

Making music is a wonderful metaphor for building software products.

If you read my article in Cutter IT Journal (download it HERE) you know that my favorite musician is Charlie "Bird" Parker. Bird was widely acclaimed as a genius for his ability to improvise  freely with astounding dexterity and technical accuracy. For Bird (and for me) music is about engineering the craft.

Same goes for solving business problems – whether you are designing software, delivering electrical engineering solutions, or producing any other kind of work product. It’s about engineering your work. First, you need to learn the theory and history. Then you need to adhere to some sort of structured discipline (for musicians, it’s music theory and practicing; for engineers, it could be using the guidance provided in the CMMI framework). Then, you need the artistic sensibility to apply your own brand of creativity (your "Way").  Engineering requires a healthy dose of both.

This is the formula for putting yourself on the path to greatness, and no one did it better than Charlie Parker.

Without an understanding of how great accomplishments are achieved, nothing changes. Software projects are late or over-budget. Clients are unhappy. Top talent burns out and leaves. Profits go unrealized, and opportunities are lost.

Same goes for making music. If nothing changes in ones approach to the craft, the audience boos you off the stage, and you may never get booked again.

That’s why I’m “jazzed” about getting this right.

An excellent example of an organization that gets it right is CutTime Productions (www.cuttime.com). Led by former-Detroit Symphony Orchestra bassist Rick Robinson, CutTime Productions is an artistic venture committed to connecting curious but inexperienced music lovers with the beauty and power of classical music in new and innovative ways.

Broadsword has been a supporter of CutTime for some time now. We help them cover the costs of traveling the country and introducing their music and methods nationally. It's rewarding to see them make classical music accessible to a wider range of new listeners, particularly young people.

CutTime has the ability to apply science and discipline, and layer creativity on top of it. In that sense, CutTime Productions does for classical music what Charlie Parker did for Jazz, and what Broadsword does for software engineering.

We support this effort because we love music. We love innovation. But more importantly – and this applies to any organization in any industry – we love to help people apply art and science on the path to greatness.

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.

Does the CMMI require documented process?

Dear CMMI Appraiser, I am part of the management team of an engineering firm in New York that is in high growth mode. We are just starting to research the CMMI and already there are concerns. Does the CMMI require documented processes? ~ Frances V.

Dear Francis, rest assured, the CMMI does not require anything - it's merely a set of guidelines. The CMMI recommends,  in CMMI Level 3, that processes be defined at the project level based on a set of standards processes. But what it doesn't ask for is an immense amount of detail. This is one of the great misunderstandings about the CMMI. People often  think they have to have "binders full of processes."  They tend to treat every project – even projects as small as mapping a desktop computer to a printer – as though they were building a space shuttle.

The good news is, you don’t have to do that. You just have to provide the appropriate level of guidance for your situation.  "Space-Shuttle" process is appropriate for the Space Shuttle, but not for building a website.

Engineers are really smart people that don’t always need a step-by-step process for everything, although many people will  try to create one anyway.

Ultimately, Frances, adopting the CMMI is all about solving business problems. It’s not about documents. In fact, the more we use the CMMI, and the more we work with companies that are using the CMMI, the more we realize that this is a model that's about how great companies perform.

Once you grasp this distinction, you can take a different approach to the CMMI. You can think of it as a tool that you can use to help define “The Way” you do business.

I'm passionate about encouraging companies to think about establishing “The Way”  – as in “The NASA Way” or “The (Insert Your Company Name) Way.” Your “Way” becomes the way you do things as an organization and as a group. You establish your “Way” not to document your processes, and not even to achieve a CMMI Level. You establish your “Way” to consistently be the great company that you are.

The CMMI is the perfect tool to do that. So if you do decide to adopt the CMMI, don't waste time with overly-detailed process documents - make it appropriate for your business.

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.

Can I earn PDUs in CMMI Training? Yes … BUT!

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, can I earn PDUs in CMMI training? ~ Project Manager

Dear Readers,

When I speak at various process and performance improvement forums around the country, I am often asked by Project Managers if it is possible to earn PDUs (professional development units) by successfully completing CMMI training. The answer is, “Yes … BUT!” Here’s what I mean. CMMI Training can be a valuable experience that also helps you earn PDUs … BUT before you sign up for one, consider the following:

Over the years, I have found that there tend to be three groups of people who ask about earning PDUs by participating in CMMI training:

1. Those who should PROBABLY NOT participate in CMMI training;
2. Those who should CONSIDER participating in CMMI training; and
3. Those who are REQUIRED to participate in CMMI training.

Let’s address them individually.


Who should PROBABLY NOT participate in CMMI training?

• Anyone who just wants PDUs to satisfy their PMI requirements, and is not at all interested in continuous improvement (do these people exist?...)

Who should CONSIDER participating in CMMI training?

• Anyone interested in improving software and engineering performance
• Anyone who wants an approach to remedy consistently late or over-budget projects
• Anyone tiring of working in a “hero culture”
• Anyone who needs a way to make their work sustainable or scalable

Who is REQUIRED to participate in CMMI training?

• Anyone who wishes to undergo CMMI Instructor training
• Anyone who wishes to undergo CMMI SCAMPI Lead Appraiser training
• Anyone who wishes to participate as a team member on a CMMI Appraisal (SCAMPI Appraisal).

Keep in mind, even if you are required, the best reason to participate in CMMI training is because you are interested in gaining new insights into addressing persistent problems (like late projects, over-budget projects, unhappy customers, etc., etc., etc.) and improving upon what you are ALREADY doing.

If that's what folks are REALLY after, then my answer is “Yes … AND!”

For example, next month, this CMMI Appraiser is conducting a CMMI training session, in partnership with CC PACE, a leading Agile IT Services firm. Our joint presentation of "Introduction to CMMI-DEV v1.3" takes place in Fairfax, VA, on February 11-13, 2013.

Yes, professionals can earn 21 PDUs (or 2.5 CEUs) by participating in this class, AND our "Introduction to CMMI-DEV v1.3" is designed to help CMMI-focused organizations who are looking for guidance on being lighter and more flexible, as well as Agile shops who are still seeking the kind of results they’ve been hoping for.

It's a long answer to a short question, I know.  But CMMI Training is definitely NOT for everyone seeking PDUs!

Register for "Introduction to CMMI-DEV," February 11-13 2013 in Fairfax, VA.

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 do YOU think about the CMMI?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser – wouldn’t it be great if we knew what people really think about the CMMI? ~ fellow Lead Appraiser at an SEPG NA conference

Hey, CMMI Users,

Last year, we gratefully acknowledged a milestone here at Ask the CMMI Appraiser when we welcomed our 100,000th visitor. If you were one of them, you know how passionate this CMMI Appraiser is about interacting with users of the CMMI like you. We receive a lot of questions, and always do our best to give a comprehensive response.

But did you know that we also ask a lot of questions? For example, in 2012, my company, Broadsword,  commissioned a study to ask CMMI Users what they really thought about the Capability Maturity Model Integration as one of the tools they were using to make themselves better.

We reached out to over 50 companies in industries such as aerospace, defense, finance, transportation, energy, and manufacturing. We spoke with CEOs, VPs, Directors, and Quality Assurance Managers from a wide variety of companies, large and small, who had adopted CMMI-DEV.

The purpose of the study was to understand their perception of the CMMI. Our report includes over 40 quotes from CMMI Users who made poignant observations, such as the following:

“Getting to CMMI Level 3 was extremely difficult because we were not ready to go to Level 3. What we were doing was the equivalent of trying to convince a salmon not to swim upstream. But, to our credit, when the client’s need for us to have the rating went away, our commitment to using the model did not go away.” ~ CMMI User

The report, “CMMI User Stories: A Study of Perception in the Market,” is now on Amazon as an eBook  – and for a limited time, you can download a FREE copy at http://www.broadswordsolutions.com/resources.

Well, we had so much fun, we’re doing it again! Only, this time, we’d like to give YOU a chance to share your opinion of the CMMI. In the coming weeks, you will be provided an opportunity to participate in an anonymous survey of CMMI Users.

Our hope in sharing the CMMI User Stories is that, whatever your role with the CMMI, your performance will improve through its adoption, as we all strive for continuous improvement.

So keep asking questions. Keep improving. And we’ll keep sharing valuable information about organizational performance improvement and engineering strategy, using the CMMI as one of the tools that can help put your company on the path to greatness.

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.

For more eBooks on CMMI, visit Jeff’s Author Page on Amazon.

13 Reasons Your CMMI Adoption Will Fail in 2013

Dear CMMI Appraiser – I appreciated your post about a “failure of imagination” being the biggest problem most companies face when adopting the CMMI for their software process improvement program. But now I fear there may be other common problems we don’t know about that will cause headaches this year if we don’t have the foresight to avoid them – please advise. ~ Cynthia S., Quality Assurance Manager

Dear Cynthia, fear not!  Unless you suffer from triskaidekaphobia (an irrational dread of the number 13), there is no need to fear the year ahead …

Instead, I encourage you to embrace this year as an opportunity to think about the CMMI as one of the tools that can help you change behaviors and establish the type of environment that can make you a great company.

But I don't want to minimize your concerns about potential pitfalls. In fact, there are many problems that companies commonly experience when adopting the CMMI, often because they have received misinformation from a so-called CMMI consultant from one of the "Appraisal Preparation" companies.

Here is a list of 13 reasons that your CMMI adoption will fail in 2013:

1. You’ve bought a tool that promises “CMMI compliance in six months or less”
2. You've hired a "CMMI Preparation" consultant who is helping you "create the evidence"
3. No one has any idea why you’re “doing CMMI,” but you’re doing it anyway
4. Two dozen consultants descend on your company to “do CMMI” to you
5. Your boss keeping uttering the phrase “implementing CMMI”
6. Your CMMI “consultant” says, “The CMMI makes you do it.”
7. Your CMMI “consultant” says, “The CMMI Institute makes you do it.”
8. Two minutes after achieving Level Two, your boss says, “When is Level Three?”
9. Your boss says, “We need to go right to Level Five (or Four, or Three)
10. Your boss tells your team to go “get a level” by Tuesday
11. No one captures data about whether or not your team is benefiting from the CMMI
12. You blindly follow your parent company’s binder full of processes (we've got "binders full of 'em!")
13. No one believes that new behaviors can be learned 

Many organizations, in their rush to solve these problems, fall victim to them. They get so focused on "CMMI Certification," achieving CMMI Level 2 or CMMI Level 3, they set themselves up for failure.

To assure that 2013 is productive and profitable for you and your team, I encourage you to remember three things about the CMMI:

1. The CMMI is a time-tested, industry-proven model for positive outcomes 
2. The CMMI is a framework and set of guidelines for changing behaviors and changing culture 
3. The CMMI allows you to do what you are already doing, better – in 2013 and beyond 

So go forward with confidence, Cynthia, and made the decision that 2013 will be a lucky year for your CMMI adoption.

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 #1 Problem we will face with CMMI?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, what's the #1 problem most companies face when adopting the CMMI for their Process Improvement program? ~ Software Engineering Executive, client

Today’s episode of CMMI-TV was filmed in the studio. CMMI-TV is a place where we can add value to the engineering and software development community by offering advice on engineering strategy, performance innovation and software process improvement. Below is a video clip with my answer to a frequently asked question, followed by a synopsis of my response. Enjoy!

OVERVIEW

Clients sometimes ask, “What is the #1 thing we have to be worried about, in terms of failing in our project to use processes using the CMMI?”

The #1 thing you have to worry about is a failure of imagination.

WHAT IS A FAILURE OF IMAGINATION?

It is a failure of imagination to take literally what’s in the CMMI Book.

For example: it is a failure of imagination to read that you must “establish a work breakdown structure,” and “establish an organizational policy,” and take those statements literally.

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE: WITHOUT IMAGINATION

A work breakdown structure is a list of tasks, a list of resources, a list of things that need to be done and the sequence that they need to be done in.

A lot of projects will suffer a failure of imagination, and will put together a massive MS Word Project work plan, with a list of all the tasks, and everything sequenced with predecessors and resources and timelines and all the things associated with a traditional work breakdown structure. And they will never use it.

Why? Maybe they are an agile shop, and are doing things in an iterative and incremental way that don’t require or encourage the use of such a tool.

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE: WITH IMAGINATION

A work breakdown structure is nothing more than a set of tasks, a set of sequences and a set of resources.

Have some imagination!  Why not take a Scrum shop and have a product backlog, a sprint backlog and user stories that are sequenced in some way? The content of those things equals the content of the work breakdown structure.

The imaginative way to use the CMMI is not to emulate what’s in the examples within the CMMI.

The imaginative way to use the CMMI is to take what you are already doing and use the guidance that’s in the CMMI book to make what you are doing better.

If you want to think of ways to make managing your product backlog better, take a look into the Project Planning and Project Monitoring and Controlling sections of the CMMI book, and interpret what’s in that book to fit into your particular context.

ORGANIZATIONAL POLICY: WITHOUT IMAGINATION

Policy is something that tells people what it is that they are supposed to do.

Often, I will walk into a client organization and they will say, “Hey, let me show you our policies!” and they pull a big binder off the shelf, and it’s filled with 22 chapters, each one of the chapters is marked with the name of the Process Area of the CMMI. And there is a bunch of text around these things and how they have to do them if they want to work there. And then, at the very end of the document, there are a bunch of signatures of the managers of the organization.

The problem is, if you talk to people in the organization, they have no idea that that kind of book even exists.

Well, a binder signed by everybody sitting on a dusty shelf doesn’t necessarily set the expectations for the organization.

ORGANIZATIONAL POLICY: WITH IMAGINATION

Policies are nothing more than a set of expectations.

Have some imagination!  Imaginative ways to have an organizational policy might include having town hall meetings and team meetings, and talking about the expectations as part of your daily stand-ups. Or maybe having posters around the organization that say, “You must wear your badges,” or “You must do these things in order to work at this establishment.”

There are many different ways to go about setting expectations in the organization, other than what’s literally in the CMMI book that says, “Have a Policy.”

So as you are working through the improvement effort of the organization, make sure that you are doing things in an imaginative way, that make sense for your organization, and not just doing exactly what it says in the book.

ABOUT CMMI-TV: CMMI-TV is a place where we can add value to the engineering and software development community by offering advice on engineering strategy, performance innovation and software process improvement. If you find this useful, please 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.

Happy New Year, CMMI Style!

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, as a newly promoted executive of a large New York IT engineering firm, my goal in 2013 is to get CMMI certified. What are some of the behaviors you would recommend that our leadership team adopt to make this goal a reality? ~ Chuck A.

Chuck, congratulations on your promotion! Before I address the behaviors you need to adopt, please allow this CMMI Appraiser to lift a glass in your honor, wishing you and yours a very happy New Year and a prosperous CMMI program in 2013.

Now, Chuck, you are on the right track when you ask what behaviors you need to adopt. To paraphrase a wise man, fortunate are those who understand that the CMMI is about behavioral modeling for solving business problems, for they shall have a successful CMMI adoption. That’s why this CMMI appraiser always encourages executives to think of the CMMI as a tool to help improve the techniques and practices, as opposed to an end in itself.

But what to make of this “my goal is to get CMMI certified” statement? IMHO, focusing certification isn't quite the right goal. Do you really want my honest recommendation? Just resolve to be a great company. The certification will follow....I promise!

To help you reach this more useful New Year’s Resolution, I will share some of the behaviors you asked for. These behaviors are provided to us by the most important part of the CMMI, the Generic Practices (or GPs). There are 12 of them, and they are the responsibility of executives like you who are leading the CMMI effort, so study them well!

1) I Resolve to Establish an Organizational Policy (Generic Practice 2.1) – It may not seem obvious, but GP 2.1 is very pivotal to the success of your program (and your engineers). It guides you to provide a clear and unambiguous setting of expectations by management that the employees will use the process as it has been written and defined.

2) I Resolve to Plan the Process (Generic Practice 2.2) – The second GP guides us to establish and maintain the plan for performing the process. This is another very pivotal GP in the model. With GP2.2, we develop an infrastructure where all processes we expect people to use are planned for. The idea is that we can expect people to do things all we want, but unless it's also planned for, it ain't gonna happen.

3) I Resolve to Provide Resources (Generic Practice 2.3) – The third GP guides us to provide adequate resources for performing the process, developing the work products, and providing the services of the process. In other words, give your team the tools and environmental resources for the processes to be useful, so your team can be successful.

4) I Resolve to Assign Responsibility (Generic Practice 2.4) – The fourth GP guides us to assign responsibility and authority for performing the process, developing the work products, and providing the services of the process.

5) I Resolve to Train People (Generic Practice 2.5) – The fifth GP guides us to train the people performing or supporting the process. In other words, if you expect your Project Managers to be efficient at estimating and planning, you need to train them on estimating and planning.  You may also enroll them in CMMI training.

6) I Resolve to Control Work Products (Generic Practice 2.6) – GP2.6 guides us to place designated work products of the process under appropriate levels of configuration management. GP2.6 basically provides a double layer of protection for you. First, it offers you guidance to manage all of your reams of documents, databases, and other work products that are produced as a result of running a successful project. Second, it provides guidance on how to store those documents and work products, and manage them in some kind of repository or system.

7) I Resolve to Identify and Involve Relevant Stakeholders (Generic Practice 2.7) – The seventh GP guides us to identify and involve relevant stakeholders of the process as planned. GP2.7 is another pivotal practice. It advocates the idea that if you identify and INVOLVE all the relevant stakeholders, and PLAN for their involvement, you'll increase the chances that they will show up and do what you want them to do.

8) I Resolve to Monitor and Control the Process (Generic Practice 2.8) – The eighth generic practice guides us to monitor and control the process against the plan for performing the process and take appropriate corrective action. GP2.8 is all about answering one simple question: "How do you know?" How do you know if the process works? How would you make it better? Are things improving? Getting worse? Static? This is a very pivotal practice - maybe the most pivotal. This gives us data about how well the process works. If we don't know that - why are we doing this?

9) I Resolve to Objectively Evaluate Adherence (Generic Practice 2.9) – The ninth generic practice (GP2.9) guides us to objectively evaluate adherence of the process against its process description, standards, and procedures, and address noncompliance. In other words, GP2.9 is the act of capturing the data about adherence and reporting it out. This implies some level of oversight. Are engineers using the process or not. If they are not, why not? What’s the problem? How can we fix it? What did we do wrong? How could they get more value out of it?

10) I Resolve to Review Status with Higher Level Management (Generic Practice 2.10) – The tenth GP guides us to review status with higher-level management. But that doesn't mean what you think it means. It means management needs to care. In other words, do you care about the right things? Are you looking at the right indicators? Do you even know what the right metrics are? I’ll give you a hint. The right metrics should help you understand things like: How happy are our customers? Do we have a lot of rework here? How productive are our employees? What kind of defects do we have?

11) I Resolve to Establish a Defined Process (Generic Practice 3.1) – GP3.1 guides us to establish a defined process. This takes some explaining. There’s more to GP3.1 than establishing a defined process. GP3.1 is really guiding us to define how each process is going to be performed within the context of the project.

12) I Resolve to Collect Process Related Experiences (Generic Practice 3.2) – GP3.2 guides us to collect process related experiences – or ways of “doing it better” next time. This is the last Generic Practice, and another pivotal practice. GP3.2 is about making the process better, based on data and experience. In other words, ask yourself what is the “experience” of the project? This is the lesson we learned from implementing the process.

So that's what it takes, Chuck.  Resolve first to be a great company. Focus on the behaviors that make you a great company, and use the CMMI as one of the tools that can help get you there. Not only will you achieve CMMI Level 2 or CMMI Level 3 as a natural result … not only will you drive the software process improvement results you are looking for … but you’ll be on the path to greatness in 2013. And that’s a goal worth attaining.

Happy New Year!


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.

If we buy a CMMI Level 5 company, are we Level 5?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, if we acquire a company that’s ML5, that makes us ML5, right? ~ 5PI Meetup Attendee

Today’s episode of CMMI-TV was filmed at a recent "5 Minutes to Process Improvement Success" (5PI) Meet-up in Virginia, where this CMMI Appraiser presented on “Agile Resiliency.” An attendee asked if acquiring an ML5 company would make them an ML5 company. Below is a video clip with my answer, followed by a synopsis of my response. Enjoy!

OVERVIEW

When one company that is not ML5 acquires a company that is ML5, it creates a culture mashup that does not automatically elevate the new organization to ML5. If you think about Maturity Levels of companies like the maturity levels of children of different ages, you see why it won’t work.

ANALOGY

A single dad with a 3 year-old son marries a single woman with a 12 year-old son. The dad says, “This is really cool, now my 3 year-old is transformed to a 12 year-old! And he will be able to clean his room as well as the 12-year old.”

It’s not going to happen. The older child can teach the younger child do to things a lot faster and better than he would have been able to do them on his own, and he may even have some processes that the younger one can use. But the two are are different levels of proficiency, with skills and abilities that are mashed and mismatched.

CORRELATION TO THE BUSINESS WORLD

This CMMI Appraiser is currently working with the US subsidiary of a German company. The CEO recently told me, “Our parent company in Germany is just going to send us a binder. It has all the processes in it. We’re just going to start using it. Can we schedule our appraisal?”

"uhhh... I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

It just doesn’t work. You are different. You are a different kind of business, with different cultures, and those processes don’t necessarily translate.

It is not a good assumption to think that you would be ML5 if you acquired a company that was ML5.  And that's putting it gently.

ABOUT CMMI-TV: CMMI-TV is a place where we can add value to the engineering and software development community by offering advice on engineering strategy, performance innovation and software process improvement. If you find this useful, please 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 convince management to buy into CMMI?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, how do you get management to buy into adopting the CMMI? ~ 5PI Attendee

Today’s episode of CMMI-TV was filmed at a recent "5 Minutes to Process Improvement Success" (5PI) Meet-up in Virginia, where this CMMI Appraiser presented on “Agile Resiliency.” An attendee asked how to get management to buy into adopting the CMMI. Below is a video clip with my answer, followed by a synopsis of my response. Enjoy!

OVERVIEW

Adopting the CMMI is about behavioral modeling for solving business problems and having a company “Way”. To encourage management to consider adopting the Model, think of the CMMI as a tool to help improve the techniques and practices, as opposed to an end in itself.

ADOPTING THE CMMI TO SOLVE BUSINESS PROBLEMS

To start, don’t worry about CMMI specifically. Instead, ask what kind of business problems management is having, such as:

• Do you have late projects?
• Do you have over-budget projects?
• Do you have unhappy customers?
• Do you have unhappy employees?
• Do you have too many meetings?
• Do you lose your best people to competitors?
• Do you have difficulty with sustainability or scalabilty?
• Are you losing market-share?

New behaviors can be learned. That’s why this CMMI Appraiser is passionate about helping engineering and software executives and professionals learn to use the CMMI as one of the tools that can help them transform the culture of their companies. It’s a modeling tool that a lot of companies have successfully used to solve their most pressing business problems.

ADOPTING THE CMMI TO ESTABLISH THE COMPANY’S “WAY”

Help management understand that the CMMI is about behavioral modeling, not engineering modeling. It’s really about how management wants people to behave and the “Way” the company does business. Having a Way that the work gets done allows management to establish the type of environment in which great goals are attainable and great outcomes are repeatable. Having a well defined Way helps improve all areas of the business, including:

• Being profitable
• Winning new business
• Keeping customers
• Improving quality
• Avoiding risk

It’s a powerful concept when you grasp that nothing is more important than the way your work gets done. Adopting the CMMI is one way to create predictable, repeatable and consistent outcomes ­– your Way.

ABOUT CMMI-TV: CMMI-TV is a place where we can add value to the engineering and software development community by offering advice on engineering strategy, performance innovation and software process improvement. If you find this useful, please 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.

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 100,000th visitor to the blog this year, and feel privileged to be traveling the “path to greatness” with you.

To show our appreciation, we have a few things for you.

First, a gift. Please accept 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”.

Second, a gift idea. To help with your last-minute holiday shopping, we invite you to download a copy of our new book, “How to Spell CMMI” (shown above), on sale just for you on Amazon for just 99 cents. This introduction to the CMMI helps executives, engineers, and business professionals learn how to think about applying the CMMI to solve their most pressing business challenges. It just may be the perfect present for anyone who has been tasked with learning about the CMMI.

Click here to purchase your 99-cent copy of “How to Spell CMMI, An Introduction to the Organizational Performance Improvement Model Everyone’s Buzzing About!”

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, and click to purchase the Amazon book for 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.