CMMI Webinar on Valentine’s Day? What’s not to love?

To celebrate the most romantic day of the year, we here at Broadsword decided to give engineering and software professionals something they all seem to LOVE:

Another great learning opportunity!



Yes, for those who need to know EVERYTHING about the CMMI, Broadsword Solutions Corporation is hosting a FREE webinar on Friday, February 14, 2014 at 1PM ET: “CMMI – Everything You NEED to Know.”

Click here to register for the Webinar.

Key Webinar Take-aways:

1. If you are having trouble with estimates, CMMI can help make your estimates better
2. If your projects are late, CMMI can improve predictability
3. If your management is micromanaging you, CMMI can help you give them consistent information and insight into projects
4. If you have a lot of tedious rework going on, CMMI can help you avoid that with validation and making sure requirements are right
5. If you have unhappy customers, CMMI can help you manage their expectations
6. If you are experiencing a lot of chaos in your business, CMMI can bring stability
7. If you need to define the Way you do business, that’s what CMMI helps you do best!

Your speaker is Jeff Dalton of "Ask the CMMI Appraiser." Jeff is a Certified Lead Appraiser and CMMI Instructor. He has conducted hundreds of CMMI Appraisals and taught thousands of students in his CMMI Training classes. He is a process innovation thought-leader and CMMI Consultant who has been a guest speaker at conferences and workshops around the world.

Don't miss your date with performance improvement! Our popular Webinar series fills up fast. Register here.

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

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

9 Things Your Consultant Won’t Tell You about CMMI (But I Will)

Hey, CMMI Appraiser – we have recently been mandated by a customer to achieve a level of the CMMI. We started conversations with a CMMI consultant to help us think about going through the SCAMPI-A appraisal, but at this early stage, we aren’t confident about our needs. Can you give us a checklist? ~ Emory A.

Hey, Emory – wow, that’s important. If your CMMI consultant hasn’t been able to help you identify your needs, then the first thing on your checklist should be to find a new CMMI consultant!  Consulting is about WAY more than just content.  If all they have is the CMMI content, they're a contractor.  If they can give you sound business advice, in a cohesive and useable way, maybe they are a consultant too.

In the meantime, here are nine things you need as you prepare to adopt the CMMI:

1. You need confidence. Look for a Certified Lead Appraiser who is a credible CMMI Institute Partner as well as an organizational performance improvement expert. CMMI is only the beginning!  You need them to have broad, diverse base of experience and a consistent success rate. When you call on their references (you DO call consultant references, right?), find out if they added value beyond the appraisal, and if they are a Lead Appraiser, be sure they took meticulous care in conducting the appraisal documenting and submitting the formal appraisal records.
2. You need to get stronger. You need to be serious about performance and process improvement, and your CMMI consultant needs to focus on making your company even stronger than it is today. The focus should NOT be on getting a CMMI level as quickly as possible.
3. You need hands-on involvement. Whether you are a large or small organization, your CMMI Consultant needs to give you sound, hands-on advice that moves you forward and guides you towards the useful adoption of CMMI.
4. You need coaching and training in more than just CMMI. For your CMMI adoption to be successful, it is important that sponsors and practitioners understand the depth and breadth of systems/software engineering in addition to the basics about the CMMI model, and what their roles and responsibilities are for implementation. CMMI training is a must for at least a core team, but there is so much more to than that.  Planning, estimating, unit testing, backlog grooming, spring planning, and more!
5. You need an ROI. Be sure your CMMI consultant will do a complete job, and not cut corners. CMMI is about changing your company to radically improve performance. This is a difficult task, and your CMMI consultant needs to be committed to doing it right, so that you receive the best ROI possible.  It's not about ratings...it's about you and your company doing what you do, only better.
6. You need a multi-disciplined partner. You are an expert at software development, service delivery, engineering and project management – and your CMMI consultant should be too! Don’t settle for consultants who can only demonstrate an expertise in the CMMI. There’s a whole lot more to your business than the performance improvement model you use.
7. YOU need to succeed with your CMMI appraisal (your CMMI consultant can’t do it for you). That’s right, “passing” an appraisal is entirely up to you, while adhering to the rules that pave the way to acceptance is up to your CMMI Lead Appraiser. Don't listen to someone who guarantees you will get a "level.".  That's unethical. Again, make sure you find one who knows your business.
8. You need a mature process. Ask your CMMI consultants whether they have a step-by-step, well defined process to help you through the process.  You don't want someone who just shows up saying "dude, can I get a login ID to Sharepoint?"  You’ll get a better outcome if you take an approach that works the way you work. For instance, our AgileCMMI methodology helps organizations incrementally decrease risk and ensures their success.
9. You need to enjoy the journey! The CMMI is more akin to a behavioral improvement model than an engineering process improvement model. As such, your CMMI adoption is an ongoing quest to be a great company, as opposed to an end in itself. Achieving a Maturity Level of the CMMI will be just one byproduct of your journey.  And it's not even the most important one!

Hope this helps you identify your needs, Emory. And remember, if you need to find a replacement for that CMMI consultant, let me know. I just may know a guy.

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

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

Can the CMMI help position us for sale to an acquisition partner?

Dear CMMI Appraiser, in consideration of our long-term exit plans, we chose to adopt the CMMI last year, and are already seeing dramatic improvement, particularly with happier customers. Any advice on how we can demonstrate the value of our new CMMI-based process to potential acquisition partners? ~ Lou G.

Lou, this is something a lot of business owners struggle with. You’ve got a plan. You’ve got people identified. You’ve figured out the kind of company you want to be and the way you want to do your work. You put the plan in action, and now you want to be able to prove that it is working.

To demonstrate that your CMMI adoption is improving performance, first you need to ask yourself how YOU know it’s improving performance.

It’s amazing to me how many companies fail to do this. They deploy a process and then forget about it. They say, “OK, team, let’s start using this thing!” And then they just let it ride. Sometimes it works, and sometimes people are really suffering. And if the company has a particular focus on QA and auditing, then the auditors create all kinds of conflict with the project team because they don’t really have a good understanding whether the process works or not.

What a nightmare. That’s why being able to provide data about how well things are working is so important. Especially since you are contemplating exit strategies.

I once asked a friend of mine, who is a partner in a large M and A  firm, what constitutes the real value of a company. He said the real value of the company isn’t in its people, because people can come and go, and you can’t control that. And he said it isn’t in the products, because the products can be reproduced at any time, by anyone.

So what DOES make a company valuable?

According to my friend, who is a leader in his field, the real value of the company is the business model of that company: how you do your work, how you design software, how you write it, how you test it, and all of the intellectual property that goes into creating that product, which, by the way, is done by those very people who come and go.

Your business model is the one tool you have to compete with companies that are faster than you or more efficient than you. It’s the one part of your organization that potential acquisition partners will find more valuable than everything else.

This is actionable information.  You can (and should!) tweak your business model to demonstrate that the process working. There’s a practice in the CMMI that helps you do that, the eighth Generic Practice (also known as GP 2.8), which guides us to “Monitor and Control the Process.” With this practice, the CMMI is giving us the tools to understand how well our business process is working, and to modify it if it isn’t.

“Monitor and control” might be one of the hardest things to do, but you have to conquer this if you want to demonstrate that you are a great company.

Fortunately, this is something you can start doing right now. Just ask yourself the following questions:

How well is our team performing? How can we communicate that to leaders, especially non-agile leaders, in accounting, marketing, management and other parts of our company? How do we portray how well we are working to the people who don’t understand what we do?

I use that last question as a test, because if you have the appropriate data to tell non-technical people what you are doing, and how well you are performing, then you must have some pretty good data.

The CMMI helps you learn to tell the story of how well you are doing. It does this by first helping YOU understand how well you are doing, which keeps your company on the path of greatness. You’ll find this process of self-discovery to be a fascinating and worthwhile journey, Lou, whether you ultimately choose to take on an acquisition partner or not.

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

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

Is there any software for CMMI implementation?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, is there any software for rapid CMMI implementation? Our clients are requiring that we win a CMMI certificate within 6 months, and we are concerned about the risk of a failed implementation. Thank you in advance. ~ Rupal M.

Rupal, sorry, you can’t buy a tool for CMMI implementation because the CMMI is not something you implement, regardless of your time frame. There are some CMMI consultants who continue to advise companies that the CMMI Appraisal is a race that can be won in six months or less. But the truth is, a plaque or certificates isn't that important.  That’s not how you win the game.

So what is CMMI? The CMMI is a framework, a set of guidelines for helping you transform the culture of your company. It’s about improving and changing the way your company behaves, so that you create an environment in which the organization can manage its uniqueness in a structured way.

Make sense? That’s why you can’t bolt on a tool or devise to help you. There is no software, template, or checklist that will implement culture change, behavioral change, and embracing of continuous improvement across a large group of people. Yes, there are tools for tracking projects, or tracking improvements, but these are simply project management and measurement tools applied to process improvement.

By the same token, there is no tool that you can buy that guarantees that you can achieve any level of CMMI within any particular time frame. Tools on the market can help you manage your work, manage software, or manage requirements, and you might choose to employ them while also using the CMMI. But the CMMI is the equivalent to those tools. It does not take the place of those tools.

Try to focus on the bigger picture here, Rupal. The CMMI was intended to make your company a great company. If you focus on that perspective, on being great, doing the best you can do and being the best company you can be, external recognition like certificates and ratings and plaques and high fives will follow inevitably. Whatever Maturity Level you are achieving is simply a byproduct of being a great company.

It doesn’t work the other way around. You can’t say, “I’m going to get a certificate, and that certificate will make me a great company, whether I am or not.”

Which brings me to my final point. There is no such thing as “CMMI certificate” or “CMMI certification.” Though clients may refer to these phantom awards, the CMMI Institute does not recognize them, and – as I said above – that’s not what you want to focus on, anyway.

So I encourage you to forget about software, certificates and awards, and remember three things about the CMMI:

• The CMMI is a time-tested, industry-proven model for positive outcomes;
• The CMMI is a framework and set of guidelines for changing behaviors and changing culture;
• The CMMI allows you to do what you are already doing, better.

Employ the CMMI as a way to put your company on the path to greatness, Rupal. Success will surely follow.  And THAT's how you win the game!

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

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

13 unlucky ways to approach the CMMI … you have been warned!

Dear Readers,

Every year at this time, as days get shorter and nights grow longer, people all over the world light candles and string lights to make their spirits bright. But this year, as one especially dark day looms, we need more good cheer than ever. It’s Friday the 13th, 2013, double thirteens and twice the bad luck for the superstitious! Eeek!

If you’ve been following our blog for a while, you know that this CMMI Appraiser likes to keep things light. Never one to dwell on fear, I prefer to warn software and engineering professionals about things that could go wrong, so that they can be avoided. My goal is to help you stay on the brightly lit path to greatness, no matter what time of year.

Now, in my experience, there’s only one thing unluckier than Friday the 13th, and that’s trying to “implement” the CMMI. Why? Because the CMMI is not something you implement. The CMMI is better interpreted as a framework, a set of guidelines and a series of questions that help you learn more about your company and the way you do your work.

Taking an improper “implementation” approach to adopting the CMMI can be worse than having a black cat cross your path while walking under a ladder AND breaking a mirror, all at the same time! It ALWAYS leads to process failure.

Fear not. To help you spot the dangers and avoid the perils of an improper CMMI adoption, here’s a handy list of 13 extremely UNLUCKY ways to approach the CMMI:

1. Buying a tool that promises “CMMI compliance in six months or less”
2. Hiring a "CMMI Preparation" consultant who is helping you "create the evidence"
3. Having no idea why you’re “doing CMMI,” but you’re doing it anyway
4. Retaining a CMMI consultant to “do CMMI” to you
5. Thinking that the CMMI is about getting a CMMI certificate or achieving a CMMI Maturity Level, although that certainly can be an outcome
6. Listening to a so-called CMMI Consultant who says things like, “The CMMI makes you do it.” 
7. Listening to a so-called CMMI Consultant who says, “The CMMI Institute makes you do it.”
8. Two minutes after achieving Level Two, asking your team, “When is Level Three?”
9. Saying, “We need to go right to Level Five (or Four, or Three)”
10. Ordering your team to go “get a level” by Tuesday
11. Failing to capture data about whether or not your team is benefiting from the CMMI
12. Blindly following your parent company’s binder full of processes (we've got "binders full of 'em!")
13. Having no faith that new behaviors can be learned

The horrors! Now the good news. To avoid bad luck of an improper CMMI adoption, simply change the way you think about adopting the CMMI.

Here are four PROPER approaches to adopting the CMMI that are sure to bring good luck:

1. Thinking of the CMMI as an organizational improvement model that can help your company be more powerful and productive
2. Thinking of the CMMI as an excellent tool to improve software and engineering product development, and one that is extremely useful in lighter, agile environments, as well as in larger, structured organizations
3. Thinking of the CMMI as a model that's about how great companies perform, regardless of their size or industry
4. Thinking of the CMMI as an ongoing celebration, a framework for being joyful in the quest for becoming a great company!

So you see, you don’t have to be lucky to get the benefit of the CMMI. You just need to understand that if you focus on CMMI certification, you end up losing all of the value of the CMMI. You end up chasing paper, not improvements.

Instead, I urge everyone to focus on the fact that the value of the CMMI comes from the transformation of the culture of your company. Understand that the CMMI is about changing the way we behave, so that we build products that are better than other companies that are building similar products.

That’s the best and brightest approach to adopting the CMMI … on this day, or any other.

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

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

Do we need CMMI training prior to our CMMI Appraisal?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser – the company I work for is interested improving software and engineering performance as a way to add rigor and discipline to our work in 2014. To that end, management has decided to pursue a CMMI Maturity Level 2 rating, and I’ve been asked to be a team member on a CMMI Appraisal (SCAMPI Appraisal) in May. Do I need CMMI training first? ~ Juno K.

Hey, Juno, congratulations on being asked to join the Appraisal Team! Yes, you are required to participate in a CMMI training course before you can be a team member on a CMMI appraisal. Below are two upcoming CMMI training courses that we are offering in 2014. Additional courses are available through the CMMI Institute.

Before you sign up for anything, however, it will help you to get clear on WHY you’re doing this. The goal of adopting the CMMI – or any other performance innovation initiative – is not to add rigor or discipline, although that is an outcome. The goal is to learn as much as we can about improving and changing the way we behave as a company. Make the change, and rigor and discipline are sure to follow.

In my business, I’m fortunate to work with a team of Performance Improvement and CMMI consultants who are passionate about helping organizations like yours transform their company culture. We start by helping teams learn to approach the rigor and discipline of CMMI in a light and agile way that we call agileCMMI. This approach is based on three core facts about CMMI:

1. CMMI is a tool that can help solve business problems 
2. CMMI is a framework and set of guidelines for changing behaviors and changing culture
3. CMMI is a time-tested, industry-proven model for positive outcomes

As you can imagine, it’s not just Appraisal Team members who need to know this for your CMMI adoption to be successful. I’ve found that CMMI training courses are an ideal experience for any executive, project manager, engineer, software developer, line manager, analyst, tester, or process or quality professional who would benefit from learning how to use the CMMI to make software and engineering performance even better. So you may want to encourage your management to send others from the company to CMMI training, as well.

Here are two of our upcoming courses. Click the links below for more details and to register for CMMI training in 2014:

INTRODUCTION TO CMMI TRAINING: CHANTILLY, VA
January 28-30, 2014
Register for "Introduction to CMMI" in Chantilly

INTRODUCTION TO CMMI TRAINING: TROY, MI
April 8-10, 2014
Register for "Introduction to CMMI" in Troy

See you in 2014!

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

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

Can you recommend a good conference on Software Process Improvement?

Hi, Jeff – we’re an IT services and software development company in Maryland. Traditionally, we have not been “conference types,” but we did attend SEPGNA in Pittsburgh in October, and got a lot out of it.  Can you recommend any other conferences on the East Coast that deal with new technologies and proven methods? ~ Susan W.

Susan,

Yes, here’s a conference that may be perfect for you. QUEST 2014 takes place in Baltimore in April. If you haven’t heard of QUEST, it is known throughout North America as a reliable source of information and inspiration for business leaders and engineers who are interested in Quality Engineered Software and Testing. The QUEST team is doing an awesome job at putting the show together. I’m honored that they’ve selected me to be this year’s Keynote Speaker.

What: QUEST 2014 Conference and Expo
When: April 7-11, 2014
Where: Baltimore, Maryland
How to register: http://www.qaiquest.org/2014/registration/pricing

On Thursday, April 10 from 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM, I will be sharing innovative engineering strategies for helping organizations learn to strengthen and reinforce agile values, methods and techniques, so that agile can scale. My Keynote Presentation is entitled, “Agile Resiliency: How CMMI Will Make Agile Thrive and Survive.” If you liked my talk in October, you’ll love this!

But there are plenty of other reasons to go. You’ll meet thought leaders, evangelists, innovative practitioners, and IT professionals like you who are on a quest to learn more about building, testing and delivering quality software. And you’ll experience an action-packed week of classes, tutorials, educational sessions, hands-on workshops, discussions groups and networking events.

Here is more information about QUEST 2014:

Learning and Networking Opportunities:

• Thought-provoking presentations and workshops in five concurrent tracks plus EXPO Talks
• In-depth skills building classes and tutorials
• QAI’s exclusive Manager’s Solutions Workshop
• Discussion groups and expert chats on today’s hottest topics
• Fun and memorable networking events that are not to be missed

World Class EXPO

• Meet top product and service providers in the EXPO exhibition hall
• Attend short talks on the latest technologies, methods, and tools
• Win fantastic raffle prizes

Registration and Discounts

• Flexible registration packages
• Save with Group Registration and QAI Community Discounts
• Special room rates at the official conference hotel

I’m glad you got something out of my presentation at SEPGNA, Susan. Thanks to enthusiastic participants like you, I’ve been voted a "Top Ten Speaker" at multiple SEPG conferences, and was selected as the keynote speaker of the International Conference on CMMI in Lima, Peru in 2010 and again at the PMI Great Lakes 2013 Symposium. I’m really looking forward to resuming the conversation at QUEST 2014 with people like you who get it.

Hope to see you in April!

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

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

How can CMMI give us more visibility into Scrum projects?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser – I run a CMMI Maturity Level 3 rated IT firm in Fairfax, Virginia. We recently made the shift to start using agile methods on certain projects, but it is very difficult for me to see what was going on. The teams all tell me "don't worry," and fortunately, Scrum seems to be working. But how can I get more visibility to make the results more sustainable and repeatable? ~ Ryan H.

Hey Ryan,

I feel your pain.  As a former CIO and VP of Engineering I suffered from the same problem when Scrum first started to come online.  I wish more executives of companies using traditional software development methods had your open mind to solving business problems. Your desire for more visibility is the right question to ask.

But first let’s understand what you’re up against. Like most obstacles in business, it comes down to the inability to get good information. You can’t make good business decisions without good information, and right now, it sounds like your Scrum teams are leaving you in the dark.

Why is this happening?  It's not that they are cruel and unusual -- well, maybe some are a BIT unusual.  But the real reason is that Scrum teams operate very differently from the rest of the company. They tend to be self-organizing, independent, process-light, and quick to adapt. They have an iterative and incremental way of getting work done, which typically does not include things like weekly status reporting and weekly meetings. Most of them don’t even have a project manager (Eeeek!).

So how do you get the information you need to run the business?

Since you've already adopted the CMMI at your company, one solution is to integrate Scrum and CMMI. At my company, Broadsword, we do just that. We strengthen Scrum with the CMMI, based on the needs of our company.

For example, let’s take one popular aspect of Scrum, the Daily Stand-up. As you know, Scrum Teams opt for Daily Stand-ups as opposed to the traditional sit-down status meetings. We don't want to change that because it's a powerful construct for communications and risk management. Instead, we want to use the CMMI as a framework to make sure we are talking, in a very light and agile way, about things in the Daily Stand-up that are really important. And most importantly, that we are sharing that information with the right people in the company!

Applying the guidance of the CMMI to the Daily Stand-up gives us two major advantages. One, by using the simple Daily Stand-up mechanism, we get a really crisp, robust view of the project, so we can understand what’s going on in real-time. We understand it early, and we understand it often. And two, by adopting some of the best practices that the CMMI provides, we get more value out of the Daily Stand-up, allowing us to make it even stronger than it already was.

Let me be clear. If you like your daily stand-ups you can keep them. Period.

The CMMI doesn't change that. But it can make them a little better - and everyone wants that.

This is just a glimpse of all you can do with agile and CMMI, Ryan. For more information on getting CMMI and Scrum to work together, I encourage you to check out my article, "CMMI vs. Scrum? NO! CMMI + Scrum!" The article, originally published in the Cutter IT Journal last year. It is now available for download to all of our loyal readers.

Click HERE to access the article – and good have fun scaling agile!

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

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

How do we police our engineers for adherence to the CMMI?

Hey CMMI Appraiser, we are currently being audited / assessed as a CMMI Level 3 company and are driving toward a CMMI certification. What’s the best way to police our people to make sure they are following the CMMI-based process? ~ Ben T.

Hey Ben  - whoa…police?  First you need to understand what the CMMI really is. Adopting the CMMI is not about being audited. It’s not about getting a certificate. The CMMI is meant to be an ongoing journey to learn about the way your company works, and to learn new techniques that can put you on the path to being a great company, using CMMI as one of your tools.

Yes, there are practices within the CMMI that can help you make sure your team is doing what you need them to do. But we don’t want to treat this as a policing exercise. The CMMI isn’t meant to be punitive. It won’t work if you try to get everyone to line up and do things the same way every time, and punish them when they fail.

So rather than think about policing your team, I recommend that you look to the CMMI for guidance on objectively evaluating your teams’ adherence to the values that are important to your company. The ninth Generic Practice (GP2.9) helps us do that by encouraging us to ask questions, like the following:

“Are people living up to the values? Are they doing the things that we need them to do? Are they using the techniques that we’re asking them to use? Are they adhering to the methods that we’re asking them to adopt?”

If they are not, we need to know why. But treat this as coaching and mentoring opportunity. Remember, this is less about an audit, and more about mentoring. By turning into Process Police, we run the risk of creating a lot of unnecessary overhead, and we don’t want that. Instead, we want to understand.

Go to your team with specifics. Engage them in a dialogue. Have conversations like, “We asked you to do this. You are not doing this. Why is that?  What might be a better way?”

I’ll say it again. The CMMI isn’t punitive. It is explorative. By properly applying the CMMI’s guidelines, you’ll be in better position to understand what happened – with the team as well as with yourself as their manager.

“What do you mean?” I hear some managers complain. “It’s their fault if they aren’t adhering, not mine!”

Oh, really?  Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who has been an executive in IT and engineering organizations, and who, today, runs a business dedicated to helping companies with performance improvement and the CMMI. I’ve worked with many, many clients over the years to help them improve process, and I can tell you this: A lot of times, management gets it wrong.

We’re human. We make mistakes. Sometimes we task our teams to do something, and it turns out, it was the wrong thing!

It’s no secret that engineers, software developers and project managers are pretty smart people. They will figure out how to get around your instructions if they don’t think what you’re asking them to do is useful.

So this is a good learning opportunity for everyone involved. As management, we don’t want to force our folks to do things they don’t want to do. Instead, we want to guide them to do the right thing.

That’s why we want to know WHY things aren’t working. We want to know WHY our engineers aren’t following certain processes. Whether it’s because we gave the wrong direction, or the team is not following the right direction, we want to make it better.

So be careful when you talk about driving toward a certification, quality audit or CMMI maturity level rating. You may be asking your team to do things that aren’t the right things. You may be asking them to adopt methods that don’t make sense, or to use techniques that add a lot of overhead. That’s why they are resisting.

The wonderful thing about the CMMI is that it is all about training and mentoring. As management, you get to use it to understand what’s going on in the field and why people have not adopted what they’re being asked to work on.

Then you get to fix it. And the CMMI can guide you on that, too.

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

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

How can we get our agile teams to comply with the CMMI?

Dear CMMI Appraiser, we are a CMMI Level 3 rated company that is getting some pushback from our agile team as we try to scale agile methods across the organization. They have all received our policy binders, but it’s unclear that anyone has even looked at them. How can we get our agile teams to comply with the CMMI? ~ Marcos

Marcos, let’s talk about those binders. They sound important to you. Are you using them to run the company?

If you are like many organizations, your honest answer is, “No."  So let me ask another question: Do YOU even look at them?

Chances are, again, your answer is no. I know this is happening because I conduct appraisals of a lot of companies that want to show me their binders as objective evidence, to prove that they are CMMI Level 2 or CMMI Level 3. But all this proves to me is that they have a culture that led to the creation of a massive policy binder that everybody in the company is forced to sign the day that they walk in, and nobody reads.

If YOU aren’t looking at the binder, how can you expect anyone else to look at it?

Turns out, there’s a very good reason no one will look at the binder.  The binder doesn’t work as a tool to run your company!

But the problem isn’t the binder. The problem is the type of behavior you drive if you try to be COMPLIANT with the CMMI.

To illustrate my point, let’s pick a Practice out of the CMMI. Say you wanted your agile team to be compliant with Generic Practice 2.1. The first GP guides us to set organizational expectations for all practitioners for performing the processes.

If you read this as an instruction to follow, or a rule to comply with, what would you do? Well, you’ve proven what you’d do. You’d create a binder.

The wording of the Practice, and your desire to be compliant with the Practice, are driving misguided behavior.

So what’s the proper wording? What’s the proper approach to the CMMI that will lead to the results you want?

In working with organizations large and small, I’ve found that the best way to scale agile across the entire organization is NOT to force teams to try to be compliant with the CMMI, but to ask what I call “CMMI questions” about their agile methods.

For example, take a look at that Generic Practice 2.1 again, “establish an organizational policy.”

How to would you put this Practice to work? By turning it into a question, like this:

“Are we setting clear expectations across the enterprise about which agile values, methods and techniques will be adopted and employed?”

You may discover – as many companies do – that you aren’t setting clear expectations. But if you know what agile values, methods and techniques you want to use, it’s really easy to fix that.  Processes are about behaviors and real people, not documents. People want and need to know what’s expected of them – and the CMMI is a great tool that helps you do that.

So don’t try to be compliant with the CMMI. The CMMI is not a set of instructions that tells you what to do, and you obey. The CMMI a set of questions that you can use to drive performance improvement and software process improvement.  And it's a framework that helps you do the things that great companies do, like successfully scaling agile and getting great results.

Your agile team will be much more likely to understand your vision, Marcos, and the CMMI will be much more valuable and useful to you, when you talk about using the Model as a framework to help you think about things like how you are running your company, how you are delivering products, and how happy your customers are.

That kind of dialogue just doesn’t fit in a binder.

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

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

Hey, Guy, Don’t follow the CMMI!

Hey CMMI Appraiser, we’ve seen enough good results from our Agile techniques that we are planning to transition most of our engineering (about 300 developers) from the Waterfall methodology to Agile. Are there rules in the CMMI that we can follow to help us make the switch? Specifics, please. ~ Guy G.

Hey, Guy,

Stop right there. I can’t name a better tool to help you with a full scale organizational transformation than the CMMI, but before you take another step, I must warn you: Don’t follow the CMMI!

Don’t follow the CMMI as though it were a rule book about compliance, because it’s not. Think of the CMMI as a set of questions that you ask yourself about the work you do (in this case, rolling out agile). This is an important distinction. The CMMI is a set of questions about process improvement, performance improvement, and helping you be a great company.  It's NOT a set of rules.

So, here’s what you DON’T try to do. Don’t try to replicate the CMMI in a Waterfall-type of methodology. Instead, take a look at your agile methodology, and ask yourself a series of questions about Scrum or Extreme Programming (or both – whatever you are ALREADY doing).

The CMMI has practices designed to help you get better at what you do, the way you do it, incrementally and iteratively. Within the framework of the CMMI, you are constantly asking questions about your work, such as:

• What’s the plan for rolling this out across the enterprise?
• Which methods are we supporting?
• What’s the plan for getting everyone up to speed?
• Which projects use which methods, and why?

We call these “CMMI questions.” CMMI questions can (and should) be applied to your agile values, methods and techniques, establishing an Agile Resiliency Architecture, which enables you to manage large scale organizational change without disrupting the business.

Back to your question, Guy, you asked for specifics, so let's talk techniques. Your agile techniques are the specific actions that need to be strengthened as you roll out agile, companywide.

Focusing on techniques, the CMMI questions to ask are things like, “How are we going to estimate?” Your answer may be that one project is going to use Planning Poker, while another project is going to use Fibonacci Sequence, while a third project is going to use something different. That’s fine. You’ll base your decision on the way you ALREADY do things.

See, the CMMI is all about providing guidance for managing your company’s uniqueness. In your case, it helps you manage the specific actions as you roll out your agile techniques. The Model guides you to keep asking questions, such as:

• What’s the plan for the techniques?
• Which techniques will we be able to support with tools?
• How are we going to be able to support all of the tools, techniques and methods people are going to need?
• How are we going to teach people to use all of these things?

These are just of few specific CMMI questions that were designed to give you guidance, Guy. There are many, many more questions and practices within the CMMI – and not one rule.

For those interested in learning more about using the CMMI as a guide to manage large scale organization change, Broadsword is hosting another FREE, LIVE Webinar on Friday, October 25, 2013 at 1PM ET. Click here to join us for “Agile Resiliency: Scaling Agile so that it Thrives & Survives.”

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

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

Why are customers asking us to adopt the CMMI?

Dear CMMI Appraiser – our biggest customer wants all of their providers to “look into the CMMI.” I don’t understand why they think this is important. In your experience, why do customers ask their vendors to adopt the CMMI? ~ Bill P.

Bill, as you look into the CMMI, one of the things you’ll discover is that the CMMI is the tool for driving process improvement and performance innovation across organizations. This is probably the reason your customer is asking you to look into the CMMI – but don’t be insulted. Being told you can improve is not necessarily a bad thing.

Let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there was a large company. They were good, but not great. One of the company’s executives, Xavier, knew that they could be a great company, and wanted to inspire his suppliers to help him get there. So he issued them a challenge.

These suppliers were alike in nearly every way. They built their products with cumbersome, poorly understood processes, which were largely ignored, cost more, produced lower quality and made people unhappy. Everyone was losing.

“I’m tired of this,” Xavier said to his top suppliers. “I want everyone to look into getting CMMI certified.”

Upon hearing the request, the companies’ leaders all Googled “CMMI Certified” and “CMMI Maturity Level 3,” and quickly found out about SEPGNA, the industry’s premier software process improvement conference. Fortunately for them, this year’s SEPGNA was coming up. Unfortunately, for them, they assumed it wasn’t worth their time.

Everyone, that is, but Bob. Bob was intrigued by the idea of becoming a better partner to Xavier by making his company better, so he signed up for SEPGNA.

At the SEPG CMMI Conference, Bob found himself in the company of hundreds of professionals from around the world who had come to learn, network and explore solutions to their performance problems. Bob started thinking and talking about using the Model for process improvement and performance innovation. He heard first-hand accounts from CMMI Users who were experiencing much better quality, increased productivity and fewer project delays. His mind started to open to the possibility that, when properly adopted, the CMMI could put his company on the path to greatness – but he also became aware that there were far too many examples of companies that pursued CMMI adoption just to get a “CMMI certificate,” and failed.

As soon as he returned to the office, Bob called Xavier and said, “We took your advice about the CMMI. We are going to adopt the Model.”

“So you decided to get CMMI Certified?” Xavier asked.

Bob smiled. Thanks to the conversations he'd had at the conference, he understood that you can’t transform a culture by going out and getting certificates. He knew that, when you put a “certification” mindset around getting better, it drives the wrong kind of behaviors, and you miss the point of the CMMI entirely.  But he comprehended what Xavier meant.

“Yes, a CMMI Maturity Level Rating will come at the end of our successful appraisal journey,” Bob said. “But the real reason we want to adopt the Model is not to get a certificate or plaque. Instead, we want to get the most value of the CMMI, which comes from the transformation of the culture of our company. See, when properly adopted, the CMMI will help us change the way we behave, so that we build great products for you, and help you reach your goals.”

Xavier said, “I look forward to working with you more.”

The moral of the story?

Your clients want you to be better for reasons that should inspire you to want to be better. The reason they think it’s important because it IS important.

So be like Bob. Educate yourself. Go to conferences; read blogs; participate in Webinars – and talk to your customers about what they can expect from you. You’ll find that adopting the CMMI for the right reasons is a win-win.

It’s not too late to sign up for SEPGNA 2013! Register here. 

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

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

The #5 Reason to Attend SEPGNA: To learn new ways to improve

It’s almost here! On October 1-2, many of the greatest companies in the world will be in Pittsburgh, PA for SEPG North America, our industry’s premier event on Process Improvement and the CMMI. To help you make an informed decision about whether to attend, I have been counting down the Top Ten Reasons to go. Today I bring you Reason #5.

Drum roll, please! Reason #5 is …

To learn new ways to improve.

If there’s one thing I truly love about our industry, it’s that we all seem to share a burning desire for continuous improvement. Even those who are already successful in their careers, and those who are already a part of great companies, are constantly seeking out ways to get even better. So it only makes sense that we would gather every year at the CMMI Conferences (a/k/a “The Greatest Show on Earth”) to increase our knowledge and expand our networks.

Yes, SEPGNA is the place for our industry to gather and learn new ways to improve. This year’s conference sponsor, the CMMI Institute, has introduced a broad range of new learning experiences, such as rapid-fire plenary sessions, designed to give maximum content in minimum time, as well as keynote speeches, track presentations, hands-on workshops, informal conversations, structured social events and more.

Who will be there? The Conference is for CMMI adopters and CMMI practitioners – software, services, and engineering professionals just like you and me. We are all drawn by a desire to maximize the impact and business results of CMMI and Performance Improvement, and to learn even more effective ways to get better at what we do.

If you’ve attended SEPGNA in the past, you’ll find this year’s event to be even faster, more interactive, and more focused on YOU, the end user. If this will be your first time, prepare to have your horizons expanded by two excellent Plenary Speakers: John Fraser, COO of ASM Research, and David Anderson, the author of Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for your Technology Business, and many other great presentations from the top thought leaders in the industry.

So here’s the deal. You’ll learn from industry experts who will be speaking and coaching. You’ll network with other professionals like yourself for the 25th year of this popular and powerful event, folks who are facing the same challenges you are. And you’ll discover how to apply best practices, tips and techniques for adopting the CMMI, and getting even better at what you are ALREADY doing. What’s not to love?

Oh – one more thing. Be sure to check out “Coaching Café,” a place where you can meet informally with industry leaders and CMMI Institute partners to get answers to your most pressing CMMI questions. The Coaching Café is just one of the many improvements to the conference this year, and I’m really looking forward to it!

It’s all happening in Pittsburgh on October 1-2. But it won’t be the same without YOU. Register here.

Need more reasons to go? Check back soon for Reason #4.

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

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

The #7 Reason to Attend SEPGNA: Pittsburgh Rocks!

It’s hard to believe, but this year’s CMMI Conference is mere weeks away! For those who haven’t decided to register yet, I hope to give you something to think about with my Top 10 Reasons for being in Pittsburgh for SEPG North America on October 1-2. As a long-time attendee of our industry’s Greatest Show On Earth, I have many reasons to love SEPGNA.  Today we’re down to Reason #7.

Drum roll, please! Reason #7 is …

Pittsburgh Rocks!

If you’ve attended in the past, you know that a different city hosts SEPG North America conference each year. In recent years, we’ve been to Portland, Tampa, Savannah, and Albuquerque. This year, the 25th annual SEPG North America conference returns home to where it all began – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

If you haven’t explored Pittsburgh in a while, you are in for a treat!

Before and after your busy day of learning and networking at the conference, here are some happenin’ experiences you can sample around the City of Bridges:

PNC Park, often called America’s best ballpark, is just across the Allegheny River from the convention center. http://espn.go.com/page2/s/ballparks/pncpark.html

Kayak Pittsburgh is a great spot for renting a kayak for an hour and paddling the three rivers. http://www.kayakpittsburgh.org/locations/northshore

Heinz History Center, also an easy walk from the convention center, is where history buffs can view new exhibits about Pennsylvania in the Civil War and pay tribute to the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. http://www.heinzhistorycenter.org

The Strip District is where to find the hottest night life in Pittsburgh. Be sure to visit Wigle Whiskey, Pittsburgh’s first legal distillery since prohibition, named for a leader of the Pennsylvania Whiskey Rebellion. Tours are available. https://www.wiglewhiskey.com

Downtown Pittsburgh has been transformed over the past decade. A short walk from the convention center to the Cultural District brings you to the August Wilson Center http://www.augustwilsoncenter.org/, which offers six art galleries, all free and open to the public http://www.trustarts.org/visualarts/galleries/. Also check out The Cabaret at Theater Square, which always has a fun show playing: http://trustarts.org/visit/facilities/cabaret.

Market Square http://marketsquarepgh.com has the best dining and drinking in town! The market is home to approximately 30 restaurants, including Pittsburgh’s famous Primanti Brothers (sandwiches with the fries on top) http://primantibros.com/home.html

Little E’s Jazz Club is my favorite spot in town for live music. The downtown club/restaurant has a fully stocked bar and restaurant menu (try the Catfish sandwich!), and performances every night. Tell ‘em Jeff sent you!

Oh, there’s one more thing to make it easy to explore the area. All SEPG Attendees will get an Urbanist Pittsburgh map, which includes some of these suggestions and many others: http://pittsburgh.urbanistguide.com

So come on out for the great learning experience, powerful conversations and ample opportunities to form partnerships — and dig that happenin’ Pittsburgh scene! Register here.

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

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

The #8 Reason to Attend SEPGNA: Meaningful Conversations

As a longtime speaker at SEPGNA conferences and practitioner of the CMMI, I love thinking and talking with people about using the Model for process improvement and performance innovation. I’ve found no better place to do that than at the SEPGNA Conference every year. That’s why I put together this list of Top 10 Reasons to attend SEPGNA 2013 – to share all the ways you, too, may come to make North America’s premier CMMI experience the number one conference of the year.
 
So let’s continue the countdown with Reason #8.

Drum roll, please! Reason #8 is ... 

SEPGNA is a great place to have meaningful conversations.

Do you enjoy a good, spirited conversation about process improvement and performance innovation? Of course you do! And you’ll get a lot of that at the CMMI Conference.

Every year, the SEPG North America conference draws a wide variety of engineering, project management, and software professionals, who come from a vast array of disciplines. Some are organizations that are getting started with CMMI, and are interested in hearing user stories that offer applicable lessons. Some are experienced in using the guidance of the CMMI and are looking for ways to take the next step in performance improvement. And some are industry experts who are excited about sharing some new and powerful ways the CMMI is being used by companies small and large around the globe.

As a CMMI Appraiser, I always enjoy to talking about the amazing results I’ve seen companies achieve with the CMMI. I know that if you adopt the CMMI you will likely experience improved performance, increased productivity and fewer project delays. You’ll be on-time and on-budget more often, and your workforce will be happier and more productive.

Whatever your interest, this year, you’ll have plenty of chances to join the conversation, as the CMMI Institute is planning an even richer, more interactive CMMI conference experience. Some of the hottest topics in the industry are slated for discussion, including:

• Protecting agile values in the presence of demanding customers
• Utilizing the architectural structure of the CMMI to strengthen what you are ALREADY doing
• Drawing insights from stories aggregated from dozens of CMMI users
• Using the CMMI to strengthen and compliment Kanban, DevOps, and Agile

With this year’s theme of Connect. Explore. Apply. Achieve, the 25th annual SEPG North America conference promises to give companies even more to think about. There is a full slate of high-quality, proven speakers, workshops and break-out sessions to choose from, with opportunities to discuss both principle and practice that we can all take home to our organizations.

What better place for conversations about the power of process improvement than at SEPGNA, with people like you and me, who get it?

So come on out to Pittsburgh and join the conversation! Register here.

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

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

The #9 Reason to Attend SEPGNA 2013: Partner Up!

Hello, my friends, and welcome to the countdown with the Top 10 Reasons to attend SEPGNA 2013!

If the past is any indicator of the future, this year’s SEPGNA 2013 Conference promises a CMMI experience that will pay dividends for years to come. How will your organization benefit? Let me count the ways.

Recently we posted our #10 Reason: To help you get better at what you do. Today, we’re sharing Reason #9 to attend SEPGNA 2013.

Drum roll, please! Reason #9 is …

It’s a great place to form successful business partnerships.

Engineering and software professionals tend to be straight-forward people. We make no bones about the fact that we are all trying to make our organizations as successful as possible. That’s why we look for opportunities to create strategic relationships with compatible companies, so that we have them in place when we need them. And there’s no better place to form these relationships than at SEPGNA!

Care for some proof? Two years ago, at the SEPGNA Conference in Portland, I had a discussion with another CMMI Institute Partner about his service offerings and our service offerings.

Having discovered that our offerings were complimentary, we struck an informal agreement to refer some business to each other when it made sense for our clients. Nothing fancy, just a handshake.

Since then, I’ve referred him a number of times. In turn, he has introduced us to several companies, one of which was an information technology company with whom we were already in discussions. His referral helped them make a decision that was right for them – and we subsequently earned their business.

We connected with more Partners to form alliances for sharing work at last year’s Conference in Albuquerque. So far, this has led to several new opportunities to help spread the word about CMMI and conduct SCAMPI A or SCAMPI B Appraisals.

For full details about the Conference logistics and to register for the Conference, visit the SEPG North America Conference site (http://sepgconference.org )

Need more reasons to attend this year’s SEPGNA? Check back soon for Reason #8.

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

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

The #10 Reason to Attend SEPGNA 2013: Helping you get better at what you do!

Hello, my friends!

It’s that time again! The SEPGNA 2013 Conference is coming to Pittsburg, PA on October 1st and 2nd. And I know that many of you – whether you are just starting to think about adopting the CMMI for your organization, or already have extensive experience with the Model – may be wondering whether this year’s CMMI experience is for you.

Wonder no more! As veteran attendee and sometimes speaker at SEPGNA conferences, and longtime practitioner of the CMMI, I feel so strongly about the value of the Conference that I’ve developed a list of Top 10 Reasons to attend SEPGNA 2013. I will be counting down the reasons in the weeks ahead, starting today with Reason #10.

Drum roll, please! Reason #10 is …


It’s all about helping you get better at what you do.

As you know if you’ve attended the Conference in the past, SEPGNA is the premier software process improvement conference. Hundreds of professionals come from around the world come to learn, network and explore solutions to their performance problems. I like to call it “the greatest show on earth!”

This year, the show will be even better! The new host, the CMMI Institute, has been working hard to make sure this year’s Conference has something for everyone who attends, wherever you are in your professional journey. Following a theme of Connect. Explore. Apply. Achieve, the Program Committee has created two days of content focused on positively impacting your performance. The re-imagined format is designed to help you explore using the CMMI to improve performance through first person case studies, interactive workshops, and powerful presentations that can help you to get started with CMMI or take your organization to new levels of success.

Whether your interest is multi-model, practical process improvement, high maturity, agile, DevOps or any other discipline, you will find ample opportunities to dive into the principles and practices that can help your organization better harness the power of performance improvement with the CMMI. Click here to check out the great speaker line-up.

The variety of learning opportunities alone is incredible. You can expect to come away with real life, practical and implementable ideas. For full details about the Conference logistics and to register, navigate around the SEPG Conference site (http://sepgconference.org )

SEPGNA 2013 is an amazing opportunity to spend two days focusing on how you can get better at what you do. For some, this will be reason enough to attend this year’s conference. Others may be preparing for their SCAMPI A or SCAMPI B Appraisals and just want to learn more about it.  Still others may appreciate more of our Top 10 reasons to attend, so be sure to check back soon for Reason #9!

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, ScrumMaster, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff pioneered agileCMMI, the leading methodology for incremental and iterative process improvement. He has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

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 ...

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Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff has taught thousands of students in CMMI 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.