This Halloween, why dress up as great company when you can BE one?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, I became concerned recently when our Virginia-based engineering division interviewed a CMMI appraiser from Maryland who said he would get us dressed up and looking like a great company, so we could pass the appraisal. Is that really useful for us? ~ Janet M.

Hey, Janet,

Is it useful for your CMMI consultant to make you look like something you’re not, rather than try to acquire a deep understanding of your business and help you do what it takes to truly be a great company? Your question is appropriate for this time of year. That’s one SCARY proposition!

No, it’s not useful.  But it's also not unusual that a so-called CMMI consultant would say something like this. We hear from companies all the time who call to say, “Hey, we need to look at CMMI certification because we’d like to bid on certain government contracts.”

I get that. I fully acknowledge many small and large engineering companies in Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Michigan and elsewhere must achieve a CMMI Maturity Level in order to bid on work. In some cases, we’re talking about millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts. It's a business reality we all have to deal with.

But “looking like a great company” can’t be your only CMMI Appraiser’s goal – or you will not get the results you were hoping for.

Now, if your CMMI Appraiser was any good at what he does, he might have asked you “Why are you doing this to yourself?” That might have led to discussion about the possibilities of adopting CMMI as model to be a great company - not a model to get a plaque (we call this "plaque buildup"). Was that your experience?

I kinda doubt it.

One technique I often employ is to try to talk the sponsor out of having an appraisal altogether - just to see how important it really is to them and to understand how much they have thought it through. Sometimes, as it turns out, it isn't that important. Sometimes it's about greatness . . . as it should be.

See, a good CMMI Appraiser would know that learning about your company and how to make it better is the real goal – not achieving a level.

A good CMMI Appraiser would teach you to start to think like a great company. He or she would help you use the CMMI as a strategic weapon to help you attract and retain new customers.

A good CMMI Appraiser would help you set the right goals and objectives, and ask the right questions that keep you on the path to continuous improvement, where the real deals are won.

Unfortunately, too many CMMI professionals don't get this. Some are only interested in helping companies get a so-called CMMI certificate or achieve a CMMI Maturity Level. We call these companies "appraisal mills." They see no value in providing advice, strategy, and helping to ensure that you get the results you were hoping for.

The CMMI is so much more valuable and useful than that, Janet. It’s about things like how well you are running your engineering division in DC, Maryland, Virginia, or elsewhere, how well you are delivering products, and how happy your customers are.

It’s all about KNOWLEDGE, and nothing to do with dressing you up to look like something you’re not … even on Halloween.

Note: for those who are already see themselves as a great company, would you care to find out how you stack up against other great companies?

The CMMI Institute has just announced the 2016 Capability Challenge, and they are currently accepting participants. Contestants will be asked to tell their capability improvement story – the story of how they became a great company.  Through a series of short webinars, voters will pick the best stories, with finalists being featured prominently at the annual “Capability Counts” conference.  

Click here to take the 2016 Capability Challenge!

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

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

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

CMMI Appraiser presenting in Philly on CMMI+Scrum this Tuesday night!

Hey, CMMI Appraiser – I am an engineering executive and member of DC-SPIN, and I just wanted to say, I got a lot out of attending your CMMI+Scrum presentation last month. We are a Virginia-based engineering firm with a branch office doing Scrum projects in Philadelphia, and I feel that our whole company needs to understand that CMMI and Scrum are at their most powerful when they are used together. Will you be presenting in Philly any time soon? ~ Dalia H.

Hey, Dalia – great to hear from you. It’s always a pleasure to have such thoughtful participants at my CMMI+Scrum presentations, and I’m glad you found it so useful. That’s our goal: for engineering and software executives as well as project managers and developers to learn something about the CMMI and Scrum that they can take back to their companies and put immediately to use.

It just so happens that I will be ringing the bell in Philadelphia this Tuesday night! On second thought … I will give my CMMI+Scrum presentation tonight, but maybe I’d better not ring the bell.

Yes, tonight, Tuesday, May 8th at 6PM in Dresher, PA, I will be presenting "CMMI+Scrum: Power Partners in Product Development" for the Philadelphia Software Process Improvement Network (Philly SPIN).

Like the presentation you attended, tonight’s talk is designed to give engineering and software organizations new insights into addressing persistent problems, and to show them how to use CMMI and Scrum to improve upon what they are ALREADY doing. The program will focus on providing data, experiences, and lessons learned. As a certified ScrumMaster, I have a lot of real-life stories to share.

As you may know, we’ve been doing this presentation for several months now. After tonight, we’ll be taking our show back to the Midwest, talking to engineering and software companies in Detroit, followed by a jaunt to Madrid, Spain. It’s pretty cool how folks all over the world are learning how CMMI and Scrum can partner up to solve business problems and drive high performance engineering. Don’t you agree?

For your colleagues in Philadelphia, be sure to send them to the link to register: http://spin.asqphilly.org/nextmeeting.html

I hope to see them there tonight. I may even have something for them to win!

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

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

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

Is it possible to be CMMI Level 3 and not 'do' CMMI?

Hey, CMMI appraiser, we are a successful Virginia engineering company with an agile approach to software development. We want to be CMMI Level 3, to help us answer RFPs and win deals, but we don’t really want to do CMMI. Is that possible? ~ Lucas L. 

Hey, Lucas,

Absolutely. You should ALWAYS achieve CMMI Level 3 without “doing” CMMI. In fact, I’m never really sure what it means when people say they want to “do” CMMI. The CMMI is all about helping you improve upon whatever it is that you are already doing.  So, if you are currently attracting and retaining business, the CMMI helps you be an even more powerful customer magnet.

Let me give you a personal example. Even though I am the CMMI Appraiser, CMMI is not really what I am all about. Yes, I’m a certified CMMI Lead Appraiser and CMMI instructor. Yes, my company Broadsword has helped other companies achieve CMMI Levels through our CMMI consulting and CMMI training. Yes, I’m known as a CMMI expert and sought-after CMMI speaker. But this does not define who I am.

I define myself an airplane builder, pilot and musician. I’m a Scrum master and software developer. I also happen to be the chair of the SEI’s Partner Advisory Board, and President of the Great Lakes Software Process Improvement Network (GL-SPIN). In everything I do, I use the CMMI to help me do things better.

I’m happy to say that the airplane I am currently building is coming together very nicely, with very few defects, because I’ve used the CMMI to help make that process better.  But it's not a CMMI process.

I’ve been able to improve my performance as a musician, too, by using the CMMI to make that process better.  We use different words, and a different language, but it's all the same thing.

And I’ve used the CMMI to increase the quality of software on the Scrum teams I’ve led. The CMMI helps make me better at all these things I do. Kinda geeky, I know, but it’s true.

In terms of growing the business, Lucas, it goes far beyond merely achieving CMMI Level 3 so that you can check the box on RFPs.  You don't need to get better at checking boxes. You need to get better at delivering software, and attracting and retaining customers, and the CMMI helps you do that.

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

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

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

Tax Day Question: Is a CMMI appraisal the same as an audit?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, we’re a small engineering company in Michigan. Preparing our taxes reminded me of the SCAMPI audit we are going through. Our CMMI Consultant has our ATMs collecting artifacts for each sub-practice and memorizing everything in the CMMI book. He keeps them working 12-14 hours per day, every day. Are all CMMI appraisals as grueling as a tax audit? ~ Buster O.

Hey, Buster,

Nooooo! A SCAMPI appraisal is NOT an audit! A good Lead Appraiser is the OPPOSITE of an auditor. By treating the SCAMPI appraisal like an audit, your current CMMI Consultant is driving all the wrong behaviors, wasting money and making people hate the CMMI. He is acting like it's Tax Day for CMMI users.

The truth, Buster, is that nothing about the CMMI is like an audit. CMMI is a model for continuous improvement. A Lead Appraiser is tasked with not only ensuring that you’re using the model properly, but that you are getting value out of it, and that your company is using it to become a great company. That’s the bottom line of CMMI.

If your Lead Appraiser is insisting on seeing “work product evidence,” or what are now called “artifacts” for every single sub-practice in the model, he’s acting like an auditor. The CMMI does NOT call for an audit of sub-practices! So you can throw away that old shoe-box full of receipts. It’s not necessary.  Sub-practices simply give us a glimpse into the mind of the authors to help us understand what they were thinking.

Why is your Lead Appraiser acting like this? Perhaps it makes him feel more important if he can force people to be terrified of him. I’ve heard that the IRS likes to intimidate people too. That’s why they wear those dark sunglasses and pound on doors after midnight.

If your Lead Appraiser is wearing dark sunglasses, pounding on doors and insisting that you memorize everything in the CMMI book, he is distorting the intention of the Model. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no reason for anyone in your company to jump through these hoops.

The practices in the CMMI are meant to provide valuable guidance for you, Buster. They are not things to comply with, as written. They are not hoops to jump through or penalties to be incurred if you miss a step. They are suggestions of what to do to make your company incrementally and iteratively better.

There are few quick-fixes in the CMMI. I do have one suggestion, though. You can make your company instantly better by getting rid of your current Lead Appraiser and replacing him with a good Lead Appraiser.

A good Lead Appraiser won’t care if you know what the GPs are, by their numbers. A good Lead Appraiser won’t care about keeping your people chained to their desks. Here’s what a good Lead Appraiser will care about:

• Are you training people effectively?
• Do you have a way of doing work that is useful and that can be replicated?
• Do you have policies that clearly set expectations for how work gets done?
• Are you improving as an organization?
• Are you learning about yourselves?
• .... and stuff like that.

A good Lead Appraiser wants to know how he can help you get better. He doesn’t want to see you saddled you with “process debt,” busy-work and taxes. Rather, the approach of a good Lead Appraiser is not taxing at all.

Like the old marketing slogan, "it doesn't cost . . . it pays!"

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

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

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

How do we transform from Waterfall to Agile without disturbing our client's business?

Hey CMMI Appraiser, we are switching from a very mature, waterfall software development lifecycle to Scrum by June. How can we help our people make this big change without sacrificing our client satisfaction? ~ Lou M.

Hey, Lou – great question! Let me pass it along to Julie Calfin, a Senior CMMI Consultant with Broadsword, who does amazing work with companies who are undergoing large scale business transformation. ~ The CMMI Appraiser

Thank you, CMMI Appraiser!

Short answer, Lou: Organizational Change Management tactics can help your people change their behavior quickly with minimal disruption. Organizational Change Management (OCM) is a structured approach that an organization uses to transition from wherever they are today to wherever they want to be tomorrow. You can use it to navigate successfully through the enormous transformation in front of you.

A key to your success will be to understand how to bring people systematically through the change, without disrupting the schedule and budget of their projects. I have just the thing for you.

Below is the depiction of how people move through a change, from having minimal contact with it to having it be rooted in the culture of their organization.

By defining each step along the Commitment Curve that people go through, this graph helps you focus on where people are in their transformation. Over time, we will employ OCM techniques to bring them systematically up the curve.

Think of it like climbing a mountain. Your level of commitment moves from generally understanding the change (“I will probably need hiking boots and time to train”), to acceptance of the change (“This is going to be hard, but it will make me a better person”), to full commitment to it (“My team and I will summit the peak together”).

But it’s not quite that easy. A key take-away here: at each step along the curve, people either progress to the next step, or they exit out of the process all together. In other words, they keep climbing, or they fall off the mountain.

Pretty harrowing, right? Don’t worry – I’m not trying to scare you. An unhappy ending can be avoided by using OCM techniques to bring everyone up the Commitment Curve without any casualties. I’ll go into more detail in my next post.

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

Julie Calfin is a Senior CMMI Consultant with Broadsword Solutions Corporation. She has years of real world experience using OCM strategy and tactics to help her clients achieve their goals. Julie 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.

On Friday the 13th, did the CMMI Appraiser from Virginia bring bad luck?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser,

I lead the CMMI effort for our engineering division in Maryland. Our whole reason for hiring this CMMI Appraiser from Virginia was to get our CMMI certificate and win new business. So far, no luck. What gives? ~ Bill D.

Hey, Bill,

It’s apt that your question comes on Friday the 13th, the unofficial holiday of bad luck. This calls for a special CMMI Appraiser’s rabbit’s foot. One for you, one for me, and one for your CMMI Appraiser from Virginia.

I kid because you're not alone, Bill.  We hear from companies all the time who call to say, “Hey, we need to look at CMMI certification because we’d like to bid on certain government contracts.”

I get that. I fully acknowledge many small and large engineering companies in Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Michigan and elsewhere must achieve a CMMI Maturity Level in order to bid on work. In some cases, we’re talking about millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts. It's a business reality we all have to deal with.

But CMMI certification can’t be your CMMI Appraiser’s only goal – or you will not get the results you were hoping for.  As a matter of fact, CMMI Certification doesn't even exist!

To help make my point, let’s go back to the CMMI Appraiser you mentioned. If he or she was a good CMMI Appraiser, they might have asked you “Why are you doing this to yourself?” That might have led to discussion about the possibilities of adopting CMMI as model to be a great company - not a model to get a plaque (we call this "plaque buildup").  Was that your experience?

One technique I often employ is to try to talk the sponsor out of having an appraisal altogether - just to see how important it really is to them and to understand how much they have thought it through. Sometimes, as it turns out, it isn't that important.  Sometimes it's about greatness . . . as it should be.

See, a good CMMI Appraiser would know that learning about your company and how to make it better is the real goal – not achieving a level.

A good CMMI Appraiser would teach you to start to think like a great company.  He or she would help you use the CMMI as a strategic weapon to help you attract and retain new customers.

A good CMMI Appraiser would help you set the right goals and objectives, and ask the right questions that keep you on the path to continuous improvement, where the real deals are won.

Did any of that happen with your CMMI Appraiser from Virginia?  If so, then great!

Unfortunately, too many CMMI professionals don't get this. Some are only interested in helping companies get a so-called CMMI certificate or achieve  CMMI Maturity Level.   We call these companies "appraisal mills." They see no value in providing advice, strategy, and helping to ensure that you get the results you were hoping for.

And they don't even think about why you haven’t won new business.  Boooo!

That’s not bad luck. It’s bad practice.

The CMMI is so much more valuable and useful than that, Bill. It’s about things like how well you are running your engineering division in Maryland, Virginia, or elsewhere, how well you are delivering products, and how happy your customers are.

It’s all about KNOWLEDGE, and nothing to do with LUCK.

… even on Friday the 13th.

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

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

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