Do we need a tune-up before our CMMI appraisal?

Dear CMMI Appraiser – I own an IT company in Michigan that uses Agile business intelligence solutions to provide insights and predictive analytics to State and local government agencies. We want to get our CMMI Maturity Level 2 rating this year, but our CFO doesn’t want to waste time and money on a SCAMPI B assessment, since the result won’t count. My concern is about the repercussions if we are unprepared and fail the SCAMPI A. How important is the tune-up? ~ Somali A. 

Dear Somali,

Whoa!  Doesn't count?  An Appraisal is all about learning about your company - and when it comes to that a SCAMPI "B" counts for a lot.  But based on your question, you may not as far down the road as you think you are. You are correct that the SCAMPI B assessment does not result in a rating  – but it is not a "tune-up."  Tuning up your existing processes is something you do continuously before and after you go through the SCAMPI B or SCAMPI A process. Like giving your car a tune-up at the 5,000 mile mark, tuning up your processes prepares your company to keep its quality and performance improvements rolling in the right direction. But on its own it doesn’t assure that your journey will be successful.

So, before you even get started, there are some key questions to ask yourself:

What could we learn about ourselves from a SCAMPI C (Gap Analysis)? The SCAMPI C is one way to find out how well your company learns about itself.  How aligned (or misaligned) are behaviors with the CMMI framework? It may be a long road ahead, but it's well worth the journey - and you want to understand the baseline before you start.

How could we benefit from training? Multiple training courses are available to assist you in your journey to becoming a great company. Since this is apparently your first experience with the CMMI, start with the introduction to CMMI training course, followed by training on how to become expert process engineers. Broadsword offers courses and workshops that teach you how to execute our AgileCMMI methodology, and how to design and develop the processes you will need to become a great company.  While you're at it, consider some methodology training like Scrum, Measurement, and Process Quality.

What is really involved in the "tune-up?" After the SCAMPI C, and often concurrently with the training, you'll need to develop a plan that identifies all the opportunities to improve that you will need to execute with company.  This plan could be months, or even years, in duration and includes everything you need to do in the context of the methods and working teams you will be using, as well as all of the releases and iterations that must take place between now and when you reach your desired state - perhaps as tested by your SCAMPI B Appraisal.

The SCAMPI B is a semi-formal appraisal that serves as a tool to give you the information you need to completely understand your current state in relation to the CMMI.  It gives you the information you need to help you determine whether you should move forward with a formal SCAMPI A.

Some companies consider skipping the SCAMPI B in order to save money.  This may seem prudent, given that it is not specifically required, but keep in mind that this discussion is not about money, but about Risk Management.  It would be expensive (and demoralizing for your team) to have an unsuccessful SCAMPI A.  My own personal rule-of-thumb is, if the SCAMPI B is better than 75% "in the green," that's a pretty good indicator to start thinking about when you want to conduct your SCAMPI A appraisal.  Of course, it depends......

And if you are successful with your SCAMPI A  … WOO-HOO! You’re done, right?

Uhhh, not so fast.  But you do have an awesome start!  Achieving a CMMI Maturity Level doesn’t make you a great company. It just means you are sufficiently equipped with the infrastructure and tools you need to become a great company.

As we say in the aviation world . . . you'll have a "license to learn."  It's time to remind your CFO that this ain’t no paper chase. Making structural changes in your company – and making the commitment to long-term improvement as an organization – that’s your real adventure.

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.

Where can the "CMMI lady" learn more?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, I enjoyed your presentation at the PMI Forum in Detroit this week. I'm the CMMI lady whose boss wanted me to take on a Scrum-based project, so I could expand my repertoire as a project manager. Going in, I really thought Agile was too unstructured for us. Are you going to be giving that presentation again any time soon? I feel like I still have a lot to learn. ~ Julia W.

Hey, Julia – It was great to meet you at the Project Management Institute Forum for my CMMI+Scrum: Power Partners in Product Development” presentation on Monday. It's cool that you're still thirsty for more knowledge. Like the old saying goes …

But you knew that. There's a reason project management is one of the top skill sets demanded by organizations around the world today. You never stop learning.

I'm curious. What caused you to change your opinion about Agile? Don't tell me -- all my funny jokes, right?

But seriously, for a lot of project managers and executives, the great thing about CMMI is that it can (and should) be used to improve the performance of teams that are using Scrum (or any other technique). Scrum is a lightweight approach to managing the process for developing products in an iterative and incremental way. It's different than the "command and control" approach you're used to, and that’s probably why it felt “unstructured” to you. In Scrum, teams focus much more on "self-organization" and personal responsibility.  That's not to say that "waterfall" project team members are not responsible, only that the methodology does not address it.  The scope of Scrum does not include everything required to drive enterprise-wide performance, and fortunately, as I said, many such best-practices exist within the CMMI.  Just keep it light!

So whether your goals are to improve as a project manager, successfully deliver software, achieve a CMMI Maturity Level, or get on the path to becoming a great company, you can use the AgileCMMI approach to improve incrementally and in a lightweight, useful way, and reach your goals. AgileCMMI helps you get better at what you are already doing and increase the likelihood your project will be successful.

When will the CMMI Appraiser be back in Michigan? Not to worry. We're on location in Detroit all this week, conducting a CMMI appraisal with a great, agile engineering company ... and then I'm off to Madrid, Spain, for SEPG Europe on June 5, to teach an international audience about the benefits of AgileCMMI.  After that I'm off to Hong Kong.  The date of my return to Detroit will be announced this summer.

In the meantime, get your fill of timely, useful information right here.

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

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPILead Appraiser, CertifiedCMMI 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.

Does the CMMI require that we produce 400 documents?

Dear CMMI Appraiser, we’re a Michigan-based developer of musical equipment and devices for the hearing impaired. Our new CEO has announced that he wants “continuous improvement,” so we’ve engaged a CMMI Lead Appraiser who said that the “continuous improvement” means we need to produce documents – tons of them! Is it true that the CMMI requires over 400 documents on the average CMMI appraisal? ~ Arnold L.

Dear Arnold,

Your CMMI appraiser is clearly singing from a different sheet of CMMI music than the rest of us. There is no requirement in the CMMI that you produce 400 documents. Continuous improvement is all about changing behavior – not creating documents. How does that sound?

I must say, I find it fascinating that the misperception continues, even among CMMI appraisers today, that the CMMI is this heavy, command and control, document centric cauldron of hard, dreary work and pure nonsense.

CMMI has none of that. It doesn’t tell you how to do anything. It doesn’t “require” anything. The CMMI says, “Here’s what great companies do.” That’s all it essentially says.

Let me break it down a little more. Here’s what the CMMI is and does:

• The CMMI is a tool to help solve business problems.
• The CMMI helps you change and improve requirements churn and volatility, so that you can spend less time and money on requirements.
• The CMMI helps you be on time and on budget.
• The CMMI helps you motivate your staff and make them better at what they do.
• The CMMI helps you understand risk by categorizing and listing them.
• The CMMI helps you avoid having too many meetings, unhappy customers and unpredictable projects.

And the CMMI can do this whether you choose agile, waterfall, and any other set of methods.

No, there is no requirement in the CMMI that you have 400 documents in your project. That’s an average number that came out of the early adopters of CMMI who were - you guessed it - ALREADY doing that!. The average project in the CMMI Level 3 appraisal may produce 400 documents, but you should be able to do it with  about 70. The only “requirement” is that you exercise proactive thought about what you want to be and achieve.

“What do we want this company to be?” is a great question. It resonates with the very timbre of the company, and fires the imagination. This is where everything starts.

On the other hand, when you have a Lead Appraiser taking the position that you just need to "pass the appraisal," or “be CMMI Level 3” without any thought or aspirations for greatness, then that’s how you end up with 400-500 documents. We call that process debt. You incur all of this debt that people have to carry around with them, big stacks of paper, just to prove to your appraiser that you are performing at a certain level.  I missed the memo where this provides any value.

Remember what I said earlier. Adopting the CMMI is 100% about solving business problems. It’s not about documents. It’s not about pleasing your Lead Appraiser or even passing your appraisal. It is a model that's about how great companies perform.  IF you choose to have an appraisal, then these are the things you should be looking for in a Lead Appraiser.

That should be music to your ears.

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 progr