Why Attend Capability Counts 2016? Reason #5: To Build Capability!

All hands on deck! It's time to get ready for Capability Counts 2016 in Annapolis, Maryland, on May 10-11!

I’ve got to admit, what's the first thought that flashes through my mind when I think about being in Annapolis next month? Seafood!  Ah, delicious, Maryland Crab Soup! Crab cake sandwiches! Oysters on the half-shell with horseradish and a dash of Old Bay Seasoning. If you love shellfish and authentic, local cuisine, you surely are in for a treat this year. For seafood, Annapolis is heaven on earth.

But just as there is more than one way to crack open a steamed Blue Crab, there are many great reasons to attend Capability Counts 2016. For the days leading up to the conference, I’ll be counting down the Top 5 Reasons to be there. So let’s get started with Reason #5.

Reason #5: Capability Counts 2016 is a place where you can consume vast quantities of knowledge toward building capability (and not gain any weight!)

Yes, based on my past experience with this event I called “The Greatest Show on Earth) (f/k/a SEPG conference, f/k/a CMMI Congress), attendees of Capability Counts 2016 can expect to consume a lot of knowledge about building capability:

• Expert Insights: You’ll have opportunities to attend presentation after presentation by industry experts from all over the world, and to connect with organizations and individuals looking to build capability and elevate performance. 
• Special Track: There’s even a special track that helps you learn more about how to start your capability journey and will put you in contact with peers who face business challenges similar to yours.
• Best Practices: Best of all, you’ll get to acquire best practices and hear success stories from professionals who have decades of experience helping organizations build their capabilities.

It’s a pretty impressive spread. Learning experiences range from formal presentations to tutorials to workshops to informal conversations and social interactions. We’ll share strategies and tactics, tips and techniques, best practices to adopt, and pitfalls to avoid.  New this year will be a "Gamers' Alley" track and a panel of Capability Challengers (more on these in a future post).  And we’ll have the truly unforgettable experience of building our capability, together.

Yes, Capability Counts 2016 offers a veritable CMMI feast. But what did you expect?  When so many great people bring to the table their passion for process improvement, performance innovation and CMMI, it’s an all-you-can-consume buffet.

Sign up for Capability Counts 2016.

Need more reasons to go? Stay tuned 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, 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.

Can I take a CMMI Training class in San Diego, and get PDUs?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser ... Help! My boss says I need to take a CMMI Training class in San Diego. Can I do that? Also, as a PMP, I’m interested in knowing whether there will be any PDUs for your classes ~ Paul F.

Hey, Paul … yes, and yes!  (Don't you love it when the answer is Yes?  If only everything in life was so affirmative!)

Designed for executives, engineers and business professionals, our CMMI Training classes help participants learn use the CMMI as a set of guidelines to improve organizational performance, as well as how to design a flexible architecture for continuous process improvement. YES, we have a class in San Diego in June, and YES, you can receive 21 PDUs towards your PMP certification upon completion. So join us!

Register here: Introduction to CMMI-DEV Training

June 1 @ 8:00 am - June 3 @ 5:00 pm

San Diego, CA

As you may know from your boss, Paul, Introduction to CMMI Training classes are required for those who wish to participate in a SCAMPI Appraisal, want to enroll in Intermediate Concepts of CMMI, and/or undergo SCAMPI Lead Appraiser training or CMMI Instructor training. they are recommended for anyone with an interest in improving software and engineering performance. This 3-day class is hands-on, interactive, and a whole lot of fun, so sign up and tell a friend!

We hope to see you in San Diego!

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.

CMMI Certification - what is it and how do I get it?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, my boss asked me to look into a CMMI Certification. What is it and how do I get it? ~ Neil S.

Hey, Neil, what a great question!

The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is more popular than ever. Given the increasing rate at which the Model is being adopted, sometimes we find ourselves so deep in conversations about organizational performance innovation and software process improvement that we forget that there are new people coming onboard every day. They hear their bosses tell them to find out about something called “CMMI certification” and go to Google for clues. So, welcome, Neil. The party’s just getting started!

That’s right, I said party! As a certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser who has worked in the industry for many years, I’ve come to think of the CMMI as one big party, and everyone is invited!

Now, to answer your question, to begin with, the CMMI Institute discourages the phrase "CMMI certification" and instead likes us to refer to a company as having "achieved CMMI Level 2" (or Level 3, Level 4, Level 5). Note that organizations achieve CMMI, people do not. 

Many people use to the phrase "CMMI certification," so you often see it in the metatags of sites (like this one, Broadsword's, and the CMMI Institute's). But the truth is, you "achieve" a level of CMMI by building, deploying, and managing a process within your engineering and project management organizations that reflects the best-practices identified in the process areas of the CMMI model. Once institutionalization is apparent, you bring in a CMMI Institute-authorized SCAMPI Lead Appraiser to lead you through a SCAMPI Appraisal.

Depending on the appraisal type you select, it will result in either a gap analysis or a set of formal findings that identify your company as having achieved (or not achieved) CMMI Level 2, CMMI Level 3, Level 4 or Level 5.

So, while the phrase “CMMI certification” is common on Web sites and conversations throughout the industry, a better question is as follows: “How do we achieve a CMMI level rating?”

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

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

For more information, please feel free to visit the Broadsword web site, or check out our webinar, "All about CMMI!"

Webinar: "All about CMMI!"

Date/Time: April 18, 2016 @ noon EDT

Registration: Sign up here.

See you on the webinar!

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.

How do we scale our agile approach to dealing with risk?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser – we’re a CMMI Level 3 organization that is trying to scale our value of having an agile way of dealing with risk. Where can we get information that will help support this goal? ~ Dan I.

Hey, Dan,

How cool that you’re taking an agile approach to risk management! Lately I'm seeing more and more CMMI adopters that are learning to take advantage of agile methods for a lighter, leaner approach to solving business problems incrementally and iteratively. For more information about scaling your value of having an agile way of dealing with risk across the enterprise, I recommend signing up for our webinar, “Managing Project Risk.”

One of the key take-aways from the webinar is the strategy of using what we call “CMMI questions” to scale your approach to addressing risk. CMMI questions come directly from the Model, which guides us to ask questions that will help us learn more about how we work.

For example, specific to this value, risk management, the CMMI guides us to gain more knowledge about the way we deal with risk. So the first CMMI question we need to ask, as we roll this out, is the following:

“What are the methods and techniques that we’re going to use to support the value of having an agile way of dealing with risk?”

It starts with our values. We want to approach risk management iteratively and incrementally. We want to get those issues of risk when they’re young, and deal with them in small pieces. We want to prioritize them and get them out of the way. Asking CMMI questions is a great way to do this.

I invite you to learn more strategies, tips and techniques for scaling your value of having an agile way of dealing with risk, by signing up for our webinar:

Webinar: “Everything You Need to Know: Managing Project Risk!”
Date/Time: Friday, March 25, 2016 @ noon EDT
Registration: Sign up here.

See you on the webinar!

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.

Back by Popular Demand! Our “Process Quality Assurance” webinar

Hey, CMMI Appraiser,

One of the QA people in another division saw a webinar you hosted a few months ago that offered strategies, tips and techniques for improving the company’s quality program using CMMI. I hear it was very useful. Will this webinar air again, and if so, how can we get our people signed up? ~ Alan M.

Alan,

Great to hear someone from your company got value from the webinar! We invest a tremendous amount of time sharing our passion for performance innovation in the form of conference speeches, live seminars, blog posts, podcasts, videos, ebooks, articles, white papers and webinars, so it's always gratifying to get positive feedback. And your question comes at a good time – we’re providing the “Process Quality Assurance” webinar again this week!

Webinar: Everything You Need to Know about Process Quality Assurance!
Date/Time: March 23 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Registration: Click here

What’s the webinar about?

On this webinar, CMMI L2 and L3 companies learn an engineering strategy that helps them emphasize quality over compliance, establish a structure for collecting improvement data, align the processes with the people who are using them. The upshot? You’ll know what it takes to drive higher quality and get greater results from your quality program.

Who is the webinar for?

The “Process Quality Assurance” webinar is designed to help CMMI L2 and L3 businesses that are …

• Living in fear of the auditing process
• Improperly focused on tracking incidences of non-compliance
• Failing to get any better

What’s in it for YOU?

The “Process Quality Assurance” webinar helps businesses that want to …

• Transform your quality program into something that actually helps the company improve
• Gain visibility on how work in your company gets done
• Understand what tools and standards your people really want to be successful
• Create an environment in which quality resources are valuable partners on projects
• Reduce the number of risks on your projects and forget the number of non-compliances game 
• Build better products than your competitors who have a lot of chaos, late and over budget projects, too many meetings and unhappy customers

... and much more!

Take the first step to having a quality assurance program that works for you, not against you. Sign up for “Process Quality Assurance” today!

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.

Is CMMI just one giant headache?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, you know what I don’t get? Why people like you are convincing people like my boss that we should look at adopting CMMI, even though, our customers are not requiring that we adopt it. Who needs this headache? Seriously! ~ Tom B.

Tom, you know what I don’t get?

Even in this age of instant, worldwide communications and knowledge-sharing, I don't get why some really smart engineering and software professionals operate as though they have not heard the news that CMMI is 100% about solving business problems.

News flash, Tom!  CMMI doesn’t cause headaches. It cures them!

Look, let's not raise our voices.  I'm not trying to convince you or your boss to do anything. You seem to be laboring under the misconception that the CMMI is this heavy, command and control, document-centric cauldron of hard, dreary work and pure nonsense that tells you how to do your job.

C'mon, man! CMMI has none of that! CMMI does not tell you HOW to do anything. CMMI doesn't “require” anything. CMMI is simply a tool designed to help you solve business problems, including:

• Change and improve requirements churn and volatility, so that you can spend less time and money on requirements
• Be on-time and on-budget
• Motivate your staff and make them better at what they do
• Understand and deal with risk before it hurts you
• Avoid having too many meetings, unhappy customers and unpredictable projects

And CMMI can do this whether you choose to be agile, Waterfall, or use any other set of methods.

That's probably why your boss is interested in CMMI, Tom.  Why not get ahead of the curve? Educate yourself on process improvement, performance innovation and CMMI by signing up for our FREE webinar, "All about CMMI” on Monday, March 14.

Click here to sign up.

Hope to see you on the Webinar!

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.

A single program for CMMI, ISO and A-SPICE -- how does that work?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser. Our team has been reading your CMMI ebooks, and we have a question.  As a CMMI Level 3 supplier to the auto industry, we want to know more about aligning CMMI, ISO/TS and Auto SPICE into a single program for performance innovation. How does that work? ~ John M.

Hey, John,

Thanks for reading my CMMI eBooks!  I really love sharing my passion for performance innovation in conference speeches, live seminars, webinars, blog posts, podcasts, videos, ebooks, articles, white papers and more.  It's so cool that you're finding the ebooks useful!

You know, like you, a lot of companies that are CMMI ML2 or ML3 have been asking about integrating CMMI, ISO 9001 and A-SPICE into a single program for performance innovation.  So many that we created a webinar expressly for this purpose.  On "Integrating CMMI, ISO 9001 and A-SPICE," you'll learn to combine these frameworks and methods innovatively for greater results.

Webinar: Integrating CMMI, ISO 9001 and A-SPICE
Time: Friday, March 11 @ 12-1PM EST
Register: Click here

Why participate in the webinar?  You’ll learn to address practical, real world business problems, such as …

• How to streamline and strengthen the way you so business
• How to gain visibility into every aspect of the business
• How to eliminate duplication and overlap in reporting
• How to attract and retain top employees
• How to prevent the loss of business and intellectual capital to competitors

Take the first step to aligning ISO/TS, CMMI and Auto SPICE and having better quality products and greater customer satisfaction. Sign up for “Multi-Model Improvement” today!

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.

Our 8th eBook Is Now Available on Amazon: “Just the FAQs”!

Dear Readers,

We’re excited to announce the publication of our 8th agileCMMI eBook: “Just the FAQs, Second Edition”!

In “Just The FAQs, Second Edition” my good friend Pat O’Toole and I join forces to share a series of short stories from different perspectives about CMMI, process improvement, and Agile development. We address common misconceptions, myths, and fundamental misunderstandings that persist with the software and engineering professions. And we have a good time doing it!

Click here for your copy of "Just the FAQs, Second Edition".

“Just the FAQs, Second Edition” is a compendium of stories written in 2015 that have been distributed individually as part of a series, right here on Ask the CMMI Appraiser. The ALL NEW stories are now available in eBook format as a collection. To purchase for 99 cents on Amazon, click here.

What you’ll find in the book:

• How do the generic practices make us better?
• What is training capability?
• How do we develop good PPQA habits?
• How can we REALLY know how things are going?
• ... And much, much more!

Get the facts!  "Just the FAQs"!

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

© Copyright 2016: Process Assessment, Consulting & Training and Broadsword Solutions

“Just the FAQs, Second Edition” is written/edited by Pat O’Toole of PACT and Jeff Dalton of Broadsword. Please contact the authors at pact.otoole@att.net and jeff@broadswordsolutions.com to suggest enhancements to their answers, or to provide an alternative response to the question posed. New questions are always welcomed!

Our top competitor is investing in CMMI Training – should we?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser – we’re a fast-growing, goal-driven automotive software supplier that has achieved CMMI Maturity Level 3.  We just found out our top competitor is having every new hire trained in the Model.  What are some of the benefits of CMMI training that we should consider? ~ Dave A.

Hey, Dave,

You've revealed a lot in just a few words.  You are fast-growing, but haven’t protected your investment in your people.  You are a Level 3 company, but haven’t protected your investment in your Performance Improvement Model, the CMMI, which encourages us to train our people, thereby protecting our investment in them.  At this point, I'd say it doesn’t matter what your competitors are doing.  You need to focus on being a great company.

The good news is, that's what the CMMI is all about.  It's about making software and engineering performance better. It’s about improving and changing the way your company behaves, so that you can improve performance, build stronger products and have happier customers.  CMMI training is one of the ways your team learns new behaviors.  It helps you put your company on the path to greatness.

For other benefits of CMMI Training, check out my video, or read the text below:

Benefits of CMMI Training:

• Helps you improve software and engineering performance
• Offers you an approach to remedy consistently late or over-budget projects
• Provides an alternative to working in a "hero culture"
• Guides you to make your work sustainable or scalable

Who Should Take CMMI Training:

• You intend to participate in a SCAMPI Appraisal team
• You wish to become a CMMI Lead Appraiser

Why Our CMMI Training Classes Are Different:

• Learn new sizing techniques by playing Planning Poker
• Practice using Fibonacci sequencing for your estimates
• Form Scrum Teams and apply agile methods, from project planning to retrospectives
• Earn 21 PDU’s (professional development units) while learning about performance improvement

Where to Take a CMMI Training Class:

"Introduction to CMMI" in San Diego, CA
June 1st 8:30 AM – June 3rd 2016 5:00 PM (EDT)

"Introduction to CMMI-DEV Training w/optional Scrum Learning Experience" in Detroit, MI
September 20, 2016 at 8:30 AM - Friday, September 23, 2016 at 5:00 PM (EDT)

"Introduction to CMMI-DEV Training w/optional SVC Supplement" in Washington, DC
October 4, 2016 at 8:30 AM - Friday, October 7, 2016 at 5:00 PM (EDT)

Register for a class today!

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

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

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy.

What is a PIID and where do we get one!

Hello!

I’ve read a few places that reference a PIID that we need to fill out before appraisal. Is this still part of the SCAMPI process, and if so, where can we obtain a PIID template to get started with?

Thanks,  Tyler.

Tyler,

Thank you for your question to “Ask the CMMI Appraiser!

The PIID, or “Process Implementation Indicator Document” is nothing more than a spreadsheet or database that has all of the practices on the left, some columns for text descriptors, and a column on the right to place a document link or name. 

The PIID is not a requirement, however.  Many Lead Appraisers do not use them, and some (like us here at Broadsword) have developed a great deal of automation and functionality in theirs.  The PIIDs we use here at the ‘sword all work together and roll-up into a master database that makes the appraisal more automated.  But there is no requirement in CMMI or SCAMPI to use one.

There are even some companies that have developed elaborate databases to manage appraisal data, but we prefer the faster, more accessible version using Excel macros. It doesn’t require programming, installation, or having any special software on your server or computer. Better yet - there is nothing to buy at all!

Your Lead Appraiser, when you’re ready to choose one, should be able to advise you on which PIID to use, and if they have one for you it should be included in your contract with them.

Best of luck on your appraisal!

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

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

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy.

Can we bolt CMMI’s risk management onto our Scrum Teams?

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, 

It’s Bob, from a CMMI certified software engineering company in San Diego California. We’ve been using the CMMI to improve our Scrum Teams’ Daily Standup meetings, and that’s helped us understand what’s being done. Can we bolt on other aspects of the CMMI that don’t exist in Scrum, like risk management? ~ Bob A.

Bob, gee, "bolting on" sounds a little heavy and rigid for a Scrum Team, doesn't it? But I like where you’re going with this. Here’s a better way to say it: when we combine CMMI and Scrum, can we pick aspects of Scrum that we strengthen with the CMMI, based on the needs of our company? Now you’re talking, Bob! The goal is to make both frameworks stronger, in a way that makes sense for your company. Maybe not with bolts.

I’m glad you brought up the Daily Standup example.  In a Daily Standup, every morning, for 15-20 minutes, the team stands together to discuss issues that are important to them. But there is no guidance around things that get talked about, and how things are going. As a result, the impact of the meeting, in terms of insight for management, is pretty weak. The format generally goes as follows:

“Here’s what I am doing.”

“Here’s what I plan to do.”

“Here are the kinds of problems I’m having.”

That’s fine, but it leads an opportunity for many things not being done – such as paying attention to the risk.

This is common everywhere. If you asked your Scrum team, “How do you understand to risk?” they would say, “We do that in the Daily Standup. If somebody has a risk they bring it up.”

This won’t cut it for executives who need solid information about risk to make business decisions. The CMMI offers categories of risks that are important to us (like technical risk, financial risk, and business risk) and provides for brainstorming within these categories, recording them and sharing them with the appropriate stakeholder.

Does that mean ditch Scrum? No! Keep Scrum, and add that type of analysis in Daily Standup maybe once or twice a week.

I’ll give you an example. Here at Broadsword we have clients who discuss risk once a week in their Daily Standup. They use the guided risk management within the CMMI to make their risk discussions more meaningful. And guess what? Management understands where they are with functional requirements. Sounds like a dream, right?

The trick to making this work is not to ditch Scrum or change how Scrum works, but to take the individual Scrum ceremonies involved (things like the Daily Standup or sprint retrospectives) and make them stronger.

We would never try to force a Scrum team to do BPUF, for example, or have status meetings simply because management wants information. That’s how it works in a Waterfall world, but not in Scrum. Take the Daily Standup and leverage it back to improve the information that is being gathered. Use the guidance that the CMMI gives to the constructs of Scrum, instead of trying to change the construct.

What I hope you’ve gained from this conversation, Bob, is that CMMI is fully compatible with Scrum, and can be used to improve agile methods, making your investment in agile both powerful and productive.

If you’d like to know more about applying the CMMI’s Risk Management guidance to Scrum, sign up for the latest webinar in our “Everything You Need to Know” series:

Webinar: “Everything You Need to Know: Managing Project Risk!”

Date: Friday, February 26, 2016 @ noon EST

Registration: Sign up here.

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

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

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, p

Will you be my CMMI valentine?

Dear Readers,

Happy Valentine’s Day!

In lieu of flowers, boxes of chocolates or Hallmark cards on this widely celebrated day of love, your CMMI Appraiser has something even more wonderful that is sure to sweep you off your feet …

Strategies for getting better at what you are ALREADY doing!

Yes, if you LOVE learning new ways to drive process innovation and performance improvement throughout your organization, here are some learning experiences that go right to the heart of the matter:

Monday, 2/15: “All About CMMI” -- This is a great place to start. Find out EVERYTHING you need to know about CMMI by signing up for the introductory webinar.

Wednesday, 2/17: “Agile Transformation” – Learn to take advantage of Agile for a lighter, leaner approach to solving business problems incrementally and iteratively.  Check it out!

Friday, 2/19: “Scaling and Strengthening Agile" -- By participating in this webinar, you'll come away with an understanding of the work that needs to be done to strengthen Agile in a way that makes sense for your organization, while staying true to Agile methods.

All of these learning opportunities are designed to help CMMI-focused companies that are looking for guidance on being lighter and more flexible, as well as Agile teams that are still seeking the kind of results they’ve been hoping for.

What's not to love?  We hope to see you at one or more of these useful learning events.

Do you ADORE this blog? Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec!

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

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

Will the combination of CMMI and Scrum work for us?

Dear CMMI Appraiser, What’s the best way to evaluate whether the combination of CMMI and Scrum will work in our environment? We’re a traditional software company that has been appraised at Maturity Level 3.  We serve the federal government and its suppliers in the health care industry, many of whom are “going Agile.”  We want to stay ahead of the curve, but I'm worried that our leadership may be wary of this new idea. ~ Walter S.

Walter,

You ask a great question. Every traditional engineering or software firm needs to ask it from time to time, especially those who have adopted the CMMI.

Will CMMI and Scrum work for you? If it were simply a matter of logic, the answer would be, “Yes, yes, yes!”

Unfortunately, I’ve found that people are not logical when faced with change. Human beings tend to fear new ideas. And combining CMMI and Scrum is definitely a new idea that a lot of people are uncomfortable with, at first.

As you may know from previous posts, this CMMI Appraiser started his career journey as a classical musician.  My first degree was in music.  Hence I use a lot of musical references in my books and keynote speeches, including this quote by the pioneering American composer, John Cage:

"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."

Actually, I can understand why people are uncomfortable with Scrum. The first time I worked on a Scrum Team, I was uncomfortable with it. Now I’m such a big fan that many of our PROCESS projects are using Scrum.

So I feel qualified to offer a couple of suggestions for helping your organization get comfortable with combining CMMI and Scrum.

First, take a look at the CMMI’s Generic Practices, specifically GP2.8 and GP2.10. These GPs guide us to review data about process performance with higher level management. In other words, let’s have a discussion about the following data:

• How happy are our customers?
• Do we have a lot of rework here?
• How productive are our employees?
• What kind of defects do we have?
• Do we have over-budget projects or late projects?

The answers may surprise you. They may even frighten you. I was talking with one engineering executive recently who did not even know what the metrics he should be tracking, or even what questions to ask. He was flying blind.  Scary stuff!

Scrum helps us solve some of those problems by building constructs that encourage "information radiation," collaboration, and rapid return on information. Yes, Scrum takes faith and trust to get used to it, but I’d rather do that than continue to do things that haven’t been working. Perhaps your partners would agree that it may be worthwhile to try something a little different.

To learn more about combining CMMI and Scrum, check out our upcoming FREE webinars:

Monday, 2/15: “All About CMMI” -- This is a great place to start. Find out EVERYTHING you need to know about CMMI by signing up for the introductory webinar.

Wednesday, 2/17: “Agile Transformation” – Learn to take advantage of Agile for a lighter, leaner approach to solving business problems incrementally and iteratively.  Check it out!

Friday, 2/19: “Scaling and Strengthening Agile" -- By participating in this webinar, you'll come away with an understanding of the work that needs to be done to strengthen Agile in a way that makes sense for your organization, while staying true to Agile methods.

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

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

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

Need to Know Everything about Implementing CMMI, ISO and Agile?

Dear Readers,

I get this a lot.  An executive at an engineering or software organization attends one of my trainings. At the break, he pulls me aside and says, “Hey, CMMI Appraiser, we’re dealing with trust issues between the “ISO/TS side of the business” (management) and the “CMMI and Auto SPICE side of the business” (engineering), and it’s causing a lot of waste.  What should we do?”

My first piece of advice is to realize that this is nobody’s fault.  It’s most likely the natural byproduct of a misguided implementation.  While the multi-model approach seemed effective at the time it was introduced, ISO/TS, CMMI and Auto SPICE have been poorly integrated in many organizations throughout North America, and as a result, management and engineering are acting like independent entities.

This has to stop, and you can make it stop.  Learn how to introduce alignment and put an end to the friction between management and engineering by attending “Integrating Multiple Process Models.”  The webinar, hosted by Broadsword, and part of our popular Everything You Need to Know series, airs Friday, February 12th, at noon Eastern. 

Click HERE to register.

Integrating Multiple Process Models is an engineering strategy that integrates CMMI, Auto SPICE and ISO/TS into a single program for performance innovation.  Designed specifically for organizations that have a CMMI Maturity Level 2 or Level 3 rating and want the benefits of aligning CMMI, ISO/TS and Auto SPICE, “Integrating Multiple Process Models” gives you everything you NEED to get started.

Join us on the webinar!

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. 

Don’t miss the action! Announcing Capability Challenge – Round 3

Dear Readers,

Round 3 of the Capability Challenge is starting soon, and we don’t want you to miss a minute of the action.  Click below for ringside tickets!

If you’re just joining the fun, the Capability Challenge webinar series, hosted by the CMMI Institute, pits successful organizations against one another as they compete to tell the best capability story.  In Round 3, we’ll hear the stories of building capability from our next four Challengers:

• CGI
• Halfaker and Associates
• Honeywell Tech Solutions
• L-3

As a participant in the webinar, you get the unique opportunity to hear real-life examples of engineering performance improvement in our industry, which can help your business and your career as you learn to be successful by doing the things great companies do. And at the end of the webinar, you’ll vote for the story you think is the best.  So join us!

What: 2016 Capability Challenge Webinar Series: Round 3
When: February 17th at 11:00 am EST
Registration: click here

See you at ringside!

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

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

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

Is the trend of CMMI Appraisals slowing down? Guess again!

Hey, CMMI Appraiser, are a lot of organizations still choosing to adopt CMMI, or is the trend slowing? ~ Jose J.

Hey, Jose –

The CMMI Institute’s data on the adoption of CMMI tells us that the trajectory continues its upward climb.  This year, the CMMI Institute reports another RECORD YEAR, with the most appraisals delivered.

As you see in the chart, fueled by the demand to improve organizational capabilities and drive business results, 1,913 organizations earned a CMMI maturity and capability rating in 2015. That’s a 15% increase over the previous year, and a cause for celebration!

Why get so excited?  Well, you hardly need a reason to cheer when you see the CMMI as we see it - as an ongoing celebration, a model for changing and improving behavior in the quest for becoming a great company.  As more organizations embrace the Model, and put themselves on the path to greatness, it raises the standard for everyone, and our entire industry improves.

Here's hoping the trend continues!

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

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

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