14 CMMI Predictions for 2014!

Dear Readers,

Happy New Year!

You know, based on the comments and questions we receive throughout the year at Ask the CMMI Appraiser, it's clear to me that many of our Readers are already embracing the CMMI for the right reasons.  If that's you, it doesn't take a sooth-sayer to predict that you will continue that trend.  You'll still look at the CMMI as a tool, not a rulebook, a framework that helps you continually learn about yourself and your company, and keeps you the path to greatness, so you can be the kind of company you've always dreamed of being.  The past is prologue to a wonderful future.

But exactly what does that look like in 2014?  What practical, useful outcomes will be achieved?  Let's gaze into the mysterious orb of engineering strategy and performance improvement and find out ...

It's time for 14 CMMI predictions for 2014! 

Yes ... I see a vision emerging.  The future is becoming clear.  I see that your company -- and anyone else who wisely adopts the CMMI for the right reasons -- will experience the following 14 useful, tangible benefits in 2014:

1. You will lead your team to think about the CMMI as set of guidelines for improving performance
2. You will improve requirements churn and volatility, so that you can spend less time and money on re-work
3. Your projects will be on-time and on-budget more often
4. You will inspire your teammates to get better at what they do
5. You will understand how to deal with risk, before it hurts you
6. You will avoid having too many meetings, unhappy customers and unpredictable projects
7. You will do what you are already doing, better
8. You will learn how to deploy processes that are useful, not overhead
9. You will be a champion to your CMMI sponsors in guiding their programs
10. You will support your leadership team in facilitating strategic decisions
11. You will take appropriate action that is not heavy-handed
12. You will create less "process debt"
13. You will pursue CMMI training and embrace useful process everywhere in your company
14. You will expand your understanding of what it is to be a great company!

These are the behaviors that can help you reach for greatness, any time of year. So let's resolve to take the right approach to adopting the CMMI, and make all of these positive outcomes predictable for 2014.

From our team to yours, have a happy and prosperous New Year!

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.

Who is your Secret CMMI Santa?

Dear Readers,

'Tis the season for giving the gift of higher quality, faster delivery, and predictable, repeatable results with the CMMI, but what’s this?  If you'll scroll down, you'll see ...  Oh, my goodness, it looks like your Secret CMMI Santa left you something!

Yes, jolly Old Saint Nick must have stopped by while you were solving business problems, because there’s a red-and-green envelop here that wasn’t there before. Open it up! Let’s see what he gave you …

Tickets to the first 2 CMMI Webinars of 2014

Hey, good for you! Free admission to these two webinars is especially cool if your company is doing more with CMMI and/or Agile in 2014. Both Webinars help you learn to think about the CMMI as a set of guidelines you can use to create an environment in which your company can manage its uniqueness in a structured way, and bring about the transformation of the culture of your company.

How do I know so much? Oh, I’ll never tell. Let’s just say your Secret CMMI Santa strikes again!

WEBINAR #1 – January 17, 2014 – “Agile Resiliency: Scaling Agile so that It Thrives and Survives”

How the entire family of agile methods can be made resilient and strong through the application of the CMMI.

Register here for “Agile Resiliency: Scaling Agile so that It Thrives and Survives”!

WEBINAR #2 – February 14, 2014 – “CMMI: Everything You NEED to Know!”

How the CMMI works as an engineering strategy for addressing common business problems such as late projects, over budget projects, unhappy customers, etc.

Register here for “CMMI: Everything You NEED to Know!”

Merry Christmas!

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 an extra-small company afford the CMMI?

Hey CMMI Appraiser, what advice would you give an engineering contractor in Northern Virginia with 12 FTEs that keeps losing bids on federal contracts because we don’t have a CMMI Maturity Level rating? Without the revenue from one of these contracts, we find it difficult to invest in the CMMI. Have you seen other micro companies overcome this catch-22 situation? ~ Bill R.

To read the answer, please visit www.cmmixs.com

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 measures for every Process Area if we want to be Maturity Level Three?

Dear Appraiser,

When being appraised for CMMI Level 3 do we need to have one or more measures of EVERY PA or can we just measure the things we actually need to? ~Nabeel.

Nabeel,

Thank you for reading!  Interesting question.

Every-time some asks me this I brace myself for the many people who will write in to disagree with me!  This is a subject that people feel very strongly about, and I'm always afraid of starting a religious war….

So, let me go put on my armor, pick pick out my favorite sword, and I'll be right back….

….. OK, I'm back (albeit a little bit heavier)….

I think you're on to something when you say "things we actually need."  It's important that a company establish measures that reflect the information needs that are required to be a great company.  In fact, the CMMI explicitly states that you should "Develop and Sustain a Measurement Capability Used to Support Management Information Needs."

What does this mean?

It means that only you and your management can determine what your company can benefit from.  Not a consultant.  Not a model.  Not an instructor.  So, I'll agree *somewhat* with the statement implied by your question.

However…..

In order to fully grasp the intent of the CMMI, you need to understand that it was developed as a research project.  And that project examined the successful implementations of many projects at many companies, and came to some conclusions about patterns and practices.

In my experience, many companies (and their management), don't really have any idea WHAT their management information needs are.  As a CIO myself, I often learned about some new technique, measure, or process that I had not been using, only to say "Wow, that is something I REALLY need to do!"

So goes the CMMI.  It catalogues many of the attributes of a measurement "program" that were seen at other great companies, and makes suggestions for how you might use them.

Note that the CMMI doesn't tell you that you need to measure EVERYTHING.  It starts by asking the question, "what are your objectives?" (MA SP1.1).  This should drive everything.  Typical objectives are "projects need to be on time, on budget," "risks should be kept to a minimum," "growth should be at n%," recalls should be below n%," and so on.  The more you can quantify it, the better.

But the Process Areas also give you a hint into what you should measure.  Look at VER SP2.3 - which discusses analyzing the results of peer reviews.  That implies a measure.  Look at GP2.8, "Monitor and Control….", that implies one also (and appears in every process area).

Let's take that one on for a second.  You didn't say it, but I suspect GP2.8 is the one you are referring to when you asked your question. There are many Lead Appraisers who insist that this practice means you must have a measure for each process area.  This isn't exactly true.  The CMMI isn't a requirements document - it's supposed to be interpreted so that it provides the most value for the user. There was a time when this measurement requirement was the conventional approach (back in the SW-CMM days), and even early in the CMMI life-cycle it was carried over, but this was clarified in version 1.3 of the model to read:

"GP2.8 Monitor and Control the Process"

It goes on to say "…. can involve measuring appropriate attributes…."  Neither the  Goal (required) or the practice (expected) say "must."

The sub-practices provide additional data with phrases like "evaluate actual progress," "review accomplishments," "review activities," "identify problems," etc…

I would start by turning each instance of GP2.8 into a question: "How do I know our requirements change process is working well?"  "How do I know that our estimating process is effective?" And so on.

If the answer requires a metric, then so be it.  If you have another creative solution, then by all means use that too!

In other words, measurement should be PART of the toolset you use to monitor and control your process, and there is a very high likelihood that you will have a healthy collection of process performance measures, but it's not the only tool you can use.

In the end it's not important exactly what the mix of tools is - but I WILL ask you to answer that question when I appraise your organization, so be ready!

Good luck!

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 kinds of questions are we asked during a SCAMPI C? What can the interviewees expect?

Dear Appraiser,

What kinds of questions are we asked during a SCAMPI C?  What can the interviewees expect? ~Gary

Great question!  I get this one a lot, and the first answer is "don't worry!" 

A SCAMPI C is simply a gap analysis to determine the current state of the process at your company.  We want to understand how you do the things you do everyday.  

There are four main categories: Project Management, Process Management, Engineering, and Support (tools, measurement, quality, etc).  We don't ask them by category, per se, but we try to stick with project "threads."

We will ask you to describe:

- how did you estimate the scope of that project?

- what happens when a customer asks to change the requirements/features?

- how do you ensure the quality of the designs, code, or specification for your end product?

- how are your teams organized?

- what measures are you capturing?

- what process/approach/tools are you using to ensure document/code/designs are managed?

… and so forth.

There is no "right" answer to any question.  You will not need to know the CMMI, or any of our buzzwords, to have a successful outcome.  We will analyze all of the information, from all of the interviews, and compare it to the practices in the CMMI-DEV model.  That, along with other research we do on your company, will lead to a mapping of strengths and weaknesses weaknesses that can be used to implement improvements at your company.

Interviews are usually held in small groups, either project leadership (PM, Lead Engineer, Lead Tester, etc), or in "functional groups" (engineers, testers, etc).  We usually speak with each group for 1-2 hours.

For more information about the areas of the CMMI, head over to our "What is CMMI" page.

I hope this helps.  Feel free to share this information, or to ask any any other questions you may have.  And have fun!

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.

Pat O'Toole and Jeff Dalton's "Just the FAQs #2: What's the Deal with REQM SP1.1?"

[Dear Readers, our good friend Pat O’Toole, CMMI expert and seasoned consultant, is collaborating with us on a new monthly series of CMMI-related posts, "Just the FAQs." Our goal with these posts is to provide answers to the most frequently asked questions about the CMMI, SCAMPI, engineering strategy and software process improvement. To kick off the series in November, Pat addressed the  frequently asked CMMI-related question  - "Why is REQM at ML2 while RD is at ML3?" This month Jeff Dalton returns the serve with another one: "What's the Deal with REQM SP1.1: Understand Requirements?" ~ the CMMI Appraiser]

Take it away Jeff!

Last year, while conducting a final findings briefing for a CMMI-DEV Appraisal, an attendee blurted out “what’s the deal with REQM SP1.1? We sit around and discuss requirements all the time – why doesn’t this ‘qualify’ for ‘Understand Requirements?’”

Had she been present at the preliminary findings briefing we could have had a conversation about how they evaluate requirements, or maybe even discussed the “definition of done.”  But because we were in the presence of 150 people and executive management, it was, as the kids like to say, “awkward.”

As it turns out, REQM SP1.1 is more complicated than it sounds.

The attendee didn’t give me much breathing room before moving in for the kill.  “Last month you told us,” she insisted, “that the subpractices are meant to help understand intent and are not ‘required,’ yet the weakness YOU noted is from the subpractices. Aren’t you just ‘dinging’ us for something that isn’t required?”

Yikes!

She was right.  The weakness identified by the team was indeed derived from the subpractices, in particular the ones about defining and using criteria to evaluate requirements.

The attendee folded her arms, sat back and waited for me to mount my defense. 

Shifting into “teacher-mode” seemed like the best approach, so I began asking “the questions.”

Does the requirement meet the “definition of done?”  Is it ambiguous? (cue groans from the audience).  Can it be designed and delivered? Without knowing those things, can we understand what we REALLY need to build? 

I like to turn the subpractices into these types of questions because it helps re-direct team members from “compliance-mode” to “improvement-mode,” and leads them to discover something that they probably already knew.

“But you SAID!” protested the attendee, in a last ditch effort to persuade me to acquiesce and soften the weakness.

Yes I did.  But we don’t approach this with an attorney’s magnifying glass.  We’re coaches, mentors, and advisors – not lawyers. I ALSO said that doing what’s smart for your company should dictate how the practices are interpreted.  In this case, they were receiving complex requirements from many different sources and had a geographically dispersed team that had not worked together in the past. In this context, the intent of REQM SP1.1 is precisely defined by the subpractices and examples, and appraisal teams should embrace this guidance, even if they believe, as I do, that it is only intended to be informative.  REQM SP1.1 is about more than just “understand requirements.”

I like to think of REQM SP1.1 as “Evaluate and Understand the Complete Requirements.”  During the “Introduction to CMMI” class I introduce the Agile concept of “Definition of Done” to illustrate that this presents us with an opportunity to achieve consensus, avoid re-work, lower risk, and understand the “complete” requirement.

You could also try turning it into a question by asking: "they want us to build WHAAAAAT?"

Please contact the authors at pact.otoole@att.net and jeff@broadsword.com to suggest enhancements to their answers, or to provide an alternative response to the question posed. New questions are also welcomed!

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.