CMMI Guide
to the Perplexed
With All Due Respect to Maimonides
3/25/2009

Many things about CMMI Can Be
Perplexing
 What perplexes you?
 What’s actually “required”?
 How to understand/use CMMI appropriately.
 How far can interpretation be stretched?
 OK already! Agile and CMMI can co-exist. But how?
 What about all the redundancies?
 How to choose a consultant or appraiser.
loser consultant/appraiser.
 How to avoid picking a
 If you already picked a loser, how to defend your
processes and artifacts.
 How to work with CMMI without the need to work
with a (loser) consultant.
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What perplexes you?
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What’s actually “required”?
 Process Areas
 Specific Goals
Required
 Specific Practices
 Generic Goals
 Generic Practices
Expected
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How to understand/use CMMI
appropriately. (1)
UNDERSTAND MODELS
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How to understand/use CMMI
appropriately. (2)
YOUR CMMI’s practices
for IMPROVING
activities to
MAKE stuff how you make
& DELIVER stuff & deliver
services. services.
Diagrams not to scale.
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… In Other Words and Therefore:
 You need to know what you’re doing before CMMI can
help.
 How you manage projects, develop products, & define your
standards are yours.
 Not all projects or processes are good candidates for
improvement with CMMI.
 Pursuit of Maturity Levels is likely to cause non-value-added
work to some of your projects and processes.
 That’s why CMMI emphasizes the business value of the
improvements.
 PAs are called Process Areas and not processes because
they are areas of process activities.
 Regardless of where & when they might appear on a
project.
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How far can interpretation be s-t-
r-e-t-c-h-e-d?
 Ask the question(s) backwards:
How do you Which of your
What are avoid the outputs do
you doing risks what you do
Does it
do
CMMI?
 What does the CMMI expect you to accomplish?
Read the informative material!
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OK already! Agile and CMMI can co-
exist. But how?
Extreme
Extreme
Optimized Optimized
Core
Agile
Core Core
Principles
Agile CMMI
Principles Principles
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CMMI & Agile
Manifesto and CMMI.
 Be honest with the
 Systems Engineering: Components of the system are
necessarily sub-optimized to optimize the system.
 Allow the “balance” to be fluid and dynamic.
systems engineering
 Process design is a
exercise, NOT a compliance drill!
 Optimization is context-driven. What’s the business
reason for the process / improvement?
both Agility and Discipline
 Being fully committed to
requires being a learning organization, not
pathologically box-checking one.
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What about all the redundancies?
 Redundancies were necessary to facilitate the organic
(continuous) growth.
 You are not required to be redundant.
improvement!
 That would be antithetical to
 Ex. There doesn’t have to be a difference between
how you validate requirements or work products for
your products and services compared to how it’s
done for work products of the project.
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How to choose a consultant or
appraiser.
 “Know your (CMMI) stuff”.
 Knowledge is power.
 Become (or get) an expert in CMMI/SCAMPI.
 Pilot your consultant/lead.
 Try before you buy.
 Don’t “buy” the entire “package” in the beginning.
 Like a doctor, seek a 2nd opinion.
 Hire a different consultant for a training component, or
for implementation, or for a SCAMPI C or B.
 Ask for and follow-up on references.
 Lurk on discussion boards and Google for
publications/work.
 PARS (http://sas.sei.cmu.edu/pars/)
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How to avoid picking a loser
consultant/appraiser.
 Define “loser”. Someone who …
 Is a pathological box-checker.
 Can’t relate to you.
 Can’t think “out of the box”.
 “One-trick pony.”
 Inflexible/Unreasonable (where the model and
methods would otherwise allow)
 Poor communication skills.
 Use your heart, not your head.
 Interview by what’s important, not shallow
cost/schedule.
 If cost/schedule are #1 priority, give up now.
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Avoiding losers
 Questions to ask:
 Explain to you what the generic practices do in a way
that you can use.
 Describe a typical engagement flow.
 Give them a real issue you’re facing and ask them
what they’d recommend you do about it.
 Provide some processes of yours which are troubling
you (and/or process areas) and to ask them how
they'd interpret and implement CMMI to address your
situation.
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More Loser Avoidance
 What to look/listen for:
 Talking more about you than themselves.
 Taking ownership of your needs and business.
 Trying to figure out what makes most business sense?
 Looking for ways to save you time, money, energy?
 Looking to ensure your effort goes smoothly and meets your
needs?
 Mindful of you/your staff’s limitations on resources.
 Talking business and value not compliance.
 Relates to your
situation, context, technology, market, customers and
approach.
 Seem to be “giving away” a lot of free help.
Using SEI as an excuse or scapegoat.
“Requiring” things not required by CMMI/SCAMPI.
SCAMPI C for ML2 takes 2 weeks.
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If you already picked a loser, how to
defend your processes and artifacts.
Required from your Expected.
 Know your
 Understand model intent.
 Understand and demonstrate your context.
 Start with known/defined processes.
 If you’re worried, throw a SCAMPI C or B
 Don't let your SCAMPI A be your first experience with a
disconcerting LA.
 Hire a trusted consultant/LA to prepare/participate on SCAMPI.
 Know and Tell your PIID story effectively
 Starts with ensuring you've properly interpreted the model.
 The model is predominantly common sense, if something
doesn't make sense you’re probably not interpreting it
correctly.
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How to work with CMMI without the
need to work with a (loser) consultant.
 Gain expertise/experience in:
 Project Management
 Process Improvement
 TQM
 Lean
 Engineering
 Understand and define the distinctions:
 Process areas, processes, and procedures,
 Standards,
 Project activities vs. Development/Service Activities
 Use CMMI to improve the above,
not define the above.
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Summary
 Understand Models, in general.
 Be honest with the core values of Agile and CMMI.
 Grow your expertise in TQM, Lean, and Change.
 Get a handle on how you manage projects, develop
products and services and use CMMI to improve
them, not define them.
 Interview for values and principles, not impersonal
traits.
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Questions/Discussion
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Contact
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