Archive for December, 2009

Everything you thought you knew about CMMI is (probably) wrong.

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

What most people (80/20) seem to “know” about CMMI and the SCAMPI appraisal method comes from what people learned and how they used CMM and CMMI in the early adoption phase.

However, instead of innovating and using engineering to create appropriate processes, they just reused old and often poorly-fitting processes and approaches to situations they never dreamed of in the 1980s.

Even people with positive experiences with CMM/CMMI tell us that we challenge what they once believed to be “true” of CMMI … but that they’re relieved because many always felt that what they thought was “true” made little sense.

Recommend:
Next week:

Your people with prior CMM/CMMI experience are probably worse than worthless, they’ll probably cause you to fail.

Posted in Appraisal, CBA-IPI, CMM, CMMI, CMMIFAQ, Crash Course, DOD, Defense, Early Adopters, Internet, SCAMPI | 1 Comment »

So you’re really interested in CMMI for the rating only….

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

What can you do?

This entry addresses an important tip in those cases where you need to demonstrate a CMMI rating even thoughyou’d otherwise have no intrinsic business reason compelling you to do so.

But first, I admonish organizations doing the compulsory CMMI ratings requirements in the first place.  So, if you’re a company being externally compelled to get a rating (which is different from being told “you need to improve!”), you might want to send a link to this finger-wagging to whoever needs to hear it.

However, as such a company being externally compelled to use CMMI (just to get a rating), this tip will make it MUCH easier and more beneficial.

Oh, one more thing…. I don’t mention this in the clip: If you’re such a company, don’t look to hire the cheapest, fastest appraiser/appraisal you can find.  Doing that will only make the cost and pain worse.  Both, short-term and long-term.

NEXT WEEK: Everything you thought you knew about CMMI is wrong.

Posted in CMMI, COTR, Contracting, Cost, Quality, Time | Comments Off