We’ve already had a lot of very positive feedback regarding this years conference – comments that ranged from how pleased delegates were at the sheer practicality of the even, how it brought CMMI down to earth and to life with many real life case studies.  Other delegates were delighted that speakers addressed the complex change management dimensions involved.  For me – I think the awesome conference photos just speak for themselves – have a look at them here on flikr.

Having just come back after a few days off following this year’s successful CMMI made Practical I thought I would reflect and see what messages seemed to shout out now that a couple of weeks have passed. So impressions …

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Having earlier fallen in love with a small Company’s wiki (see blog here) its time to explore one of the challenges in implementing CMMI and process improvement in general for small organisations.  But first I want to be crystal clear that I’m defining small in terms of staff numbers.  Other, less useful, definitions for process improvement use revenue or other financial measures.

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Lamri have recently had sight of a spreadsheet form Capers Jones that purports to analyze the total cost of ownership of a standardised application built using different types of “software development methodologies”. It makes for very interesting reading and presents some very surprising results. At first sight, anyway.

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As a lead appraiser, I was recently sent a draft of the upcoming version 1.3 of the SCAMPI appraisal method. Normally this would hardly generate much excitement outside the small community who earn their living from conducting appraisals, but this release includes at least one change that looks likely have a significant impact on organisations seeking a CMMI rating.

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The new report from the Institute for Government – System Error, Fixing the flaws in government IT – makes a refreshing read. Looking at experiences with Government IT, the report stresses two important changes: An emphasis on platform, an emphasis on agile.

 

 

  • An emphasis on platform – commoditizing those elements of IT that are susceptible to bulk supply and providing coordination and standards
  • An emphasis on agile – collaborative, iterative development of IT projects to meet users needs in a flexible way

Both emphases seem absolutely correct. (more…)

Amazed

I am amazed, working with so many clients, at how many decisions are taken blindly – without attention to the consequences. Part of this, of course, is the benefit of hindsight. By the time I arrive on the scene, decisions have been taken and acted upon – now let’s clear up the consequences. (more…)

Project Monitoring and Control.

Some statistics – the word “control” occurs in the text of the process area 3 times – once each in the name, the purpose and the first paragraph of the introductory notes (CMMI-DEV vn 1.3). So why “control”? (more…)

In common with that other big event happening in April, the guest list is growing, the speeches are being written. I don’t envy Prince Harry’s brief but at this year’s CMMI Made Practical our presenters have a tough one too, to make their presentations candid, non technical and real.  Their audience will be facing cuts and challenges to constantly improve and innovate.  They need to know what works and what doesn’t, they don’t want jargon they want “warts and all” stories.

I think this year our presenters, including HMRC,  Hornbill, Thales and the Norwegian Armed Forces will do just this. They’re all very accustomed to scrutiny and the demand for accountability so will be able to share with us why out of all the standards and models they chose CMMI, what happened in their organization  and what benefits they saw.

And at the end of all that there’s champagne and canapés  but no toasts! Another example of what works and what doesn’t!

Ouch – another uncompromising report from the Commons Public Accounts Committee – this time aimed at MOD procurement.  I appreciate that of course this is an insanely complex high pressured environment that really does play for big stakes – however given that situation how can not being the best of the best be an option?  Maybe now is the time to learn from the US DOD and start to apply CMMI as part of the answer to evolving to a robustly more capable DE&S?

The Public Accounts Committee report in question – “The 23rd Report – The Major Projects Report 2010″ can be downloaded here.

CMMI made Practical 2011, held on the 12th and 13th April 2011 has some 70% of speakers from real end user organisations discussing how they have used CMMI to demonstrably increase their capability.

Find out how the US DOD invests in structured capability improvement with Carnegie Mellon’s Software Engineering Institute.

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