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1. Software Process Improvement with Agile Methods and Maturity Models
The Story of Tahini-Tahini: Software
Process Improvement with Agile
Methods and Maturity Models
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2. Software Process Improvement with Agile Methods and Maturity Models
PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL PORTUGUESE EDITION
Discussion whether to use or not Agile Methods in conjunction with software process maturity
models is frequent and ongoing.
Some consider that the requirements of maturity models cannot be implemented at all in
organizations with Agile development. Others consider that installing these models will hurt the agility of
the development. This incompatibility is discussed, therefore, by defenders of the use of Agile Methods
and by defenders of maturity models.
It is in this context that the book “The Story of Tahini-Tahini: Software Process Improvement
with Agile Methods and the MPS Model” by Jorge Boria, Viviana Rubinstein and Andrés Rubinstein.
The book originated in a call made in December of 2011 by the Secretaria de Política de
Informática – SEPIN, del Ministério de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovación – MCTI do Brasil1, who is
responsible for the Programa Brasileiro de Qualidade e Produtividade em Software2 – PBQP Software,
for its 2012 Cycle of their Program “Série de Livros do PBQP Software”3. From several proposals it
became the text of choice for publication.
And it was, without a doubt, an excellent choice. In it, the authors, based on their vast experience
as consultants, avaliadores4 MPS and lead appraisers of the CMMI, show us that there are no
contradictions among maturity models, process improvement and Agile Methods. On the contrary, what
there exists is an excellent road that can be followed with success by organizations until they have
reached a very high level of quality and maturity in their software processes.
In line with the authors, the book has as its objective to show how consulting techniques
interrelate with Agile Methods to achieve the expected results of the MR-MPS-SW5. They use four of the
Agile Methods for this: Kanban, Scrum, XP and FDD (Feature Driven Development), and the story of
Tahini-Tahini, a fictitious enterprise that all of us would certainly like to exist.
It is a technical book, but fascinating and easy to read. It even makes us laugh at times, such the
good humor of the authors in dealing with their subject. It will certainly become a success story in this
excellent initiative of the MCTI.
I thank the authors their invitation to write the preface to such an interesting book and with such
important contributions to Quality and Software Engineering.
April, 2013
Ana Regina Cavalcanti da Rocha
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
COPPE/UFRJ
1
Secretary of Informatics Policies – SEPIN, of the Science, Technology and Innovation Minister of
Brazil
2
Brazilian Program of Software Quality and Productivity
3
PBQP Software Book Series
4
Appraisers, as in the CMMI model, but of the equivalent Brazilian Model.
5
Initials for Modelo de Referencia – Melhoria de Processos de Software – Brasil, or in English:
Reference Model – Software Process Improvement – Brazil
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3. Software Process Improvement with Agile Methods and Maturity Models
PROLOGUE – PROCESS IMPROVEMENT CONSULTING
The Origins of the Book
The book was born in a call made in December of 2011 by the Secretaria de Política de
Informática – SEPIN, del Ministério de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovación – MCTI do Brasil6, who is
responsible for the Programa Brasileiro de Qualidade e Produtividade em Software7 – PBQP Software,
for its 2012 Cycle of their Program “Série de Livros do PBQP Software”8. There were many themes for
which it was possible to present proposals, but one caught our attention as being quite useful for software
engineering professionals: Software Process Improvement with Agile Methods and the MR-MPS-BR9
Model. All the other possible subjects have a handful of literature, both basic and advanced, but the
subject of merging Agile Methods with Maturity Models has not often been attacked. We were drawn to
the challenge of tying all three sources together: process improvement, maturity models and agile
methods, such is the complexity of the task.
We are indebted to all who participated in the process of the selection, edition and publishing of
this book.
The Goal of this Book
This book is presented as a fictional story for professionals. The organization used as a success
story does not exist, nor has it ever existed. The characters in it started off from friends, acquaintances
and situations that we have lived ourselves, either as employees, consultants or owners or software
companies. The goal is to illustrate how consulting techniques, capable of easing the path when correctly
implemented, sometimes as part of a learning process, never as a dictator – imposed mandate, interact
with agile methods, that are many more and go much beyond Scrum, to achieve the expected results10 of
the MR-MPS-SW.
This is not a cookbook for process improvement. There is not in it an algorithm, not even a
heuristic that will allow others to pursue the same road travelled by the protagonists in our story.
However, the proposal we have for our readers is that everyone can learn how to identify problems and
visualize solutions. We hope that our readers appreciate the story, because it is there to help them ponder
about those situations that take place daily in our software industry.
Finally, this is not a self-contained book. It trusts that its reader will use the references we
present, eight pages in all, of superior material. If there is something that we want to underscore without
modesty is that the bibliographical reference material in this book is an excellent source.
6
Secretary of Informatics Policies – SEPIN, of the Science, Technology and Innovation Minister of
Brazil
7
Brazilian Program of Software Quality and Productivity
8
PBQP Software Book Series
9
MR – MPS – BR are initials for Modelo de Referencia – Melhoria de Processos de Software – Brasil, or
in English: Reference Model – Software Process Improvement – Brazil.
10
Being an ISO inspired model, the MPS has expected results that express the requirements of any
implementation of the model.
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4. Software Process Improvement with Agile Methods and Maturity Models
This Book’s Sources
The title mixes three powerful ideas. It mentions process improvement with agile methods and
the reference model for software process improvement MR-MPS-SW. Any three of these forceful ideas
has merit to have its own book, so that writing only one, and in the short time frame we had as authors,
necessarily requires content choices. This is then a book about the activities that take place when one
performs consulting in process improvement; even when the main character in the story that allows us to
create a conducting thread is an internal employee, Marcela, who works in the company she has helped
found, her activities are those of a first rate consultant.
Marcela is a little bit the heroine of the British novel of the XIX century, in that she is intelligent,
knows what she wants, and how to get it. She is the example of leadership in this book, even when her
partners and other fellow travelers are good managers and excellent professionals, each with his own
techniques, it is Marcela who leads by example, who questions the status-quo, who, in the end, leads the
Tahini-Tahini company to the highest levels of excellency. As we were writing the book, it was with
Marcela with whom we liked to identify ourselves the most, because in the end hers was the character
with the bigger success. Lessons that need to be learned from this book are all in Marcela’s name.
This is not a book on consulting. These exist and are very good, written by consultants much
better than us. Even then, it contains lots of guidance on how to perform the important tasks, those that
lead to real change, packed into the movements of the characters. There is also a wealth of techniques that
we usually introduce, one way or another, in our activities as consultants. Chapter 2 shows the way by
presenting variants of continuous improvement methods, ending in Lean. We recommend extra readings
to fully understand it and make better use of it.
It is not a book about the MPS, we will rather have the reader learn about this robust model in its
guides and the authorized classes being offered. However, there is nothing in the book that has not been
written with it in mind11. The whole story of Tahini-Tahini, its comings and goings with the agile
techniques, frequently presented for discussion before they have been profited from, illustrate our
particular point of view about maturity models: it is necessary to have a global vision of your destination
for the road to be covered with ease.
Neither is this a course on agile methods. The reader must understand that to introduce an agile
method in any organization it is a requisite to have a consultant or mentor that guides you through the
implementation on a daily basis. To produce an agile organization, starting form one that is not, requires
experience and being able to adapt to the needs and culture of the organization.
And even when this is not a book about organizational change, we did take many concepts from
this discipline. In any case, the literature about organizational change is so vast and rich that we would do
it a disservice if we tried to compress it into a few pages.
The book intents to describe the consulting activities that take place in many organizations. We
have chosen a presentation scheme that is midway between the technical book and the telling of a story,
11
In this edition consideration to MPS and the CMMI-DEV, which is the model used as inspiration for
the MPS, has been given.
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5. Software Process Improvement with Agile Methods and Maturity Models
this last choice we hope will allow our readers to have fun with the characters. It is our wish that everyone
finds the book entertaining.
Cautionary Note
There is no book on quality that can avoid referencing Deming. This true superman of quality
has left behind tens of thoughts and ideas that have made his followers road easier to walk. In this
prologue we want to offer our little tribute to him and, at the same time, quote him to warn the reader of a
common mistake which is usually incurred with the goal of reducing costs: “Deming’s Obstacle, The
Hope for Instant Pudding – the belief that one or two consulting meetings with a competent statistician
will put the organization in the road to quality and productivity – instant pudding. It is not so simple, it
will always be required to study and work hard.”
We are not such competent statisticians, yet we have seen this symptom in many organizations,
sometimes even translated into an invitation to lunch in exchange for free advice that is later tried in
practice without the necessary knowledge. Consultants are seldom irreplaceable, but the know how that
comes with them often is.
About the Authors
A book is always a collective creation. Tolkien spoke about the “humus” that the author collects
to plant his ideas, humus that is the result of his readings and experiences. Inspirational muses only work
in open minds that went through those experiences that enrich our lives, sometimes even painfully.
Beyond the obvious inheritance we have received from those that preceded us in this subjects, we the
authors are thankful to many people that made the impossible possible.
We are especially grateful to Ana Regina Cavalcanti da Rocha for her trust and friendship, and
to Kival Chaves Weber, Nelson Henrique Franco de Oliveira and José Antonio Antonioni for their
support and opportunities offered, and to Richard Denney for letting we use some of his extraordinary
materials from his books in this book.
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6. Software Process Improvement with Agile Methods and Maturity Models
Authors

Jorge Luis Boria
Master of Engineering in Computer Science from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Ex-Visiting
Scientist at the Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie-Mellon University. Senior Advisor of
the MPS. Avaliador Líder Experiente MPS. Certified High Maturity SCAMPI Lead Appraiser
for the DEV and SVC constellations. Certified instructor of several official courses of the
CMMI. Was a Full Professor at UBA, UNICEN, UNSL, USal, UB and others in Argentina.
Jorge is especially grateful to Joyce Statz for the growth he experienced when working under her
at TeraQuest Metrics. Joyce was a friend, a mentor, a counselor and a trainer, all at once.
Director

Viviana Leonor Rubinstein
Licenciada en Computación Científica, UBA, Argentin. Certified Project Manager, UT-SQI.
Avaliador Líder Experiente MPS. Certified High Maturity SCAMPI Lead Appraiser for the DEV
and SVC constellations. Certified instructor of several official courses of the CMMI. Was a Full
Professor at UNS in Ushuaia, UBA, UNICEN and others in Argentina.
Viviana wants to thank Regina, her mother, with whom she shared the creation of her first book
many years ago.

Andrés Oscar Rubinstein
Programador e Analista de Sistemas by the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro.
Avaliador Líder Intermediário MPS. SCAMPI Lead Appraiser DEV and SVC. Partner and
Founder at TecnoVoz S.A. Argentina. Taught at PUC-Rio, Universidad de Belgrano and the
Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires in Argentina.
Andrés wants to thank Viviana and Jorge for their trust, Adri and all the known friends for their
support, and Male and Nico for being who they are.
Finally, Jorge and Viviana want to thank Franca, Beto and Alma for giving their lives a new sense and
direction.
Viviana and Andrés thank Jorge for his leadership in writing this book, without which it would never
have come to be.
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