Have you ever had a brutal SCAMPI Appraisal? It doesn't have to be that way! This presentation, given at SEPG 2011, describes a more agile approach.

1. The Agile SCAMPI
Taming the Savage Beast
Jeff Dalton, President
Broadsword, an SEI Partner
SCAMPI Lead Appraiser
CMMI Instructor
Agile Envangelist
ScrumMaster
SCAMPI and CMMI are registered trademarks of Carnegie Mellon University
All materials copyright © 2011 Broadsword Solutions Corporation unless otherwise noted.
All rights reserved.

2. EPISODE X: Return of Sanity
Ruled by the the galactically-feared
Satrap Comudus Aurelius Marcus Ptolemy . . .
uhhh . . . the Immaculate . . . yea that’s it
His Minions from the outer-rim planets of Kobol
Enforced his evil, but misunderstood, laws
Claiming that “Some Guy at the SEI Says So”
His subjects worked the mines for evidence
Tired of manufacturing evidence they pleaded
For sanity, shorter hours, and better snacks
“There must be a better way!”

3. Here comes your Appraisal!
“I
take
it
the
odds
are
against
us
and
the
situa1on
is
grim”
“Sounds
like
fun!”
“FUN? Seriously?”
- Appraisal team members

4. Now Playing!
Jeff Dalton
“Ask The CMMI Appraiser”
(a.k.a “the guy with no flyin’ monkeys”)
For the latest version of this presentation please email:
info@broadswordsolutions.com
www.broadswordsolutions.com/resources

5. Hey Jeff! Give us a hat!
• We
want
a
Hat!
• C’mon,
gives
us
a
hat!

6. What is this thing . . . called SCAMPI?
Standard CMMI
+
Appraisal
Requirements
MDD Appraisal Team
CMMI
Recommendations
Appraisal
Actual Practice
Findings,
Method for
Process Organizational
Process Suite
Improvement
Organization/Projects

7. What is this thing . . . called SCAMPI*?
Unlike
CMMI,
SCAMPI
is
a
Process,
not
a
Process
Model.
So,
it
is
a
“HOW-­‐TO”
and
a
“WHAT-­‐TO”
But
it
is
not
a
“WHY-­‐TO”
Mature,
Agile
organiza1on’s
strive
to
understand
the
“WHY!”
*
We
will
not
be
focusing
on
all
of
SCAMPI
today
.
.
.
Just
some
prac1cal
techniques
for
making
it
more
agile
and
useful.

8. But what is it really? Is it an Audit?
One
1me
I
followed
a
Lead
Appraiser
that
insisted
on
seeing
a
work
product
for
each
Prac1ce
.
.
.
Each
SUB
Prac1ce!
Ahhhhhh!
ATM’s
worked
12-­‐14
hour
days
all
week!
Secret
Projects
It
drove
all
the
wrong
behaviors,
wasted
money,
and
made
them
hate
CMMI!

9. But what is it really? Is it an Exam?
I
followed
another
Lead
Appraiser
that
tested
each
prac11oner
by
having
them
recite
the
Generic
Prac1ces…
Backwards!
Ouch!
Talk about looking for data
in all the wrong places!

10. It’s really about LEARNING about ourselves
“Wow! We Planned and that project turned out to be faster! AWWWESOME!”

11. Hmmmm…..Agile is about Learning too…
Fail
Fast
Scrum, XP, Spiral, and
Crystal are techniques
that attempt to support
Fail
Early
these principles.
But AGILE is a “way of
Incremental
life,” not a method.
Itera1ve
It’s about the way work
gets done
Collaborate
So why not SCAMPI?
Learn
and
improve
ourselves

12. Turns out there’s some Science here
When exposed to new information our When neurons in the
brain desperately try to make sense of it auditory cortex hear
something new, they
go into overdrive and
trigger an overdose of
Dopamine . . . Leading
to SCHITZOPHRENIA
The Association
Cortex in your brain
needs to incrementally
interpret new ideas

13. SCAMPI should be a Time-Boxed Event
They don’t do this for a
living, nor should they!
A structured event for
learning about
themselves
Engineers will keep
searching and analyzing
Teams need help focusing
We learn all we can in the time we’ve allotted. Then Pencils Down!

14. Strive for “Stuctured Introspection”
Decide what you want to learn
Decide how you want to learn it “Filling out PIIDs is not
on our “Bucket List!”
Learn a little
Neither is making the
Have introspective conversations Lead Appraiser happy
Learn some more Every reason we use
SCAMPI should be
Talk to people to learn more focused on learning.
Iterate through a structured If you focus on learning
response you’ll most likely get
your name in PARS!
Share it with your peers
Back to work!

15. Know thy Lead Appraiser. . . Months before!
Teacher
Coach This is in addition to the
“price-of-admission”
Leader experience, training,
testing, observations,
Peacemaker and certifications.
Psycho-analyst Notice that “Deity,”
“Ratings Fairy,”
Consensus Builder “unreasonable jerk” and
“The Decider,” is not on
Comedian this list!
Evangelist
Scrum Master-ish

16. Some techniques for making Appraisals
simpler and more Agile

17. R1: Selecting Team Members
In addition to the pre-requisites in the MDD, it might be easier to
tell you what we don’t want:
People who are free most of the time
Those who are incapable of trusting their
teammates
People you cannot collaborate freely
People who always insist on being right - or
are bullies
People who think they get to approve everything through resistance
Guess that leaves my mother-in-law out….

18. R1: Prepare Teams for action in advance
Negotiate Team Agreements together
Create self-organizing cross-functional Teams
Organize around projects/groups, not around
Process Areas
Become experts at one or more projects/groups
Incrementally Train Team (Start early, the “SCAMPI
Dump” doesn’t work!)
Teams are autonomous units that make decisions and characterize
practices
Self-subscribe to daily workload
Attend daily standups and project “Road Shows.”

19. R1: SCAMPI and the Daily Standup
Inter-­‐team
collabora6on
makes
self-­‐organiza6on
possible
What
do
we
have?
What
do
we
need?
Where
do
we
get
it?
How
is
the
game
being
played?
Are
we
playing
posi1ons?
How
are
the
teams
playing
together?
How
can
we
play
it
beer?

20. R2: Offsite Data Collection – 3 Iterations
Mini-­‐Teams
work
2
hours
per
day
(5%)
for
three
itera1ons
15 Day Release Cycle
Iteration 1 Iteration 2 Iteration 3
Crossword Puzzle Spike Lock
Retrospective and RELEASE
Products: Products: Products:
• First Pass of PIID • Analysis of New • All available
Worksheet Data evidence reviewed
• List of Data
• List of Data Needed
• Project Road Show • Practices
Needed characterized
• Project Survey
• List of People to
• Project Presentation Talk to
• List of People to • Open Practices
Talk To identified
• Statement of
• Statement of Conclusions • Questions that
Conclusions need to be asked
for the onsite
5 Days 5 Days 5 Days

21. R3: Onsite Data Collection – 3 Iterations
4-6 Day Release Cycle
Iteration 1 Iteration 2 Iteration 3
“20 Questions” Project Focus Socrates
Retrospective and RELEASE
Products: Products: Products:
• Crowd-Source the data • Each Mini-team • Mini-Teams justify their
interviews their project findings using Socratic
teams to gather Method
• Facilitated by a mini- additional data
team member
• Any Team members( and
• Lead Appraiser moves LA) can challenge
• “20- Questions Game” between as appropriate
• “Show me”
• People are more • “Free” team members
engaged if you throw begin analyzing and
chocolate at them • Robust sampling of
characterizing new
data. evidence
• The are “FAR” Groups
• Aggregate in Real-Time
• Non-CMMI questions
1 Day 2-3 Days 1-2 Days

22. R3: Preparing Findings – Three Iterations
This is the good stuff! But to avoid “Corporate A.D.D.” think in Iterations.
1 Day Release Cycle
Iteration 1 Iteration 2 Iteration 3
Spike Dig-in Refine
Retrospective and RELEASE
Products: Products: Products:
• Brainstorm • Iterate through • Consolidate
bulleted list and cull the list findings
• Strengths and • Mini-teams get • Review one-time
weaknesses assigned as a team
sections
• Weakness come • Wordsmith if you
directly from your • Work to complete must
tools formal findings
statements in
• Take a Break!
mini-team
• Strengths come
from the team • Final proof-read
• Take a break!
• Take a break! • Ready for
presentation
1-2 hours 3-4 hours 2-3 hours

23. R3: Agile SCAMPI – Retrospective
We hold a Retrospective after ever Release . . . So we learn to be better!
What Went Well? What Would We What Still Puzzles
Do Differently? Us?
The Training
We would start The Sampling in
Planning gathering data SCAMPI v1.3
earlier
Interviews PI v. LI when we
We would have a Aggregate
larger team characterizations
What the PAB does

24. Focus on Learning – not Levels!
Now that we’re mature can I borrow the car?

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