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Consultants' Corner

About Consultants' Corner: Items in our Consultants' Corner were developed over the years to answer a specific client's need or question.

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CMM-SW Items	The CMM for software is the original process maturity model that sparked improvement efforts worldwide. Levels 2 and 3 of the CMM for Software, summarized and pictured with icons from Dymond Diagrams, on one slide each.
The Occasional Pictogram (ToP)	Essay series on process improvement. Why This Series ToP #1: The Evolution Cube
PTI Consultants' Conference Presentations	What Metrics Should I Collect for Level 2? A perennial question especially in moving towared CMMI Maturity Level 2. The answer is not metrics but: Start with your life cycles! Ken Dymond, 15th Annual SEPG Conference, February 2003, Boston, Massachuets CMMI® Maturity Levels, Not Acting Your Age and Erosion of Continuity -- Causes and Cures Ken Dymond, 6th Annual Software Process Symposium, October 14, 2008, Edison, New Jersey
Ken's CMMI-SVC Study Project	In August 2008 Eileen Forrester held a workshop for the interested community on early contents of the CMMI for Services. Some intriguing questions surfaced then, such as - what kind of services might be covered; and, if services are simultaneous with delivery, unlike a project where delivery is the endpoint, what would instantiations look like in a SCAMPI? To help me understand CMMI-SVC and to work out my own answers, I started writing a series of notes around these questions to codify thoughts along the way – that’s what I call a study project. It takes a project because the answers do not jump out clear and certain all at once but evolve; time is required. What is more, answers won’t come from one person but require a community to get its collective mind around the issues. One element in the scientific method is to publish trial conclusions for others to consider and critique. My hope is that others in the community working around the same questions will make their own efforts available. My first exploration in CMMI-SVC Note #1 here is about the kinds of time in “cmms”, a thought which kept getting in the way whenever I tried tackling the “kinds of services and what would their instantiations look like” question. Currently in process are: Note 2, describing instantiations using the Note 1 framework in the kinds of time piece; and Note 3 which will list examples of services and try to classify them by broad characteristics to see whether some are more likely candidates for CMMI-SVC than others. CMMI-SVC Note #1 Kinds of time in cmms. Flash cards listing only the goals and practices of CMMI-SVC are handy when you don't have time to leaf through the book and just want to check on wording or on which goal a practice relates to. If you are old enough to have gone to college before the web, you probably bought flash cards as a memory aid for subjects like French vocabulary or chemistry terms. For years I have used my colleague Larry Freed's CMMI-DEV flash cards during appraisals and as handouts in SCAMPI team training. For SVC, I put together a set of flash cards for my own use. These are formatted to print on 3 sides of US letter paper, so they are not pocket-sized like the usual flash cards. If you happen to use them, let me have any comments or suggestions but especially notify me of any errors. CMMI-SVC Flash Cards CMMI-SVC Note #2 Instantiations in CMMI Note #2 was presented on Oct. 6 at the 2010 CMMI-SCAMPI Conference in Las Vegas. This conference is held for CMMI Lead Appraiser and CMMI course instructors to update the community of practice on changes to the CMMI Product Suite, present SEI thinking on upcoming changes as requested by the community, and to solicit the community’s views on candidate changes. The changes have been requested by the community and number in the thousands. The 2010 conference as the first to reserve a day for presentations by the community so we could learn from each other. The Instantiations in CMMI talk was one of seven accepted from the community for presentation. For abstract and slides: CMMI-SVC Note#2 Instantiations in CMMI
News and Tips	MIT Courses On-line (MIT OCW) MIT is putting as many of its courses as possible on line and downloadable for free. Not just science and engineering courses, but economics, art history, and project management. You can't take a course for credit, but just having the materials and reading lists is a benefit. Some courses have audio lectures and some even video. If you've ever had that secret hankering to master thermodynamics or understand how Virginia Woolf used Shakespeare in her works, check out the MIT OCW site. Other universities around the world are posting courses online but MIT has made it a policy. They are happy to accept donations to keep the site going.

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