Crash Course:: NDIA 7th CMMI Technology Conference and User Group

Delivered the 2007 version of the Crash Course.
I was surprised by the number of SEI folks who were there. Generally, feedback was positive, but anyone who was there is encouraged to provide any other feedback here as well. Good, bad, or otherwise. The slides are here.
(The slides above were updated and re-uploaded on 28 April 2008 subsequent to legal requirements of SEI.)

Please note, that the contact slide (at the very end) has been deleted to avoid being crawled and a source of SPAM. If you need contact information please go here.

Ever Need to Explain Process to a 5 Year Old?

Well... in our case, explaining "process" (or anything, for that matter) to our 5-year-old usually involves relating everything to either dessert, trains, playtime, being sad, or time-outs.  Often in that order.  Jargon with terms like, "inappropriate", "generous", "keep your hands to yourself" and "chill out" don't register.  He's just not relating to those words.

Sometimes it seems that executives have similar limitations.

I've come up with a list of (hopefully) jargon-free business benefits to CMMI.  These are boiled-down to their barest shadow of the full explanation.  Though, sometimes, to get what you want, that's all that's needed.

I hope you find them helpful.

Whew! *That* was close!

Well, I'd like to say it was "nothing", but really, I was sweating bullets!

Since I consider readers of this blog to be among my more friendly professional acquaintances, I thought I'd let you in on something that has not yet been released to the general public.

See here for an as-yet to be released announcement article/press-release-style about my becoming an SEI-Certified High Maturity Lead Appraiser.

The actual release might change slightly as the PR folks work on it, but you'll get the gist.

One fun thing that had to be left on the editing floor was a quote from a technical member of one of my client's staff when he asked, "... how did you get into this field?  I mean, you actually have a personality!"

The techie was worried I might be offended, but I thought it was pretty funny, and so did PR... but it didn't make the cut for the article.

Here's some insight into what it was like:

The oral exam gives high marks for noting very specific terms, and is structured in some way (like the CMMI model itself) that lends itself to recursiveness (not exactly redundancy).  Towards the last half hour, my seasonal cold, my lack of sleep, and my indigestion had all caught-up with me.  My brain was empty, I couldn't tell what I'd said previously and what I still didn't say and I couldn't pull certain ideas from my brain to save my life.

Last impressions are often just as memorable as first impressions.  In my case, I recall that I nailed the earlier parts of the exam to the wall.  Not just hitting the target but obliterating it.  But when the end drew near, I felt like I'd lost that clarity of thought, that I was going in circles.  Not knowing when I'd said enough or when I was digging my own grave, I started searching for ideas on the blank neutral hotel walls hoping my eye-movement would stimulate new recollections to re-open my log-jammed head to what I knew I knew.

At best, I felt I was squarely on the fence.  I'm grateful to the guys who administered the exam for translating my verbal spaghetti into thoughts that must've communicated my intentions even though at the time I felt my 22-month old had more effective speech patterns.