Greetings All!

Although Hanukka has already come and gone this season, in many "Western" cultures this time of year is when many people take time off and nestle with their families in their homes or elsewhere, or jaunt off to their favorite vacation spots — and generally take a well-needed and typically overdue break from the usual routine.

I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone for their readership and interest in the subject and to wish everyone a very safe, happy, healthy and Peace-filled December/January Holiday season.

OK, since you’re here, I’ll offer-up a thought or two about Agile + CMMI.
Looking back on the year, we (Mike Konrad, Jeff Dalton, Mike Phillips, and others) are working on a publication on the topic (official from the SEI and everything).

Between that effort and my other work and reading it’s becoming painfully clear that the supposed rift between CMMI and Agile is really a matter of bad PR. CMMI is poorly understood even among too many seasoned process professionals. And, Agile is frequently abused by developers feigning use of defined development methods or management seeking new ways of cutting corners instead of actually reducing improving productivity and/or reducing waste.

I’ve also noted some other interesting observations along the way.

It seems to be easier to explain:
-) the correct concepts of CMMI to a true agile practitioner or
-) agile concepts to one of the few process professionals who understand CMMI correctly

than it is to educate:
-) a supposed process professional deficient in both CMMI and agile knowledge such that they can be proficient in either/both, and
-) I assume the same can be said of teaching agile concepts to the hard-line agile posers (let alone teaching them proper CMMI).

So… in this regard… let me make the following offer:

Please contact me if you’re interested in working in Agile+CMMI consulting.
2008 is lining-up to be quite exciting here, and I’m always looking for folks who "get it".

All the best.