Why SAM is excluded ?

Why is SAM removed from CMMI L3?

Supplier Agreement Management (SAM) is not excluded from the CMMI-DEV or CMMI-SVC. When you say L3, I assume you mean Maturity Level 3 and SAM is definitely NOT excluded from ML 3. If, however, the Lead Appraiser in working with the organization determines that SAM is not applicable to the work performed by the organization, SAM will be considered Not Applicable to the scope of the appraisal. And that could be at any Maturity Level. Please read previous my posts regarding SAM for more information. http://ppqc.blogspot.com/2009/04/excluding-supplier-agreement-management.html and http://ppqc.blogspot.com/2009/07/cmmi-novice-question.html

Criteria For Selecting and Qualifying an Instructor

What are the important criteria that we should use to qualify and select internal and external instructors?

First of all you need to specify what kind of instructor you want to select and qualify, as well as the topic(s) you wish this person to teach. Then you would need to identify the core competencies for instructors in your organization. Coincidentally, I just created a job description for a Trainer position at my client based on some core competencies I found by searching the Internet. Here is a list of candidate competencies for your consideration:

Establishes and maintains instructor credibility

• Demonstrates content expertise
• States the learning objectives
• Provides a model of professional and inter-personal behavior

Demonstrates effective communication skills

• Uses appropriate verbal and non-verbal language
• Uses frames of reference, language, and technical terms familiar to the students
• Demonstrates that students have understood the message

Demonstrates effective presentation skills

• Uses appropriate modulation of voice to keep students engaged and interested
• Makes eye contact with individual students in the class
• Uses appropriate gestures to communicate
• Make effective use of moving around the room while facilitating discussions
• Uses anecdotes, stories, analogies, real world examples, and humor effectively to illustrate key concepts
• Uses relevant and short “war stories”
• Encourages students to share their experiences

Demonstrates effective questioning skills

• Asks students open ended questions
• Appropriately directs questions to students
• Uses active listening techniques to draw information from students
• Paraphrases student questions to ensure that everyone understands

Responds appropriately to student’s need for clarification or feedback

• Identifies students with clarification and feedback needs
• Provides prompt, timely, and specific feedback focused on the performance, not the person
• Welcomes questions from the students

Provides positive reinforcement and motivational incentives

• Matches learning outcomes to student needs and goals
• Determines if the student has mastered the material by the end of the class
• Uses introductory activities to develop learning motivation
• Makes the learning experience relevant and fun
• Uses feedback and reinforcement during instruction

Uses instructional methods appropriately

• Demonstrates proficiency with a variety of teaching methods
• Limits the amount of lecture time
• Uses demonstrations
• Uses group and individual exercises
• Facilitates group discussions
• Uses instructional techniques that fit the situation
• Encourages group dynamics associated with the media selected
• Uses slides or other media as an outline for class discussion rather than lecture

Uses media effectively

• Demonstrates proficiency with the training equipment (projector, laptop, hardware, etc.)
• Troubleshoots problems associated with training equipment
• Makes effective use of flip charts, presentation slides, hardware, etc.
• Faces the audience when presenting and avoids reading the slides

Demonstrates understanding of the principles of adult learning

• Makes the training topics relevant to the student’s needs
• Makes the students partners in the learning experience

Need Some Clarification About Process Improvement

What types of activities should be considered process improvement? If we modify the templates (any major changes), do we categorize these changes as process improvement?

Merely modifying a template may or may not constitute process improvement. Your template may have changed because of external reasons (your customer wants you to use a different template) that have nothing to do with process improvement. You should explain the rationale for modification, then you would have a stronger case to demonstrate process improvement.

Process improvement suggestions can come from any number of sources:

1. Appraisal findings
2. PPQA audit findings
3. Lessons learned
4. Employee suggestions

If you couple the source of the process improvement suggestion with the actual change, usually spelled out in the Process Improvement Plan, then you have the information you need.

Process Improvement Measures

Do you have any suggestions for a size and quality measure for a Process Improvement organization?

There are other questions that need to be answered first in order to provide a proper response to your question. What does your Process Improvement process say? Examine your process to see what type of activities you have documented, where are the spots in the process you can collect data, and what data you can collect. You also have to consider your business goals and objectives for your Process Improvement organization. Then you will have some idea of the measures you can use for size and quality of your Process Improvement effort. Experts can offer you all different ideas, but if these ideas don’t support your goals and/or your process is written in such a way that it doesn’t support these measures, then you will have to consider something else.

Measurement and Analysis vs. Generic Practice 2.8

Would you expect that measures being reported for Generic Practice (GP) 2.8 on all Maturity Level (ML) 2 and ML 3 Process Areas (PAs) would follow the complete Measurement and Analysis (MA) PA? That is these GP 2.8 measures would have written objectives, operational definitions, storage, collection and analysis procedures in line with MA Specific Goal (SG) 1 and SG 2. Or can the PAs be monitored (measured) and controlled without the full breath of the MA PA?

This is a good question. So let’s take a step backwards and look at the CMMI and Generic Practice – PA Relationships. The summary table in the Generic Practice section of the model clearly states that Project Monitoring and Control (PMC) can implement GP 2.8 for all project-related processes. And MA provides general guidance about measuring, analyzing, and recording information that can be used in establishing measures for monitoring actual performance of the process. Please note that this information is GUIDANCE and part of the INFORMATIVE material. Therefore, it is not required that the org use MA for GP 2.8. HOWEVER, from a practical point of view, why would MA be part of the model if there wasn’t a requirement and expectation that it would be implemented? Since it is a ML 2 PA and you are asking about ML 3, as a Lead Appraiser I would expect to see that MA was used for defining, collecting, analyzing, and reporting both the project and process measures. Without implementing MA for the process measures, the org would be receiving little to no benefit from GP 2.8. And as I have seen GP 2.8 implemented, sometimes the process measures are embedded in the project measures that have been defined using MA.

Requirements Traceability Matrix Question

Is Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) a configurable item (CI) or not? Do we need to maintain its version history?

This is a question you really have to answer for yourself by first addressing some more basic questions. How critical is the RTM to the success of your project, organization, and business? What do you use the RTM for? Tracing requirements? Verifying and validating requirements? Regression testing? What value to you, the project, and the organization is the change history of the RTM? If you identify strong business needs for the RTM, then the answer to original question will become obvious.

From my perspective, the RTM is not a CI per se as it is a tool for managing your requirements and not necessarily a product component. But it is a very important, if not essential tool, and maintaining its change history could be necessary for project and organizational success.

Appraisal Team Member Qualification Requirements

What are the requirements to be an Appraisal Team Member (ATM) in SCAMPI A appraisal?

I have heard many opinions on ATM qualifications, such as:

1. Not part of process definition
2. Not involved with Process Implementation
3. Not being an SEPG member.

I am unaware of any criteria set by the SEI on this topic.

The ATM qualifications are spelled out in the SCAMPI Method Definition Document (MDD) Section 1.3.2 SELECT TEAM MEMBERS. I have extracted the pertinent text here.

Parameters and Limits
The minimum acceptable team size for a SCAMPI A appraisal is four people (including the appraisal team leader).
All team members must have previously completed the SEI-licensed Introduction to CMMI course.
With regard to engineering field experience, the team (as a group) must have an average of at least 6 years of experience, and the team total must be at least 25 years of experience in each of the disciplines to be covered in the appraisal.
With regard to management experience, the team (as a group) must have a total of at least 10 years of experience, and at least one team member must have at least 6 years of experience as a manager.
The team must, in aggregate, have representative experience in the lifecycles being appraised.

Optional Practices
Although not required in the Parameters and Limits section above, the following are considered recommended best practices and should be employed whenever feasible:

• Each member should have good written and oral communication skills, the ability to facilitate the free flow of communication, and the ability to perform as team players and negotiate consensus.
• At least half of the team members should have participated in a previous process appraisal.
• Team members should be perceived by the appraisal sponsor as credible.

Additional appraisal team member selection considerations include

• Consider the personal characteristics of individual team members (e.g., communication preferences and personality types) and how these characteristics may affect the dynamics of the team.
• Use one or more authorized SCAMPI Lead Appraisers as team members.

And there is one more ATM requirement that is documented in the MDD errata. The Appraisal Sponsor cannot be an Appraisal Team Member.