Scrum Log Jeff Sutherland

Scrum is an Agile development framework that Jeff Sutherland invented at Easel Corporation in 1993. Jeff worked with Ken Schwaber to formalize Scrum at OOPSLA'95. Together, they extended and enhanced Scrum at many software companies and helped write the Agile Manifesto.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Scrum supports CMMI Level 5


Level 1 - Uncertainty. Success depends on individual effort.
Level 2 - Awakening. Basic project management practices are established.
Level 3 - Enlightenment. Standard process throughout organization.
Level 4 - Wisdom. Detailed metrics are collected and evaluated.
Level 5 - Certainty. Continuous process improvement via metrics feedback.

"Possibly by coincidence, both the Crosby and Humphrey maturity models resemble a maturity model developed circa 500 BC by Buddhist scholars as a kind of map for showing the stages on the path to religious enlightenment." Capers Jones, 1997

The 12th annual European Systems and Software Engineering Process Group Conference
EUROPEAN SEPG 2007 11-14th June, Amsterdam

Scrum and CMMI Level 5: The Magic Potion for Code Warriors

(See latest version of this paper published at HICSS 2008)

Keywords
High Maturity, CMMI Level 5, Agile, Scrum

Target audience
High maturity

Abstract
This presentation shows how one organization working at CMMI Level 5 used lean product development as a driver for optimizing software processes as part of their continuous improvement effort. Valuable experience has been gained by combining Agile Practices from Scrum and XP with CMMI Level 5. Results show that projects combining Agile Methods with CMMI 5 are more successful in producing higher quality software that more effectively meets customer needs at a faster pace. Initial pilots show productivity on Scrum teams almost twice that of traditional teams. Other projects demonstrated that a story-based test driven approach to software development reduced defects found during final test by 38%. These results led to an ROI based decision to more widely introduce Scrum and consider other Agile practices.

In order to maintain CMMI Level 5 certification, a careful assessment of practices required in addition to Scrum was necessary. Because Scrum reduced by almost 50% every category of work (defects, rework, total work required, and process overhead), it substantially cut the ongoing cost of maintaining CMMI Level 5 certification. We assert that Scrum and CMMI together bring a more powerful combination of adaptability and predictability to the marketplace than either one alone and suggest how other companies can combine them.

This presentation contains practical information and quantitative data obtained from introducing Agile practices like Scrum and story-based test driven software development into a high maturity organization. In addition, we present the benefit of adding CMMI Institutionalization to an existing organization’s Agile Methods.

Summary
This CMMI level 5 organization used lean product development as a driver for optimizing software processes as part of their continuous improvement effort. Initial pilots show productivity on Scrum teams almost twice that of traditional teams. Other projects demonstrated a story based test driven approach to software development reduced defects found during final test by 38%. This presentation contains practical information and quantitative data obtained from introducing Agile practices into an high maturity organization. In addition, we present the benefit of integrating CMMI Institutionalization Practices into existing organization’s Agile Methods.

Benefit
Experience and quantitative data from integrating Agile Methods with a world class CMMI Level 5 organization is shared with the delegates during this presentation. Delegates are shown how CMMI and Agile Methods have worked together to provide a powerful combination in one case showing a reduction of defects of 38%.

Presenter 1 profile
Kent Johnson is Chief Technical Officer for AgileDigm, Inc. a process focused consulting and training company. He is a proven leader and skilled troubleshooter with solid business and technical acumen. He has successfully worked with executives, managers, and engineering staff to improve their organizations in industries including aviation, naval, telecommunications, utilities, automotive, defense, government, software product development, and medical devices. He is co-author of Interpreting the CMMI: A Process Improvement Approach (Auerbach April 2003) and Ada 95 Quality and Style (Springer 1997). Kent is an SEI-authorized SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, an SEI-authorized CMMI® instructor, and an experienced process improvement consultant. He has helped clients move from Maturity Level 1 to level 5 using both the CMM and CMMI. Internationally, Kent has helped clients in over 20 countries to improve their systems and software processes. He is past Chairman, International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) Systems Architecture Working Group.

Presenting experience
The presenters have significant experience in client training and have conducted tutorials at many conferences. These conferences include European SEPG, SESAM Conference (Stockholm, Sweden), JAOO (Denmark and France), USA SEPG, and Software Technology Conference (USA).

Presenter 1
Mr Kent Johnson
Chief Technical Officer
AgileDigm, Inc.
11 Twelve Oaks Trail
Ormond Beach, FL 32174
USA
Email: kent.johnson@agiledigm.com

Presenter 2
Mr Carsten Ruseng Ruseng Jakobsen
Lean Improvement Responsible, Project Manager, PMP
Systematic Software Engineering A/S
Søren Frichs Vej 39
DK-8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
Email: crj@systematic.dk

Presenter 3
Dr Jeff Sutherland
Chief Technology Officer
PatientKeeper, Inc.
One Newton Place
275 Washington Street – 2nd Floor
Newton, MA 02458
USA
Direct telephone: +1 508 644 8298
Email: jeff.sutherland@computer.org

Labels:

12 Comments:

Blogger Sathish said...

Hi,

This is interesting piece of information. Taking advantage of SCRUM and CMMI is a great idea and benefit a lot to the Organizations that have already invested heavily in implmenting CMM/I process. I am interesting in reading the full paper/presentation discussed in this blog. Please let me know how I could obtain the same.

Thanks in advance,
Sathish Babu

5:03 PM  
Blogger Jeff Sutherland said...

We are working on completing a full paper for submission to Agile 2007 by the end of January. As soon as possible it will be posted here on the Scrum site.

5:40 PM  
Blogger Andrea Tomasini said...

Hi,
it really looks like an interesting session, nevertheless I would say that the title is a bit too "Glorious", I like Scrum a lot, but the way to CMM-I Level 5 is a bit wider than the Scrum domain.

Anyway I strongly believe that a well measured agile-cocktail could become a reasonable and effective way to achieve CMM-* certification with a consistent performance gain. Too many times CMM-* certification has been seen as a futile and expensive way to waste company resources...

All the Best, looking forward for you paper ;-)

ANdreaT

9:26 AM  
Blogger Sujit said...

I think every one is looking for this cocktail. I have been strguling on this issue. Pls let us know what is the best way.

5:45 AM  
Blogger Jeff Sutherland said...

The CMMI paper referred to above is under review by the Agile 2007 Committee. Reviews should be complete in a couple of weeks and then I will post it.

There was an Open Space meeting at Agile 2006 on CMMI and detailed notes were taken that are relevant to this topic. See: http://agile2006.stikipad.com/public/show/Agile+CMMI+Open+Space

2:22 PM  
Blogger kk said...

Hi

Is there any update on this front. ? Eagerly awaiting for this interesting information.

9:03 AM  
Blogger Sanjay said...

Hi Jeff!

Have you posted the paper anywhere? I was not able to locate it..

25-Jul-2007

2:44 AM  
Blogger Dan said...

In a similar vein, do you think SCRUM and ITIL can co-exist; or perhaps provide mutual benefits similar to SCRUM and CMMI?

10:02 AM  
Blogger Kiril said...

Hi,

great work. I believe though the industry pain is in small medium organizations that are neither agile nor CMMI.

It those environments I believe the best option is to be able to leverage both bodies of knowledge i.e. CMMI practices + the benefits of the SCRUM and empirical process control.

You probably know that CMMI offer two modes of operation:

1. Staged - this is the mode with levels 1 to 5 similar to hotel stars. This is the classic, but not really applicable to small settings approach

2. Continuous - this allows an organization to pick Process Areas which need improvement. This later mode is obviously more flexible and easier to apply.

In my recent experience in Small businesses I also noticed that even using focused continuous approach, small organizations struggle to complete 100% of the expected practices in a process area.

So I am wondering how to build a learning environment where SCRUM empirical process control can be used to introduce practices from CMMI on demand to help projects avoid risk and also accumulate this knowledge in the organization. Some sort of empirical process improvement.

I believe this can go well with lean principles of avoiding waste in this case avoiding unnecessary process overhead.

I would be grateful to hear your thoughts on application of CMMI & SCRUM in small settings.



Cheers,

Kiril Karaatanasov
http://www.karaatanasov.info

1:24 AM  
Blogger Contact - Windermere Agent Kim said...

Great article. SCRUM fits well in a larger process initiative. We were able to use SCRUM only in a single PDLC phase ( construction) in a waterfall like CMMI 4 certified method. We were building an embedded system at Honeywell.

It is the beauty of SCRUMs' adaptation cycles that make it possible to fit well and increase our production velocity; yet produce all CMMI artifacts necessary for keeping up with the broader process goals of the company.

4:38 AM  
Blogger Leo said...

Jeff,
Where did you posted the paper? I was searching for, but couldn't find.

Thanks,
Leo

3:03 PM  
Blogger Jeff Sutherland said...

The latest version of the Scrum and CMMI 5 paper can be found at:
http://jeffsutherland.com/scrum/SutherlandScrumCMMIHICSSPID498889.pdf

12:34 AM  

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