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Goodbye CMMI V1.3, Time to Fade into the Sunset!

Trivia Question:
In this 1960 animated cartoon, Sam, the Duke of Yosemite, will inherit one million pounds if he can keep his temper in check. Thing is, he has to endure his annoying house guest.
 
What was the name of the guest, and for an extra point, what was the name of the cartoon?

Trivia Rules: Use your brains, memory and reasoning to figure these out instead of Google, IMDB, etc.

Ever have one of those friends/relatives who shows up to a party and then routinely overstays his or her welcome, often well after everyone else has left?  Free food and drinks may have something to do with the guest’s behavior, but sometimes even obvious hints are not successful in getting this now unwanted guest to depart.
 
Such is the case with CMMI V1.3.  Make no mistake – V1.3 had a big impact on a lot of organizations across the world for the eight years it was around. Multiple organizations across the globe saw tangible improvements, achieved targeted Maturity levels, etc., but for a model that deals with technology, V1.3 was well past its prime when we released V2.0 in March of 2018. Let’s recap some of the most obvious shortcomings of V1.3:
  • Not current/out-of-date with technology. Although V1.3 mentioned Agile, it was primarily as an after-thought. Unfortunately, this helped lend credence to the misperception that the CMMI and Agile didn’t work together well. In fact, from the “CMMI Market Assessment” 2016 report published by OnPoint Consulting, the number of appraised organizations using the Agile method exceeded 80%. 
  • Related to the first item, the CMMI V1.3 model was three full books or a PDF of over 1,800 pages and lacked interactivity (or easy usability) with users and adopters. These three models were NOT integrated, nor were they consistent with how they dealt with similar capability areas such as planning, quality assurance, etc. The community wanted the “I” in CMMI to actually integrate these three models, but by splitting them up into three distinct products, the “I” has been practically missing in V1.3 since its release.
  • The Model and Appraisal Method were hard to understand, and harder to adopt and follow. The previous V1.3 Method Definition Document (MDD) was 277 pages. Both method and model were written with heavy passive voice, and written at a double-Ph.D reading level with very low readability as measured by the Flesch-Kincaid scale. In addition, there was no adoption guidance or help, other than through a limited set of Lead Appraisers and consultants who had “trial and error”-based experience for adoption.
  • The cost and impact of V1.3 appraisals on organizations was significant. Most appraisals for V1.3 were done with the CMMI-Development model, and of those, most were targeting Maturity Level 3. This meant, on average, that an appraisal typically took up to two full weeks in which staff were taken away from their normal workday to participate in appraisal interviews and activities. This created a “race to the bottom” phenomenon in the market where, often misinformed, inexperienced, or outright unethical Lead Appraisers moved toward shortened “cookie cutter” appraisals, and provided adopting organizations incorrect advice on the role of the appraisal vs. preparation for it. The real end-goal of tangible business performance results was lost or minimized. 
  • Focus evolved to compliance over performance. This is perhaps the most problematic of V1.3 maladies. As the “chase for maturity levels” was propagated, it quickly became the norm that appraisals were simply “box-checking” activities that cost organizations a lot of money with little to no performance outcomes or value-add. 

Thanks to a lot of help from many organizations and people from the global CMMI community and some very hard-working people at ISACA-CMMI, V2.0 came along in March of 2018 to address these shortcomings. Now at the end of the Q3 in 2020, with over two years of CMMI adoption data, let’s take a look at the initial results:
  • Current Content, Latest Tech. New Practice and Capability Areas are in place with best practices for Performance, Agile, Virtual or Remote Workforce Delivery, Service Operations, Supplier Management, with Safety and Security and CMMC coming out in our next major release. Additionally, the CMMI is now in the form of an interactive online model viewer that we have been continuously enhancing, thanks to user feedback and suggestions. Please keep that feedback coming – it’s how we improve our products for you and your customers.
  •  A fully integrated model and product suite. Aside from having the three previous legacy models of Development, Services and Acquisition/Supplier Management, we now have an open architecture and a fully integrated framework of best practices for a variety of organizations, domains, and solutions. The V2.0 model, appraisal method (MDD), training courses, and adoption guidance were all designed and developed as an integrated set of product components. 
  • Easy Peasy to Understand and Adopt. All V2.0 content has improved significantly in terms of readability and grade level. The content is written at a high school grade level, with over a 23% increase in Flesch-Kincaid readability, and we continue to improve on those scores. Both the model and method were significantly reduced in size and complexity while adding business performance values for every practice area and practice. 
  • Lean and Clean CMMI V2.0 Appraisal Method. The length of the appraisal method was cut in half. We removed a lot of duplication and improved the method to be less burdensome on the organization being appraised, while improving the rigor and fidelity of CMMI appraisals. More options for types of appraisals, including a “lighter touch” Sustainment appraisal, are also features of the V2.0 MDD. Check out our website for the China Merchant Bank case study – a reduction of 50% in preparation time for its appraisal that covered 90% of its projects!
  • PERFORMANCE! PERFORMANCE! PERFORMANCE! 2019 data from the first 95 organizations adopting V2.0 show amazing results, including the achievement of organizations’ most critical business objectives more than 70% of the time! Performance is built into every aspect of the product suite, including the model, appraisal method, training, adoption, and systems. Consider this a teaser for the great data we’re about to release to the community on the first ever V2.0 Performance Results report.