Most organizations seek a rating against the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) or Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) because their customers require it of them. But what about the majority of us for whom no such requirement exists? Is there any value in the CMM? Is there any reason why we should pay attention to what the CMMI says?
In two words, Yes, and Yes!
The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) created the Capability Maturity Model as a result of research into organizations that had proven to be successful in delivering quality software on time and within budget. They sought to find out what it was that differentiated these successful organizations from the majority who were inconsistent in their results, or were just plain failures. The CMM documents the attributes of these successful organizations-attributes that any organization can adopt. In addition, it lays these important attributes out on a path of increasing maturity that any organization can follow if it wants to join the ranks of the successful.
The CMM is designed to be a roadmap to successful software and systems development. Organizations that use it as a process improvement guide can expect to reap significant rewards.
What are the CMM and CMMI?
When people talk about the "CMM" they almost always are referring to the CMM for Software. This is the original CMM that the SEI developed in the late 1980's. It later developed other CMMs for System Engineering, Software Acquisition, and a number of other disciplines. In the past few years, the SEI has integrated all of these CMM's together into a single comprehensive model called the Capability Maturity Model Integration, or CMMI. This new model is replacing all of the older ones.
Like the CMM, the CMMI is arranged into five levels of increasing maturity. Beginning with Maturity Level 1 (which is where any organization begins regardless of how good its processes are), the five Maturity Levels define a roadmap of increasing maturity in the organization's development processes, and hence, in its ability to complete projects consistently and well. (Refer to Figure 1 for a picture of the five levels of the CMMI, and the Process Areas that are included in each of these levels.) Maturity Level 1, called "Initial", is characterized by "Heroic Efforts".
The CMMI identifies no Process Areas at this level. You automatically achieve this level if you can design, develop, integrate, and test. Organizations at Maturity Level 1 are sometimes successful, and sometimes not. The inconsistency that is characteristic of organizations at Maturity Level 1 is the reason why "Heroic Efforts" are required in order for them to achieve success in their projects. In fact, the phrase, "Heroic Efforts" is likely to elicit knowing nods of the head from members of these organizations, because it is all too familiar to them.
Maturity Level 2, called "Managed", is characterized by "Basic Project Management". The seven Process Areas at Maturity Level 2 all deal with management, rather than technical issues: Requirements Management , Project Planning, Project Monitoring & Control, Supplier Agreement Management, Measurement & Analysis, Product & Process Quality Assurance, and Configuration Management. This is an important lesson.
The CMMI teaches us that a firm foundation of disciplined management practices is necessary before the effort to establish technical processes will pay off. In fact, most organizations find that in spite of having established some good technical processes, improvements in their performance are inconsistent and disappointing. This is because even the best technical processes will be made ineffective by immature management processes. So the CMM and CMMI guides us to improve our management processes first.
Maturity Level 3, called "Defined", is characterized by "Process Standardization". This is where the bulk of the Process Areas reside in the CMMI. We find that these Process Areas fall into three main categories:
- Technical - The first five Process Areas (Requirements Development, Technical Solution, Product Integration, Verification, and Validation) deal with the technical engineering work.
- Process Management - The next three Process Areas (Organizational Process Focus, Organizational Process Definition, and Organizational Training) provide the infrastructure for maintaining and improving the organization's processes.
- Management - The last six Process Areas (Integrated Product Management, Risk Management, Integrated Teaming, Integrated Supplier Management, Decision Analysis & Resolution, and Organizational Environment for Integration) all build more management discipline on top of the basic management Process Areas established at Maturity Level 2.
