CMM

CMM – Capability Maturity Model. It is a model of the maturity of certain business model. Most of the software firms are running behind this without even knowing what does that mean? Would it mean value to the organization? And if yes, at what cost? And the most important. From where it all started? What was the background when it all happened?

CMM original context was for defense-related development projects (for United States Air Force) where human lives are at stake, and where time, money, and manpower are all available in quantity.

Now if we talk about the current software industry, who else will accept this fact that they have time, money and manpower in good quantity. Now days, where each customer wants their software development cycle good, fast and cheap, how can we think about time, money and manpower in good quantity?

Are CMM practices appropriate for every software development context? Certainly not; no way. In my opinion, without tailoring the processes defined in the CMM, any organization should not even think of about the CMM.

I have seen in some organization how they have implemented the CMM certification. As a process of CMM, the organization should be through with the CMM audit that is being done by the CMM auditors. I have seen some companies discussing and giving lectures to all the target employees who will be responsible and will be a part of CMM audit and that too, one day before the audit. I also encountered some great examples where the management invests a lot of time to understand and correlate the actions that are required for a CMM certified company. And the people, who have a good knowledge about the topic, sitting outside doing their regular tasks.

Most of the times, the organization receives the CMM certification but it remains as decorative as Chinese lamps. I mean no one follows what had been promised while CMM certification activities. That is why initiation of a task is easy but continuation of the same task is a real challenge.

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.–“William Shakespeare”. This means it is bad if the management is only thinking about getting the CMM certified tag and after that, no control on the same. On the other side, it is really appreciable if we continue with the same practices that we are practicing while getting the certification.

Just because you have the CMM certification doesn’t mean that you will remember all the processes when the need arises. But it is the responsibility of the management to continue with the same to maintain the dignity of CMM.

-- Sanat Sharma