Using the Software CMM in Small Organizations

The Capability Maturity ModelSM for Software developed by the Software Engineering Institute has had a major influence on software process and quality improvement around the world. Although the CMM has been widely adopted, there remain many misunderstandings about how to use it effectively for businessdriven software process improvement, particularly for small organizations and small projects. Some of the common problems with interpreting the Software CMM for the small project/organization include: What does "small" mean? In terms of people? Time? Size of project? Criticality of product? What are the CMM "requirements"? Are there key process areas or goals that should not be applied to small projects/organizations? Are there "invariants" of good processes? What are the drivers and motivations that cause abuse of the CMM? This paper discusses how to use the CMM correctly and effectively in any business environment, with examples for the small organization. The conclusion is that the issues associated with interpreting the Software CMM for the small project or organization may be different in degree, but they are not different in kind, from those for any organization interested in improving its software processes. Using the Software CMM effectively and correctly requires professional judgment and an understanding of how the CMM is structured to be used for different purposes. MARK C. PAULK Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 4500 Fifth Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Telephone: +1 (412) 268-5794 Fax: +1 (412) 268-5758 Internet: [email protected] Mark is a Senior Member of the Technical Staff at the Software Engineering Institute. He has been with the SEI since 1987, initially working with the Software Capability Evaluation project. Mark has worked with the Capability Maturity Model project since its inception and was the project leader during the development of Version 1.1 of the Software CMM. He is also actively involved with software engineering standards, including ISO 15504 (aka SPICE -Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination), an emerging suite of international standards for software process assessment ISO 12207, Software Life Cycle Processes ISO 15288, System Life Cycle Processes Prior to joining the SEI, Mark was a Senior Systems Analyst for System Development Corporation (later Unisys Defense Systems) at the Ballistic Missile Defense Advanced Research Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Mark received his master's degree in computer science from Vanderbilt University. He received his bachelor's degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Professional society memberships and certifications Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Senior Member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) ASQ Certified Software Quality Engineer