The Challenge of CMMI Level 4-5 Interpretation and Implementations
As CMMI adoption broadens, many more organizations seek to achieve levels 4-5. There is not much in the way of reference material external to a CMMI model to help organizations and SCAMPI Lead AppraisersSM correctly interpret and implement the level 4-5 practices, some of which are difficult to comprehend. Also, there is much less experience implementing these practices. Therefore, there could be wide variation in the interpretation of these practices by both organizations and Lead Appraisers as evidenced in some of the SEI’s level 4-5 quality audits and Lead Appraiser certification activities.
This amount of variation was not well understood in the early years of CMM adoption, but it has now become visible in some organizations that have recently sought to implement CMMI level 4-5 practices. It even appears that some organizations and Lead Appraisers, perhaps driven by a short-sighted focus on only doing the minimum to achieve model compliance, are ignoring the informative material, treating it as “only informative” rather than using it to support true understanding of levels 4-5 and thereby obtaining greater value from CMMI. Informative material provides the details to help understand, implement, and appraise the required and expected components.
Addressing the Challenge
The SEI is taking actions such as the following to assist in the correct interpretation of level 4-5 practices:
- replacing the High Maturity with Statistics course with a new course tentatively titled Understanding CMMI High Maturity Practices to provide more detailed explanations of the practices at levels 4-5 as well as examples of applications of statistical methods that assist in the proper implementation of these practices
- developing a SCAMPI Lead Appraiser Body of Knowledge (SLA BOK) to broadly address the competencies a SCAMPI Lead Appraiser is expected to possess. One of the knowledge areas that will be covered in detail is judging high maturity processes
- planning a new course, titled Appraising CMMI High Maturity Organizations, to provide more detailed examples and explanations of appraising organizations using CMMI practices at levels 4-5
- planning an integrated training curriculum to take advantage of SEI’s existing and planned courses on measurement and analysis (e.g., the above new courses and the Measuring for Performance-Driven Improvement series of courses) and the Team Software ProcessSM (to more effectively implement process capabilities at the team and individual levels)
- ensuring Lead Appraisers who will appraise organizations against levels 4-5 have the proper understanding of the practices and are certified to lead appraisals at those levels
Also, the SEI will continue to perform quality audits to help ensure correct interpretation is being given to the level 4-5 practices.
These actions will all be guided by the informative material found at levels 4-5. It is therefore essential that both organizations and Lead Appraisers pay particular attention to the informative material in the process areas and generic practices at levels 4-5 to help correctly interpret these practices. Also, those interested in implementing the level 4-5 practices should set their sights beyond model compliance and address the question of how to obtain the most value from CMMI. One way to begin to do this is take appropriate training, starting with the Understanding CMMI High Maturity Practices course that will become available soon.
If you have questions or comments, send email to: cmmi-comments@sei.cmu.edu
