Leadership in Process Improvement

The People Capability Maturity Model (People CMM) draws on the topics of capability maturity models, benchmark high-performance workforce practices, and organizational improvement to increase an organization’s workforce capability; and presents a documented road map for organizational improvement.

For his contributions and guidance as the leader of the Capability Maturity Models (CMM) project at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), his broad contributions to our ongoing discussions regarding the evolving drafts of the People CMM, and his continuing support for the People CMM efforts, we thank Dr. Mike Konrad. Watts Humphrey contributed to many discussions that led to the development and refinement of the model. The extraordinary efforts of Mark Paulk in the development of the Capability Maturity Model for Software established a world-class standard and enabled the People CMM to build on these efforts. We thank them for their contributions.

Sponsorship

We acknowledge Watts Humphrey, Ron Radice, and, especially, Bill Peterson for their foresight in providing sponsorship for this work. These gentlemen, along with Bill Curtis, have led the software process efforts at the SEI and have ensured that the process is viewed in the broad sociotechnical context in which it must be instantiated and executed—a context that involves a dynamic workforce, capable of improving and growing.

We especially thank Bill Peterson, the current manager of the Software Engineering Process Management (SEPM) Program at the Software Engineering Institute, for his continued facilitation and guidance of this work. We would also like to thank Miriam F. Browning (U.S. Army), LTG Otto Guenther (U.S. Army, Ret.), and Cynthia Kendall (Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense C3I) for providing the original sponsorship from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) necessary to complete Version 1 of the People CMM.

Reviewers

We would like to thank the many people who have been involved in the development of the People CMM. This effort could not have been accomplished without the expertise they lent to refine the model. We thank the more than 1500 members of the People CMM Correspondence Group who contributed their time and effort to provide insightful comments and recommendations.

We would also like to thank those who took time to provide substantial comments on the various drafts of the People CMM. Individuals who provided ongoing feedback regarding Version 2 include Ajay Batra (Quality Assurance Institute (India) Ltd.), Judah Mogilensky (Process Enhancement Partners, Inc.), Raghav Nandyal (SITARA Technologies Pvt. Ltd.), and John Vu (Boeing).

We would also thank Charlie Ryan and Gian Wemyss for their review and expert advice on the SCAMPI with People CMM appraisal method section. We also acknowledge the efforts of Ron Radice in leading the first pilot SCAMPI with People CMM appraisal, and documenting the results of that appraisal.

Implementers

Finally, we would like to thank those who have worked with us to further prove out the concepts of the People CMM in the real world—our students and colleagues who have applied these principles in their workplaces and the People CMM Lead Assessors and SCAMPI with People CMM Lead Appraisers who have worked with organizations to apply the model and to evaluate and benchmark their workforce practices. A current list of the SCAMPI with People CMM Lead Appraisers can be found on the SEI’s website in the Partner Directory.

We would like to thank especially those numerous individuals and organizations from the United States, India, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, China, Australia, Denmark, England, Korea, Malaysia, Latvia, and the Philippines who have used the People CMM to guide and conduct organizational improvement activities. Since its release in 1995, thousands of copies of the People CMM have been distributed, and it has been used worldwide by small and large commercial organizations and by government organizations. Adoption rates for the People CMM have been high among high-maturity organizations who are also using the CMMI-DEV or SW-CMM. High maturity organizations using the People CMM include Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and Wipro—the winner of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computer Society Award for Software Process Achievement in 2003 . High-maturity organizations using the People CMM in the United States include Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and AIS—the winner of the 1999 IEEE Computer Society Software Process Achievement Award. A survey of high-maturity software organizations showed that more than 40 percent of these Level 4 and Level 5 organizations were also using the People CMM. Numerous organizations have found that the People CMM can help to support and sustain their CMMI capabilities. Recent work at the SEI has identified six frameworks that are most often being used in multi-model improvement settings: CMMI, ISO (all ISO standards as a group), Six Sigma, ITIL, eSCM, and People CMM.

We would also like to thank Accenture, Jack Anderson (Intel), Ajay Batra (Quality Assurance Institute (India) Ltd.), Dr. Gargi Keeni (Tata Consultancy Services), Cecilia Miller (Lockheed Martin Mission Systems), Nina Modi (Tata Consultancy Services), Ron Radice (Software Technology Transition), Girish Seshagiri (Advanced Information Services, Teresa A. Suganski (Pfizer), Torben Thorhauge (Novo Nordisk Information Technology A/S), Srinivas Thummalapalli (TUV Rheinland India Pvt Ltd.), and John Vu (The Boeing Company) for their support in supplying data regarding their experiences and outcomes with the People CMM.

A second kind of implementer has been valuable to us—our editor at Addison-Wesley, Peter Gordon. Those who have assisted us in preparing this book—John Fuller of Addison-Wesley—ably guided us through the preproduction and production processes.

Michael Zuccher’s contributions in managing the SEI’s Software Engineering Information Repository (SEIR) and especially the People CMM components of this repository have supported many people in understanding and using the People CMM. His unique contributions are greatly appreciated.

We greatly appreciate the efforts of Palma Buttles-Valdez andMarlene MacDonald for their tireless operational support.