Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon

Benefits of CMM-Based Software Process Improvement: Initial Results

J. Herbsleb
A. Carleton
J. Rozum
J. Siegel
D. Zubrow

Technical Report
CMU/SEI-94-TR-013

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Data from 13 organizations were collected and analyzed to obtain information on the results of CMM-based software process improvement efforts. We report the cost and business value of improvement efforts, as well as the yearly improvement in productivity, early defect direction, time to market, and post-release defect reports. Improvement efforts and results in five organizations are reported in more depth in case studies. In addition, technical issues that we confronted as we tried to measure the results of software process improvement are discussed. We end with conclusions about the results of SPI efforts.