Moving Up

The software industry has been making progress under the guidance provided by the SW-CMM. As Figure 14-1 shows, in 1991, of 132 organizations assessed, only about 20 percent of organizations were performing at levels better than Level 1.[3]

Figure 14-1. Assessment profile of organizations that have been assessed using the SW-CMM as of 1991.

Source: "Process Maturity Profile of the Software Community 2002 Year End Update."

graphics/14fig01.gif

As Figure 14-2 shows, in 2002, of 1,978 organizations assessed, more than two-thirds were performing at better than Level 1.

Figure 14-2. Assessment profile as of 2002.

Source: "Process Maturity Profile of the Software Community 2002 Year End Update."

graphics/14fig02.gif

The trend shown by these two graphs is encouraging, but only a small fraction of all the software organizations in North America have been assessed, and I think it's safe to assume that the profile of organizations overall still looks a lot more like the SEI's 1991 profile than its 2001 profile, in other words, that about 75 percent of all organizations are still operating at Level 1.[4]

Are these results attainable by average organizations? The answer is clearly yes. As Figure 14-3 shows, the SEI studied more than 300 organizations that were trying to improve their SW-CMM rating from Level 1 to Level 2 or from Level 2 to Level 3.[5] Seventy-five percent improved from Level 1 to Level 2 in three and one-half years or less, and the median time was 22 months. Seventy-five percent improved from Level 2 to Level 3 in two and one-half years or less, and the median time was about 21 months. Organizations that make a serious commitment to SW-CMM-style improvement typically improve substantially, and quickly too.

Figure 14-3. Experience of organizations in moving from one SW-CMM maturity level to the next since 1992.

Source: Adapted from "Process Maturity Profile of the Software Community 2002 Year End Update."

graphics/14fig03.gif



Professional Software Development(c) Shorter Schedules, Higher Quality Products, More Successful Projects, [... ]reers
Professional Software Development(c) Shorter Schedules, Higher Quality Products, More Successful Projects, [... ]reers
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2005
Pages: 164

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