Appendix D: Sample Action Plan Template

9. CMMI supports organizational business objectives.

One of the exercises in the official CMMI class is to count the number of times the words "business objectives" appear in the model. So, apparently the thinking is that by simply repeating the words over and over, then it must be so. (The answer, by the way, is over 40 times.) We think it depends on what your organization's business objectives actually are. Are they to save money? Well, maybe the CMMI will help and maybe not. Do you have the resources and funds to dedicate to process improvement using the CMMI? Do you have problems in your organization that can benefit from providing structure and documenting your processes? Maybe ” maybe not. It all depends on your organization. And no, the CMMI ” like the CMM ” is not for every organization. We cannot find statistics that detail the number of organizations that begin this journey and then drop out. We can only find data on organizations that have achieved a level rating and been awarded contracts. How many of you have worked in organizations that needed to achieve Level 3 for contract awards, and once it was achieved, those organizations dropped out of the program? We know of several organizations like that. We also know of many organizations that drop out during the road to Level 2. There are many reasons, from not having the budget to not having enough people, to not having the right people, to being driven by time-to-market , to not being able to support the time it takes to institute this path . Also, it takes a somewhat mature organization to actually have achievable business objectives that can be used to map to the CMMI. Most organizations simply say that their business objective is Level 3 for contract awards so they can make money.