Letter to the CEO about Benefits of CMM Approach - Essay Example

One of the most important benefits of the CMM guidelines the fact that this approach is evolutionary and therefore has the necessary flexibility as well as robustness which allows us to improve upon the process of overall software development. Accordingly, there are five maturity levels of the CMM model. All these levels carry forward the process of software development in a systematic way emphasizing the need for continuously improving processes. (Garner, 2001). It is important to mention that one of the greatest benefits of the CMM approach is the fact that the processes focus on the need for bringing in more institutionalization in the whole process of software development.

(Wiegers, 1996). If the process of institutionalization i.e. reflection of the practices and processes to be applied across the software organization, does not support the process of software development, the whole point of applying CMM would go awry and the approach may not yield the desired results for the organization. Though there are enormous benefits to applying and following the CMM approach in the overall software development process, however, it might be difficult to follow it through to level 5.

As discussed above that the CMM has defined 5 different maturity levels for the process with each level having different requirements to fulfill to achieve the desired level of quality in the software development process. At the initial or first level, the success largely depends upon individual efforts as the processes adopted at this stage are considered as nonrepeatable therefore they may not be easily replicated. However, as the software development process transforms itself into the next phase or maturity level, the process can be repeated as till now the main project management techniques should have been clearly defined and outlined.

What is difficult however is the fact that as the process goes into the next stage; it starts to become more complex. Organizations usually find it difficult to follow the process and bring the required changes into their overall organizational process. This becomes further complicated when the issues of measurement as well as implementation come up. This not only requires organizations to put a serious effort into place but also demands a complete change in the very philosophy of the organization under which it attempts to perform and work. Thus there are many problems; both in terms of organization as well as software related which hinder the overall process of development.