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In the end, CMM depends upon comparing performance with management. Perhaps the best analogy is with sports. CMM proponents suggest that we compare a little league baseball team with a major league one, if you want to see the difference, let's say, between Levels 1 and 4. And, if you want to see the difference between a Level 4 and Level 5 organization, look at the New York Yankees against any other major league franchise. (Note that there is little discussion here about the skill of the individual players.)
All teams and all software organizations do the right things (such as plan, define, design, code, test, and install). The difference between the good ones and the bad ones is that the good ones do the right things in the right sequence more often. The great organizations keep looking at what they are doing and try to find ways to do it better. An organization at Level 5 keeps reinventing itself to incorporate new people, new technology, and new management strategies.
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If you want to do business with defense agencies and with an increasing number of large corporations, you need to show CMM certification. Some organizations use this as an opportunity to make major improvements in their software processes. Other organizations see it simply as something else they must do in order to do business with the government. The ultimate danger of CMM is that it can easily harden into mindless paperwork. In a discussion with Cutter Consortium Fellow Robert Charette, he remarked that this freezing in place was the biggest problem with large organizations using CMM.
Just like TQM, CMM must be worked on every day to be of value. New approaches need to be evaluated, and CMM must be modified to keep up with the times. CMM software development managers have to take a "sundown" approach to processes and forms. If a process doesn't make sense any more, or, if some form is out of date, it ought to modified or let go.
In addition, CMM managers have to work to maintain organizational flexibility. In particular, they need to ensure that they promote face-to-face communication whenever possible.
Finally, CMM needs to be automated. If some particular bit of information needs to be kept up to date, or some formal approval needs to be given at a certain point, then these things ought to be automated so that they are as easy to do and are integrated as possible. Of all the approaches out there, CMM must be constantly reengineered.
Because of its tendency toward rigidity and bureaucracy, CMM in the wrong hands can stifle all innovation. Pretty soon, if you're not careful, CMM becomes all the bad things that its opponents say about it.