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The Status of CMM in the World of Software Development

In the complex world of software development outsourcing, CMM has become a kind of high-level certification. In the same way that becoming a certified Oracle database administrator or certified Microsoft software engineer have become valuable on a résumé, becoming a CMM Level 3 organization has become a widely accepted certification in software marketing. Becoming a Level 4 or 5 organization is supposed to make you a top software engineering firm.

An interesting note is that in talking to some of my CIO friends, they are somewhat bemused by the emphasis on becoming a CMM Level 3 organization, but they are more than ready to use it as a selling point with management on outsourcing large tasks. On the other hand, many of these same managers are somewhat leery of organizations that represent themselves as Level 4 or 5. Most of these CIOs are afraid, I assume, that Level 4 or 5 will be too costly to do business with because they are too formal and too controlled.