Essence of process improvement: closed-loop feedback
A good development process includes the way to re-define itself based-on self-critique and retrospection.
Why?
Part of the answer is the way the most complex object in the entire known universe works: the human brain. We are unable to see the ultimate reality as it is, we only are able to see a map of the terrain –always, but never the terrain itself. We humans strive for at most continuously improve the maps we have about ourselves and the world around us.
How good you are at software development?
Not just how nice are your ideas, documents or diagrams, but how do your programs behave?
A capability maturity model –a way to see how good you are at what you do and what you do to improve– is a good idea and its essence must be present at the person level first in order to really make a difference at the organizational level. That is why agile software development mindsets make a lot of sense.
With a capability maturity model at the person level in place, an organization should define its own measure of capability, that is to say its own CMM:
The definition of a CMM allows the community to develop models supporting different approaches to process improvement. As long as a model contains the essential elements of effective processes for one or more disciplines and describes an evolutionary improvement path from ad hoc, immature processes to disciplined, mature processes with improved quality and effectiveness, it is considered a CMM.