Software Engineering Institute

There has been a great deal of discussion of late about what it takes for organizations to attain high maturity status and what they can reasonably expect to gain by doing so. Clarification is needed along with good examples of what has worked well and what has not. This may be particularly so with respect to measurement and analysis. This report contains results from a survey of high maturity organizations conducted by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) in 2008. The questions center on the use of process performance modeling in those organizations and the value added by that use. The results show considerable understanding and use of process performance models among the organizations surveyed; however there is also wide variation in the respondents' answers. The same is true for the survey respondents' judgments about how useful process performance models have been for their organizations. As is true for less mature organizations, there is room for continuous improvement among high maturity organizations. Nevertheless, the respondents' judgments about the value added by doing process performance modeling also vary predictably as a function of the understanding and use of the models in their respective organizations. More widespread adoption and improved understanding of what constitutes a suit-able process performance model holds promise to improve CMMI-based performance outcomes considerably.