Two case studies on small enterprise motivation and readiness for CMMI

Abstract

The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is a structured representation of process areas that can support an organization's software development competency. CMMI can be used as a framework for Software Process Improvement (SPI). Some large organizations have received productivity and product quality benefits from achieving high levels of CMMI. However, CMMI is sometimes thought to be difficult to apply to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), and its relevance to SMEs is not yet clear. This paper describes two case studies of small enterprises that adopted CMMI for SPI. We examine their motivation for SPI, and also their organizational readiness for SPI. The two companies in our case study are similar, but have contrasting reasons for adopting SPI. Company A adopted CMMI for marketing reasons, and Company B listed many reasons. Although a valid business rationale, marketing reasons are usually maligned within the SPI community. Nonetheless, Company A had the highest level of readiness. We suggest that having clear goals for SPI is critical, even if those goals are not stereotypical.