Capability maturity model, version 1.1
Open accessAbstract
The capability maturity model (CMM), developed to present sets of recommended practices in a number of key process areas that have been shown to enhance software-development and maintenance capability, is discussed. The CMM was designed to help developers select process-improvement strategies by determining their current process maturity and identifying the issues most critical to improving their software quality and process. The initial release of the CMM, version 1.0, was reviewed and used by the software community during 1991 and 1992. A workshop on CMM 1.0, held in April 1992, was attended by about 200 software professionals. The current version of the CMM is the result of the feedback from that workshop and ongoing feedback from the software community. The technical report that describes version 1.1. is summarised.>
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The most common maturity models delineate five levels: initial, managed, defined, quantitatively managed, and optimising.
“As posited by Paulk et al. (1993) and de Bruin et al. (2005), the most common models delineate five levelsinitial, managed, defined, quantitatively managed, and optimisingagainst which firms benchmark their digital capabilities and identify targeted improvements.”
From Digital transformation: a comparative analysis of SME digital maturity models (2025) · cites this paper as Paulk et al. (1993)
Capability Maturity Models (CMMs) offer staged diagnostic frameworks that chart the progression from ad-hoc digital activity to optimised, continuously improving practice.
“Capability Maturity Models (CMMs) offer staged diagnostic frameworks that chart the progression from adhoc digital activity to optimised, continuously improving practice (Paulk et al., 1993;Wendler, 2012;Becker et al., 2009).”
From Digital transformation: a comparative analysis of SME digital maturity models (2025) · cites this paper as Paulk et al., 1993
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“Situational Maturity Models as Instrumental Artifacts for Organizational Design Tobias Mettler University of St. Gallen Mueller-Friedberg-Strasse 8 CH-9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland +41 71 224 33 20 tobias.mettler@unisg.ch Peter Rohner University of St. Gallen Mueller-Friedberg-Strasse 8 CH-9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland…”
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“role to guarantee the success of software projects (Paulk et al. 1993).”
The effects of software processes on meeting targets and quality
Deephouse, C., Goldenson, D. R., Kellner, M., & Mukhopadhyay, T. (1995) · Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences · doi:10.1109/hicss.1995.375677 · Cited by 79
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“MMs – or correctly maturity assessment models – are a widely accepted instrument for systematically documenting and guiding the development and transformation of organizations on the basis of best or common practices [37].”
Macgillivray, B., Sharp, J., Strutt, J., Hamilton, P. D., & Pollard, S. (2007) · Journal of Risk Research · doi:10.1080/13669870601011183 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
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“The MM comes from the capability maturity model (CMM) developed for the software industry in the early 1990s and promoted by the Software Engineering Institute (Paulk et al. 1993).”
Diagnosing Model Performance Under Distribution Shift
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BackgroundCity Digital Twins: their maturity level and differentiation from 3D city models
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“These models, which originated in the software industry for improving software development and maintenance (Paulk et al., 1993), are a common topic of discussion in digital twin academic and professional literature (Davila Delgado & Oyedele, 2021).”
MethodLiSRA: Lightweight Security Risk Assessment for decision support in information security
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“They argue that skipping maturity levels is counter-productive because each level forms a necessary foundation for the next higher level which also holds for the COBIT maturity levels [28].”
BackgroundProcess management in hospitals: an empirically grounded maturity model
Cleven, A., Winter, R., Wortmann, F., & Mettler, T. (2014) · BuR - Business Research · doi:10.1007/s40685-014-0012-x · Cited by 49 · see citing works
“CMMs have become widely discussed and applied with the pioneering CMM for software development (Paulk et al. 1993).”
MethodHuman-Centered AI Design in Reality: A Study of Developer Companies’ Practices
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Introduction of a digital maturity assessment framework for construction site operations
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“One of the most recognized maturity models is the capability maturity model for software developed by Paulk et al. (1993).”
BackgroundInfluentialKnowledge Integration in Outsourced Software Development: The Role of Sentry and Guard Processes
Mehta, N., & Bharadwaj, A. (2015) · Journal of Management Information Systems · doi:10.1080/07421222.2015.1029381 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
“The items were placed in a questionnaire format and administered through the World Wide Web to fifty project leaders of vendor development teams in a Capable Maturity Model (CMM) Level-5 firm not included in the final data collection [63].”
MethodCompeting values in software process improvement: a study of cultural profiles
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BackgroundInfluentialA Mobile Software Quality Model
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“Other known models are ISO/IEC 15504 (SPICE) and the Capability Maturity Model [5].”
MethodEvolution in software and related areas
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Tool Support for Experience-based Software Development Methodologies
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“…field of software engineering, the various maturity efforts have received a lot of positive attention (Herbsleb et al., 1997; Iivari et al., 2001; Paulk et al., 1993; Shere and Versel, 1994), as well as harsh critiques (Bollinger and McGowan, 1991; Pfleeger, 1999; The research register for this…”
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“More specifically, there has been considerable research directed at the relationship between IT investment and capability maturity and its contribution towards organisational performance (e.g. Paulk et al., 1993; Team, 2002; Curley, 2009; Donnellan et al., 2011).”
BackgroundRecent Trends in Information and Cyber Security Maturity Assessment: A Systematic Literature Review
Brezavšček, A., & Баггиа, А. (2025) · Systems · doi:10.3390/systems13010052 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Measuring Data Management Practice Maturity: A Community's Self-Assessment
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MuNDDoS - Um Modelo de Referência para Desenvolvimento Distribuído de Software
Prikladnicki, R., & Audy, J. L. N. (2004) · Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering · doi:10.5753/sbes.2004.23848 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“Lição 8: Desenvolver software de forma distribuí da é um processo que amadurece com o tempo Segundo Paulk [17], maturidade significa o estado ou condição de pleno desenvolvimento, estado ou qualidade de maduro.”
BackgroundMachine actionable metadata models
Batista, D., González-Beltrán, A., Sansone, S., & Rocca-Serra, P. (2022) · Scientific Data · doi:10.1038/s41597-022-01707-6 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Reuse of requirements reduced time to market at one industrial shop: a case study
Goldin, L., & Berry, D. (2015) · Requirements Engineering · doi:10.1007/s00766-013-0182-7 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“One of CMMI's key process areas (a.k.a. KPAs) is RM.”
BackgroundInfluentialPetri Nets and Software Engineering
Denaro, G., & Pezzè, M. (2003) · Lectures on Concurrency and Petri Nets · doi:10.1007/978-3-540-27755-2_12 · Cited by 40
“For example, the SEI Capability Maturity Model (CMM [26]) defines a framework for assessing the level of maturity of a software process.”
MethodMenzies, T., Raffo, D., Setamanit, S.-O., Hu, Y., & Tootoonian, S. (2002) · Proceedings 17th IEEE International Conference on Automated Software Engineering, · doi:10.1109/ase.2002.1115012 · Cited by 40
“The Software Engineering Institute’s (SEI) capability maturity model (CMM [40]) categorizes software organizations into one of five process levels.”
MethodJukic, T., Pluchinotta, I., Hržica, R., & Vrbek, S. (2021) · Government Information Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.giq.2021.101623 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Support Your Data: A Research Data Management Guide for Researchers
Borghi, J., Abrams, S., Lowenberg, D., Simms, S., & Chodacki, J. (2018) · Research Ideas and Outcomes · doi:10.3897/rio.4.e26439 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“Other RDM assessment tools draw heavily from the capability maturity model (CMM) framework, which describes practices based on their degree of formality and optimization (Paulk et al. 1993).”
BackgroundExecutive management and IT innovation in health: identifying the barriers to adoption
England, I., & Stewart, D. (2007) · Health Informatics Journal · doi:10.1177/1460458207076462 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“The first approach used measures of expenditure in relation to measures of the organization’s size [31]; the second approach assessed maturity of use [32, 33].”
MethodBarthelmess, P. (2003) · Information and Software Technology · doi:10.1016/s0950-5849(03)00091-0 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Espinosa-Curiel, I., Rodríguez-Jacobo, J., & Fernández-Zepeda, J. A. (2013) · J. Softw. Evol. Process. · doi:10.1002/smr.569 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
“The goal of this type of initiative is to increase the productivity and quality of their software processes and products, to reduce their associated time and costs, and to increase the satisfaction of their customers [3].”
BackgroundXu, L.-M., Mak, S., Proselkov, Y., & Brintrup, A. (2023) · Journal of Industrial Information Integration · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2401.14183 · Cited by 37
“The Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) and the Capacity Maturity Model (CMM) [Humphrey, 1988, Paulk et al., 1993] are two widely recognised frameworks.”
MethodFACTORS AFFECTING THE ADOPTION OF BIG DATA ANALYTICS IN COMPANIES
Cabrera-Sánchez, J.-P., & Villarejo-Ramos, Á. (2019) · Revista de Administração de Empresas · doi:10.1590/s0034-759020190607 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
A fast method for analysing and improving complex software processes
Hobday, M., & Brady, T. (2000) · doi:10.1111/1467-9310.00153 · Cited by 37
“Some authors have analysed the management of complex software projects and the issue of how to integrate software into complex products and systems (Humphrey, 1989; Paulk, 1993; Boehm, 1988; Raghavan and Chand, 1989; Buxton and Malcom, 1991).”
BackgroundHow to improve the assessment of BPM maturity in the era of digital transformation
Szelągowski, M., & Berniak‐Woźny, J. (2021) · Information Systems and e-Business Management · doi:10.1007/s10257-021-00549-w · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“Research shows that in the last three decades, the development of process maturity models has been limited to duplicating and detailing changes to the logic of the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) developed by the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University (Paulk et al. 1993).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialThe capability maturity model and CASE
Mathiassen, L., & Sørensen, C. (1996) · Information Systems Journal · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2575.1996.tb00013.x · Cited by 36
“The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) (Humphrey, 1989a; Humphrey, 1990a; Paulk etal., 1991; SEI, 1991a; SEI, 1991c; SEI, 1991b; Paulk et al., 1993) is a framework for evaluating and improving software processes.”
BackgroundA product-process model of innovation in software development
Quintas, P. (1994) · Journal of Information and Technology · doi:10.1177/026839629400900102 · Cited by 36
“A detailed description of the new CMM Version 1.1can be found in Paulk et al. (1993).”
Evaluating maturity level of big data management and analytics in industrial companies
Corallo, A., Crespino, A. M., Vecchio, V. D., Gervasi, M., Lazoi, M., & Marra, M. (2023) · Technological Forecasting and Social Change · doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2023.122826 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
The Future of Hackathon Research and Practice
Falk, J., Nolte, A., Huppenkothen, D., Weinzierl, M., Gama, K., Spikol, D., Tollerud, E., Hong, N. C., Knäpper, I., & Hayden, L. (2022) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2024.3455092 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
“Our aim with this paper is somewhat similar to the aims of researchers and practitioners developing ‘‘maturity models,’’ such as the capability maturity model (CMM) [29].”
MethodRagowsky, A., Licker, P. S., & Gefen, D. (2012) · Information Systems Management · doi:10.1080/10580530.2012.662104 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“More recently a variety of IT process maturity measures have been created and used, such as the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) for software development (Humphrey, 1989; Paulk, Curtis, Chrissis, & Weber, 1993), and the Capability Maturity Framework (Curley, 2006)).”
MethodInformation management as an enabler of knowledge management maturity: A South African perspective
Kruger, C., & Johnson, R. D. (2010) · International Journal of Information Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2009.06.007 · Cited by 34
Formulation of a strategic knowledge management maturity model
Kruger, C., & Snyman, M. E. (2005) · doi:10.4102/sajim.v7i2.261 · Cited by 34
- Authors
- Paulk, M. C., Curtis, B., Chrissis, M. B., & Weber, C. V.
- Affiliations
- Software Engineering Institute (US)
- IBM (United States) (US)
- ORCID
- Paulk, M.C.
- Venue
- IEEE Software
- Published
- 1993-07
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 18-27
- ISSN
- 0740-7459 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2073275508
- Cited by
- 1,263
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 80 · 2025: 55 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 57 · 2022: 52 · 2021: 53 · 2020: 59 · 2019: 42 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 40 · 2016: 29 · 2015: 40 · 2014: 37 · 2013: 48 · 2012: 35
- FWCI
- 108.61
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- IEEE Software (publishedVersion)
- KiltHub Repository (submittedVersion)
- KiltHub Repository
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Software Engineering Techniques and Practices
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Software Engineering Research
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality › Safety Systems Engineering in Autonomy
- Keywords
- capability maturity model, software process improvement, software quality, process areas, software maintenance, process improvement strategies, software engineering practices
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