Organizational Improvement

Organizational Maturity as defined using the Capability Maturity Model as a starting point. (Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. See: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmm/).

A simplified view:

Stage 1 - Infant

Organizations do not have to start at this stage, but most do. They can be very successful, but those successes are a direct result of heroes or superstars. Information is power, and therefore usually hoarded. Since little is documented (and what is written down is ignored), the wheel is constantly recreated. The future of this level of organization is dependent directly on the abilities of key individuals.

At the first stage of maturity, an organization lacks defined processes and procedures. Project scopes are poorly defined, if at all. Visibility by the next level of management is limited and distorted. Data is only passed to management if requested. Customers only get involved when the product is delivered. Communication between team members is poor and collaboration across offices or departments is mostly non-existent. The most common method of identifying work is through crisis management or fire-fighting. Efforts are reactive, almost never proactive, and therefore urgency becomes and remains the organizational driver. The organization lives and dies only on the abilities of individuals.

Stage 2 - Toddler - Adolescent

This organization has made strides toward growth (in a maturing sense). It can identify and has documentation for the key processes it performs. It has the ability to do the same process, the same way – almost every time. Many organizations find that they are between stages one and two.

The second stage is recognizable by the amount of controls in the form of documented policies, processes, and procedures. The organization will have basic project management controls in place allowing visibility at milestone reviews. At this stage, success is still dependent on the success of individuals, but oversight and process are used, allowing the organization to stop recreating the wheel for every issue. There is a preferred “way” of doing things and everyone has access to this information. Customers can get project updates at defined intervals.

Stage 3 - Young Adult

This is the first significant maturity goal of an organization. At this stage we start to see quantifiable gains from our efforts and the unit becomes strong with many benchmark processes and procedures. Other organizations seek our advice and examples. At stage three the organization has good visibility into projects because of the infrastructure – rather than inhibit communication, the structure enables it. Processes are standardized across the organization. Customers can get immediate progress updates and management can foresee, plan for, and intercept risks.

Stage 4 – Adult

When an organization reaches this level of maturity, it will be one of the “industry” leaders. Management uses objective, quantitative measurements to make decisions and plan for the future. Strategic planning is an integral part of how the organization functions. Prediction of outcomes is now reliable and trusted. Risk management is an organizational strength.

Stage 5 - Mature Adult

This pinnacle is identified by the organization’s ability to continuously and seamlessly improve. New methods are tried in a controlled environment and successes are promulgated across the organization. Processes are constantly tweaked, inefficient ones are replaced or revised. Metrics are used to make improvements – or they are discarded. Management has complete insight into the organization’s development processes. Each level has true ownership of their respective processes and they fully disclose all information in an environment of open communication and complete collaboration.

While the CMM was designed for software development houses, the principles are easily adapted to any organization. Carnegie Mellon University has leveraged the extensive work done for the CMM into a People CMM (P-CMM) and has updated the CMM (CMM Integrated) over the years. But in this discussion area, I offer that we cover the basic principles of Organizational Maturity - from ad hoc hero worship to repeatability to a defined state to a managed state and finally to an optimized state.

Along with this discussion I would like to offer a premise, that an organization can be so low on the maturity model that it has to be considered “immature.” With this premise comes some interesting insights - the core of which may be that the organization is incapable of an enterprise-level (organization wide) change effort. The classic improvement tools and models that rely on leadership-driven, organization-wide change will fail. A new, different approach is required. I hope this has whet your appetite.