Re: With the Real Engineers please stand up.

[mheaney@ni.net (Matthew Heaney)]

In article <34B717E8.45A8@dynamite.com.au>, aebrain@dynamite.com.au wrote:

>Trevor Longbow wrote:
>
>> I remember some study that identified this: that engineering outfits
>> typically operate at one of a set number of--I think it was 5 or
>> 6--levels of optimum culture. I don't remember the terminology. As I
>> recall, in the most suboptimal cultural state, everything is done
>> ad-hoc. The culture practices anarchy on a daily basis (kinda like
>> this new outfit). At optimum culture, an outfit has identity, clarity,
>> organization, and method--plus some other set of positive engineering
>> attributes.
>> 
>> Does anyone know what it is I'm talking about--the study, the term,
>> the book?

The author of the CMM is Watts Humphrey.  The CMM is described in 

Managing the Software Process
Watt Humphrey

There's a guide too:

A Guide to the CMM
Ken Dymond

You may also want to read Jerry Weinberg's four-volume Quality Software
Management series.  The first one has a bunch of stuff about interpreting
Humphrey's taxonomy of process maturity in terms of cybernetic theory:

Quality Software Management
Volume I: Systems Thinking

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Matthew Heaney
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