Jim Wilkins writes:

On Apr 25, 8:11Â*am, Maxwell Lol wrote:

Some companies operate at a very low level, especially start-ups.

How do you incorporate the response to random opportunity or
inspiration into a model?

I'm not sure that applies. CMU's CMM is not about response to
opportunities, or about research per se..

The model MEASURES how mature the development process is. For
instance, if a new product is created, are lessons learned
from the last project applied to the new project?

A start-up might struggle to get products out before they are forced
to close their doors. The schedule is uncertain. Quality is uncertain.
No one knows if the product will work, or be successful. Therefore the
maturity model score would be very low.

On the other hand, a company with a well established development
system, and an experienced staff can deliver a new product on time,
and on budget, without cutting corners. That would be a higher score.

This is an overview:

http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/adoption...overview07.pdf


From what I've seen in R&D that depends on
the judgement, previous experience and risk tolerance of the decision
makers.

Sure. But not all R&D environments are the same.