CMMI High Maturity and Six Sigma

The goals, practices and informative material that constitute the description of CMMI High Maturity – Maturity Level 4 and 5 Process Areas of the CMMI Framework – espouse and expect the usage of Statistical Data Analysis for understanding, controlling and improving processes.

The Six Sigma methodology also relies heavily on the application of Statistical Data Analysis. In fact, a closer look at Six Sigma makes it look like a natural ally of CMMI High Maturity. Six Sigma can be dove-tailed with CMMI not only to drive CMMI High Maturity but also to make it penetrate the skin of an organization and impact its DNA.

In a nutshell, both CMMI High Maturity and Six Sigma are about the following, and strictly in quantitative terms:

• Setting up the performance target that an organization wants to achieve – goal setting
• Determining, at the end, the process outcome that the organization actually achieved – process monitoring and control
• Determining progressively, at intermediate stages, the process outcome that the organization is likely to achieve in the next stage and finally at the end – prediction model
• Improving process outcome by understanding and treating the underlying causes that influence process performance – root cause analysis
• Achieving breakthrough jump in process outcome by ideating and adopting innovations – breakthrough innovation