Some Thoughts on PCMM

PCMM (People Capability Maturity Model) has been there for more than a decade now. However, unlike the more popular CMMI Models (mostly CMMI for Development and to a much lesser extent CMMI for Services) PCMM hasn't caught the frenzy of level-mania. At this point in time there are just a handful of companies formally appraised against PCMM.

Formal appraisal or not, PCMM is a wonderful framework which can be leveraged to understand, manage and improve people practices in an organization. The underlying business case for PCMM is quite compelling. After all no organization can answer any of the following questions with a "No".

• Is attracting, developing and retaining talent crucial for business success?
• Are people key to every business model?
• Are people difficult to manage?
• Can people factors cause uncertainty for the organization?
• Are people practices linked to employee satisfaction and hence business paarameters?

PCMM brings in the concept of competency. In the PCMM context the term competency has the following associated meaning and manifestation:

• Competency is always related to a measure of the on-the-job performance
• Competency ties together the three dimensions - knowledge needed for being fit to perform a job, skills required for actually performing the job and understanding of standard process/method for consistently performing the job
• Competency or the lack of it has direct influence on the quality and productivity on a job
• Competency can be determined, managed and improved

Here are some additional insights on PCMM:

• PCMM by nature touches upon the softer side of human beings in a business context
• PCMM is not a silver bullet that will eliminate all people issues
• PCMM doesn't make an organization soft, it rather makes it fair

Though PCMM hasn't hit prime time as far as its formal appraisal is concerned but it can surely be a good reference point  for organizations to learn from and further improve their existing people practices.