1/ In principle, capability maturity models (CMMs) are to organizations what learning curves are to individuals, a description and prescription of the path to mastery of a well-defined capability that can be exercised by an organization at a systemic level.
2/ In practice, they are sadly more often a recipe for creating a new layer of bureaucracy in the organization, and a whole new class of face-saving sinecures for failing or plateaued mid-career types to safely retreat to.See also Bullshit Jobs, Tournament Theory, and The Abolition of Work.
The rest of the piece is also great, hinging on legibility and its discontents, and then offers hope -- for less than 10% of organizations. Happy hunting.
