A Technical History of the SEI

The People Capability Maturity Model
The Challenge: Assessing and Improving Workforce Capability
Following successful implementation of the CMM for
Software, organizations discovered that they could quantify
how well they developed their products, but could
not tell if they were utilizing and deploying their employees
to maximum efficiency and uniform productivity.
Organizational competency and capability were
driving contractual commitments and return on investment,
and organizations asked for a model similar to the
CMM to assess and improve organizational competency
in the management of its human resources. The U.S.
Army, in particular, encouraged the SEI to address this
need and provided initial funding.
A Solution: The People CMM
The SEI responded to this need by developing the People
Capability Maturity Model. Since the demand for the
People CMM and its companion product suite was
driven by the success of the Software CMM, the People
CMM had its roots firmly planted in the SEI process
maturity framework. In addition, the SEI included best
practices in human capital management and the measurement
of organizational change.
In 1998, the People CMM and its companion courses
and appraisals were released after three years of development
and rigorous review [Hefley 1998]. While initial
funding to develop and test the People CMM was provided
by the DoD, and early appraisals conducted with
the U.S. Army, later support and funding was primarily
provided by organizations providing products and services
not only to the DoD, but to other agencies within
the U.S. government, such as the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA). Other examples of funders
are GDE Systems, Boeing, BAE Systems, Lockheed
Martin, and Computer Sciences Corp.
When improvements guided by the People CMM are initiated,
they are sometimes perceived as a human resources
program. However, organizations have uniformly
found the People CMM to be a general business
excellence model. The increasing focus on performance
The View from Others
Intel Information Technology (Intel
IT) supports the computing
needs of over 80,000 employees in
more than 70 sites worldwide. Intel
IT sources, designs, develops,
implements and maintains the
hardware, software and IT solutions
that enable the company to
operate efficiently. (page 132)
Intel IT decided that the People
CMM was the most appropriate
model for attaining its objectives
of developing a world-class workforce
and organization capabilities
for IT by strategically shaping its
future workforce and influencing
its partners and industry. (page
133)
Over the course of three years, Intel
IT achieved many of its innovation
goals, including a 200 percent
increase in patents emerging from
the IT workforce, and solid improvements
in employee feedback
about the organization’s leadership
and Great Place to Work
scores. (page 136)
– Jack Anderson, Chair,
Innovation Management
Working Group, Innovation
Value Institute (a consortium
founded by Intel of over 35
companies that have come
together to improve the IT
industry) [Curtis 2009] case
study
CMU/SEI-2016-SR-027 | SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INSTITUTE | CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY 121
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