What are maturity models?

What is the graduation model?  

The maturity model is a tool used by businesses and software development teams to measure how well their business or project is performing and their ability to continuously improve. Unlike other goal-oriented measurement tools, maturity models can assess qualitative data to determine the long-term trajectory and performance of a company. The purpose of the model is to monitor whether companies are continuously testing, developing or improving. The models define different levels of effectiveness and accurately determine the current position of an individual, team, project or company within the model.

Why are maturity models important?  

Maturity models are important because they provide flexible performance monitoring that can reveal valuable information about the health and potential of a company. While models alone will not solve inefficiencies, they can identify areas where organisations are not performing to standards and allow them to identify strategies to improve their operations and processes. Maturity models are also important because they emphasise learning and improvement. By identifying the current stage of a team, person or process, the model can reveal what needs to change to take companies to the next level.

3 types of maturity models  

There are several types of maturity models. Which one you choose may depend on your industry or what you want to assess. Three different types of models are presented below:  

1. Business process maturity model  

The Business Process Maturity Model uses five levels to assess the maturity of an organisation. The levels are as follows:

• Initial: Initial is the lowest level. It describes inconsistent management practices or teams that react to crises rather than anticipate them.  
• Managed: The second level defines teams and businesses that have a leadership foundation, but individual teams still operate in silos within the business, with minimal collaboration or evidence of incorporating improvement strategies.  
• Standardised: the standardised, or process management, level means that the business has a clear understanding of its processes and strives for consistency and uniformity of delivery.  
• Predictable: at the predictable level, organisations use their process infrastructure and asset capacity to achieve reliable results by controlling variation in their outputs.  
• Optimising: At this level, companies continuously improve and focus on innovation.  

The levels in the model are ranked in order from highest to lowest, with each level requiring the most improvement, with the fifth level representing fully implemented and efficient operations. Business process maturity models also emphasize domain process areas, which are strategies that companies and teams can use to reach the next model level. Domain processes can relate to requirements management, work unit monitoring and control, change management strategies and product assurance.

2. Capability maturity model  

The Capability Maturity Model, originally designed for software development, assesses the maturity of an organisation or software development system against industry best practices. By measuring results and assigning maturity levels, companies and development teams can use the model to assess business process knowledge, effective management techniques and areas for improvement. All the maturity models use the levels listed above, with some variation, to describe processes. In the case of the capability models, the levels are more clearly linked to development processes. 

3. Agile ISO maturity model  

In contrast to other maturity models, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) model works to eliminate some of the criticisms that people have about maturity models. By standardising the levels, agile models set clearer expectations defined by an international body. Incorporating agile methodology can also benefit businesses.  

Some maturity models are not sufficiently nuanced to provide useful assessments. Standardised agile models work against this by focusing less on sequential development and more on individual phases of the development life cycle. Many agile methodologies use sprints that focus on development teams and divide projects into more achievable phases. An iterative development approach allows teams to assess areas more nuanced and identify areas for improvement more effectively.

Benefits of using maturity models  

Using maturity models can bring a number of benefits to businesses, including:  

Prioritised learning  

One of the benefits of maturity models is their focus on continuous improvement and learning. Many models not only list levels, but also detail the steps you can take to reach the next level. If some of your processes are at level one or two, there are often strategies you can incorporate to raise the level of your operations and get your business operating at an optimal level.  

Improved capabilities  

Another benefit of using maturity models is their ability to improve the capabilities of your company or team. By identifying current levels, gaps and strengths, organisations can better identify areas where they need to improve. Clearly delineated levels provide opportunities for self-assessment and identify strategies that can be used to drive growth and improved performance.  

Applicable to a wide range of target groups  

Although many maturity models originally started as software development tools, they have now been adapted and incorporated into a wide range of situations, business environments and industries. Maturity models can be used by all types of teams in their work, and many have standardised metrics that make them comparable and more useful to organisations. Within each maturity model, there are many variations that can meet specific goals and needs. Regardless of your size, business type, or current operational level, maturity models can help you grow as a business and place greater emphasis on continuous improvement.  

Align your teams  

The final benefit of maturity models is their ability to align teams around collective goals and corporate objectives. Because maturity models measure qualitative improvement, they can help companies set internal strategic goals that meet their specific needs and priorities. They can also help management and management teams to identify where their current methods are falling short. Identifying these gaps can help them to build in incremental daily changes and raise the quality of their operations. This often results in jobs and projects that run more smoothly and efficiently.  

Understanding quality activities and levels can help teams turn behaviour into quantitative metrics. For example, if the maturity model reveals that a company's leadership style is reactive, leadership teams can work to improve their process towards predictable or standardized levels. From there, they can see improvements in more measurable performance metrics such as employee retention, productivity and consistency.