Excessive enthusiasm by ambitious managers can also pose risks
to the improvement program. If the goals, target dates, and results expected by managers
are not realistic, the software process improvement effort is ultimately set up for
failure. Managers, particularly those with little software experience, may not appreciate
the effort and time involved in a large-scale software process improvement effort, such
as one based on the Software Engineering Institute’s five-level Capability Maturity
ModelSM (CMMSM). These managers may be confused about how process improvement
frameworks like the CMM relate to other software engineering approaches, such as a
specific object-oriented methodology. They may focus on issues of pressing importance
to them that are not realistic outcomes of the process improvement effort. For example,
a manager may hope to solve current staff shortages by driving the organization to
reach CMM Level 2, which typically leads to higher software productivity and quality.