Evaluation of process assessment
Pro
- General improvement in quality of software engineering products (from Level 1..Level 3) as measured by defect rates
- Rational, incremental basis for organizational and self-improvement
- Provides a common vocabulary for quality improvement efforts
Con
- Emphasis on management process in CMM may detract from analysis of product architecture
- Emphasis on unit programming & testing in PSP may detract from architectural design
- Emphasizes regularity at expense of flexibility, so may be less appropriate for one-product start-ups than contractual development organizations
- Oversold by some as a silver bullet, so a backlash is inevitable