CMMI®Distilled: A Practical Introduction to Integrated Process Improvement

Chapter 8

Picking a Representation

You must choose … but choose wisely.

—The Grail Knight, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.

—Kahlil Gibran, Sand and Foam (1926)

Once you have defined the scope of your planned process improvement efforts, your next important decision is to pick an architectural representation: continuous or staged. In Chapter 5, we described the distinguishing features of staged and continuous models, including some basic information about how CMMI provides these two alternative representations in its integrated suite of model products.

Each of the two architectural ...