This book describes the software process maturity levels developed by the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. The process-maturity framework outlines five stages from initial ad hoc approaches to repeatable, defined, managed and optimized.

It book describes each of these stages and outlines criteria for distinguishing each one. Humphrey's considerable experience as a software manager, and as a student of the development process, has given him the insight to understand these maturity stages and describe them clearly in this highly readable and useful book.