Operational Excellence - The Practice of Cloud System Administration - page 413

improved over time; team 4's progress has been slower. Team 3 had a bad year and is just
starting to make progress. This team may need extra attention to assure the progress con-
tinues. Team 2's progress is erratic, flipping between Levels 3 and 4 with a small trend
upward.
Figure 20.3: Roll-up to compare teams
High-performing employees will see such comparisons as a source of pride or inspira-
tion to do better. Teams with high assessments should be encouraged to share their know-
ledge and best practices.
20.6 Levels of Improvement
EachCMMlevelbuildsonthenext.Level2containstheseedsthatenableLevel3;Level3
containstheseedsthatenableLevel4.Forthisreasonorganizationspassthroughthelevels
in order and levels cannot be skipped.
It is not important to get to Level 5 for all operational responsibilities of all services. It
wouldbeawasteofresourcestoachieveLevel5foraservicethatislittleusedandhaslow
priority. In fact, it would be professionally negligent to expend the resources required to
achieve a Level 5 assessment on a low-priority service when more important services need
improvement.