The document summarizes the Capability Maturity Model (CMM), which was developed by the Software Engineering Institute to help organizations improve their software development processes. The CMM describes five levels of process maturity, from initial/ad hoc processes to optimized processes. It identifies key process areas that organizations should address to improve, such as requirements management, software quality assurance, and configuration management. The CMM provides a framework to help organizations progressively define, measure, and improve their processes. Studies show organizations that implement the CMM principles can achieve reductions in project overruns, better cost prediction, and improved quality. However, the CMM also faces some criticisms such as not directly addressing design or people aspects.