The document discusses the Capability Maturity Model (CMM), which is a methodology used to develop and refine an organization's software development process. The CMM describes a five-level path from initial to optimized processes. It originated from studies of failed US military software projects in the 1980s. The levels progress from initial/chaotic processes to repeatable, defined, managed, and optimizing processes. The Software Engineering Institute began actively developing the CMM model in 1986 to help assess contractors' ability to manage software projects.