First Page of the Article
The bolt of lightning that sparks a new product idea is totally unpredictable. The authors consider the crucial question for a product-development organization: what context allows creativity to happen and how does an organization call down the lightning? They consider the example of spreadsheet design.
The Bootstrap software assessment method, which yields more detailed capability profiles and maturity levels than the Capability Maturity Model and gives capability profiles of organizations and projects separately, is discussed. The assessment steps, assessment algorithm, and maturity determination are described. Preliminary results from assessments conducted over two and a half years are also discussed.
