Beyond the Grid: How to Actually Use a Maturity Model

You've built the grid. You've defined the levels. You've assessed your team. Now what? A maturity model sitting in a drawer (or a forgotten PDF) is useless. It's just a snapshot of a moment in time. Here is how to turn that grid into a growth engine.

The Assessment Trap

Many organizations treat maturity models as a report card. They assess themselves, pat themselves on the back for being a "Level 3," and then go back to business as usual. This is a wasted opportunity. The value isn't in the score; it's in the gap analysis.

A maturity model shouldn't just tell you where you are; it should tell you where to go next.

Step 1: Honest Self-Assessment

Gather a cross-functional group. Don't just let the manager decide the score. Have the team debate where they sit on the grid. The disagreement is often more valuable than the consensus.

"If the manager thinks we're a Level 4 and the team thinks we're a Level 2, you have a communication problem, not just a process problem."

Use the debate to uncover hidden friction points. Why does the engineer feel the deployment process is broken while the CTO thinks it's fine?

Step 2: Set a Target (Not Perfection)

You don't need to be Level 5 in everything. In fact, it's often a waste of resources. "Optimized" processes are expensive to maintain. For some functions, "Defined" (Level 3) is perfectly adequate.

The Strategy: Pick 2-3 areas where moving up a level will have the highest impact on your current business goals. Ignore the rest for now. If your goal is speed, focus on the "Deployment Frequency" row. If your goal is stability, focus on "Testing."

Step 3: Create an Action Plan

Look at the description of the next level up for your target areas. That description is your backlog.

• Current State (Level 1): "Deployments are manual and error-prone."
• Next Level (Level 2): "Deployments are scripted and repeatable."

Your action item is clear: "Write a deployment script." You don't need to invent the roadmap; the model gives it to you.

Step 4: Re-assess Regularly

Maturity isn't static. As your organization grows, entropy sets in. A process that was "Optimized" last year might be "Ad Hoc" today because the team doubled in size and the old process broke.

Re-run your assessment every 6 months. Track your progress. Celebrate the wins ("We moved from Level 2 to Level 3!"). This creates a culture of continuous improvement.

Conclusion

A maturity model is a map, not a destination. Use it to navigate the chaos of growth, but don't get obsessed with the coordinates. The goal is a better business, not a perfect score.