the shuttle software group is one of just four outfits in the world to win the coveted Level 5 ranking of the federal governments Software Engineering Institute (SEI) a measure of the sophistication and reliability of the way they do their work.
I wouldn't put too much faith in SEI CMM. The last company I worked for set up an offshore software shop and staffed it with fresh graduates. A year later they were SEI CMM Level 5 certified, boasted the company. This, mind, was despite them never having delivered a complete project... And much of their actual work being done by "contractors" (who were people laid off in the UK and rehired there at vast expense).
There are actually more level 5's in operation. The certification process is about having the procedures in place, and so it is conceivable that you could get that without a delivery.
I wouldn't put too much faith in SEI CMM. The last company I worked for set up an offshore software shop and staffed it with fresh graduates. A year later they were SEI CMM Level 5 certified, boasted the company. This, mind, was despite them never having delivered a complete project... And much of their actual work being done by "contractors" (who were people laid off in the UK and rehired there at vast expense).