Maturity
The Exalynt portal shows the Maturity of each Feature and project: a high-level overview of how complete and stable it is, based on what we know today. It's a percentage, worked out from the stability levels of the Capabilities listed so far.
Maturity is an indication, not a verdict. It isn't a grade of quality or a promise that something is finished. Before you depend on something, check the level of the Capabilities you need.
A Feature's Maturity
Each Capability counts 25% for every level it has reached:
A Feature's Maturity is the average across all its Capabilities, rounded to a whole percentage. For example, if Customer Scheduling lists three Capabilities, with booking and rescheduling at Beta and cancelling at Alpha, its Maturity is (75 + 75 + 50) ÷ 3 ≈ 67%:
Adding a Capability can lower the number. If we then add calendar sync, it counts 0% until we start on it, so Customer Scheduling drops to (75 + 75 + 50 + 0) ÷ 4 = 50%: Nothing got worse. We just know more about what the Feature needs.
A Feature shows no Maturity until at least one of its Capabilities has a level.
A project's Maturity
A project's Maturity is the average of its Features' Maturity:
- Each Feature counts the same, however many Capabilities it has.
- Features nobody has started on count as 0%.
- Bugs don't count. They have no Maturity.
- A project with no Features shows no Maturity.
For example, a project with four Features:
| Feature | Its Capabilities | Maturity |
|---|---|---|
| Online Payments | GA GA Beta Beta | |
| Customer Scheduling | Beta Beta Alpha | |
| Reporting | Alpha Prototype | |
| Automated Notifications | Not started yet | Draft, so it counts 0% |
Its Maturity is (88 + 67 + 38 + 0) ÷ 4 ≈ 48%, so it's Emerging. Online Payments has twice as many Capabilities as Reporting, but each Feature counts the same. As work starts on Automated Notifications, the project's Maturity rises with it.
Reading a Maturity
A Maturity sits in one of four bands, a quarter of the scale each, named for the level at the top of the band and shown in its color:
| Band | From | On average, its Capabilities are… |
|---|---|---|
| Experimental | 0% | Still being explored, as at Prototype |
| Emerging | 25% | Working, but still changing often, as at Alpha |
| Promising | 50% | Settled enough for real use, as at Beta |
| Established | 75% | Stable and dependable, as at GA |
From 75%, the start of Established, Maturity is healthy for most businesses. See Why 100% isn't the goal.
Where you'll see it
In the portal, a Maturity is always a ring of four quarter arcs, one for each level from Prototype to GA, filled to the percentage. A Feature's is on its card in a project's backlog, and a project's at the top of its page and on its card in your list of projects. Hover over a ring, tab to it, or tap it to see its band, what it's made of, and a short explanation of Maturity.
The design system shows how the ring is drawn, and where it goes.
Why 100% isn't the goal
Maturity isn't a finish line. Software that keeps evolving, with new Features and new iterations on existing ones, keeps adding work at the bottom of the scale: a new Capability starts as a draft, then becomes a Prototype. So a project's Maturity may never reach 100%, and that's okay. It can go down as well as up, and a drop usually means we've started something new or learned more about what's needed, not that anything got worse.
75% or more is a healthy Maturity for most businesses. The last quarter of the scale is room for continual evolution.
At 75%, a project's Features are, on average, as far along as Beta: settled enough for real use. 100% would mean every Capability of every Feature is GA and nothing new is under way, which is rarely the right aim for software that's still growing.
Maturity, status, stability, and bugs
They answer different questions, and move separately:
- Stability answers "how far can I rely on this today?" It belongs to each Capability, as one of four levels, never a percentage, and it's what you check before depending on something. A project can be 80% mature with the one Capability you need still at Alpha.
- Maturity answers "how far along is this?" It's a percentage for a Feature or a project that summarizes its Capabilities' levels, so you can follow progress over time.
- Status says whether work is happening: whether something is a draft, ready, scheduled, in progress, or complete. Features and bugs both have one. A Feature's work can be complete while some of its Capabilities are still at Beta.
- Bugs have no stability level and no Maturity, so they don't affect a Feature's or a project's Maturity. Reporting a bug doesn't lower it, and fixing one doesn't raise it.
Frequently asked questions
Why isn't my project's Maturity at 100%?
Because it isn't meant to be. Software that keeps evolving keeps adding new work at the bottom of the scale, so Maturity may never reach 100%. 75% or more is healthy for most businesses, and the last quarter is room for continual evolution. See Why 100% isn't the goal.
Why did Maturity go down?
Usually because we added something: a new Capability counts 0% until we start on it, and a new Feature counts 0% in the project's average until we start on it. That's a sign we've learned more about what's needed, not that anything already built went backwards.
Do bugs affect Maturity?
No. Bugs have no stability level and no Maturity, so reporting or fixing one doesn't change a Feature's or a project's Maturity. Maturity comes only from the levels of Capabilities.