AxiSight: Organizational Maturity Assessment

The problem

Existing maturity models (CMMI, DORA, Spotify Health Check) share a common problem: they are too complex to be useful in practice. 5-level scales with ambiguous criteria, 200-page documents, and assessment processes that require external consultants. The result is that teams abandon the assessment before completing it, or worse, complete it without real reflection.

Complexity is not a virtue when the goal is to drive action.

The hypothesis

A 3-level scoring system (0, 1, 2) with clear success criteria is sufficient to capture the real maturity state of an organization and generate concrete action plans. Simplicity reduces cognitive friction and increases completion rates.

AxiSight

AxiSight is a web platform that implements this hypothesis. It runs entirely in the browser, with no backend, no accounts, and no external dependencies.

Scoring Guide: 3 levels, no ambiguity

The decision to use only 3 levels is deliberate. With 5-level scales, the difference between a 3 and a 4 becomes subjective. With 3 levels, the question is binary at each step: does it exist or not? Is it complete or not?

Each item includes explicit criteria for what constitutes "Partial" and what constitutes "Complete," eliminating subjective interpretation:

interface MaturityItem {
  key: string;
  label: string;
  description: string;
  successCriteria: {
    partial: string;  // What score 1 means
    complete: string; // What score 2 means
  };
}

Maturity Levels: from chaos to optimization

Aggregated percentages map to 4 maturity levels:

Customizable frameworks

AxiSight ships with two pre-built frameworks (Platform Engineering and Software Development), but the real value lies in the ability to create your own:

const customModel: CustomMaturityModel = {
  id: "my-framework",
  title: "My Maturity Framework",
  description: "Custom assessment",
  version: "1.0",
  maxPerItem: 2,
  storageKey: "my-framework-v1",
  sections: [
    {
      key: "section-1",
      title: "1. Core Practices",
      items: [
        {
          key: "item-1",
          label: "Practice to assess",
          description: "Detailed description",
          successCriteria: {
            partial: "Basic implementation exists",
            complete: "Full implementation with metrics"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
};

Frameworks can be exported and imported as JSON, enabling sharing across teams and organizations.

Why it works

The simplicity of the 3-level model has concrete advantages:

• Speed: A full assessment takes 15-30 minutes, not days
• Consensus: Fewer options means less debate about which number to assign
• Actionability: Every item with a score of 0 or 1 is a direct candidate for improvement
• Repeatability: Frequent assessments (monthly or quarterly) are viable because the cost is low

Technical decisions

• Client-side only: Everything runs in the browser. localStorage for persistence, JSON export/import for sharing. Zero backend, zero infrastructure costs
• PWA: Works offline for assessments in locations without connectivity
• React + TypeScript + Vite: Modern stack with full type safety
• Recharts: Interactive visualization with radar charts per section

Current status

The platform is functional with two complete frameworks. The next step is to validate the model with more teams and refine the success criteria based on real feedback.

References

• axisight.io — Public maturity assessment platform.