CMMI Updates from the SEI

Last week I participated in the workshop at the Software Engineering Institute in Pittsburgh to develop questions for the Lead Appraiser certification exam that is planned to be administered for the first time in October 2008. To kick off the workshop, Mike Phillips/Program Manager of the CMMI, gave us the latest information on a number of topics that I want to summarize for you here.

1. The purpose of this workshop was to help increase the professional aspect of the Lead Appraiser profession and it represents a maturation of the profession.
2. The first opportunity to use the Lead Appraiser test will be at the Lead Appraiser Workshop in Vancouver, WA in October 2008. All Lead Appraisers must take and pass the exam and there will be a one-year window for taking the exam.
3. The release of CMMI v1.3 will not be very long after the release of CMMI-SVC constellation, which is currently planned for March 2009. The SEI is trying to get it out sooner, possibly as early as January 2009.
4. v1.3 will include a number of changes resulting from developing CMMI-ACQ and CMMI-SVC. There are two IPPD practices for ACQ, one in OPD and one in IPM, that are now mandatory. The SEI also wants to include the updated High Maturity material in this release. The intent is to bring all three constellations into a greater harmony. The plan is to release v1.3 by the end of 2009.
5. The strategy for the Introduction to the CMMI class will also be changing somewhat. At some unspecified time in the future, the new class will consist of a 3-day generic course applicable to any constellation, and then 1-day supplemental classes for each constellation. The generic class is expected to be for everyone and the supplemental classes will be for appraisal team members only.
6. Someone in the audience asked Mike Phillips if the SEI is going to consider hardware engineering as a separate discipline. His answer was that the SEI is not trying to differentiate hardware engineering at this time. They are backing away from discipline-specific distinctions.
7. Mike Phillips said that there are ongoing discussions on future constellations. Possibly one for manufacturing and another for operations. But these constellations, if they were to materialize, are way off into the future.
8. When v1.3 is released near December 2009, the SEI will issues three TRs, one for each constellation.
9. v1.3 was approved as an idea by the SEI Steering Group one month ago. The next steps are in work, but it is still too early in the process to be definitive.