The first model from the Capability Maturity Model® Integration (CMMI) effort has been released for public review. As SEI Director Steve Cross writes, CMMI-SE/SW Version 0.2 "is an improvement over previously released models. It builds on lessons learned about software process improvement since the release of Version 1.1 of the Capability Maturity Model for Software (SW-CMM®) in 1991. CMMI-SE/SW includes improved process descriptions for requirements management; it makes risk management an explicit process area; and it introduces concepts such as reuse and product lines at lower levels of maturity than in SW-CMM Version 2 draft C."

With the achievement of this milestone, we at news@sei decided to revisit CMMI models as a feature topic.

Our Spotlight article, "Continuous and Staged, a Choice of CMMI Representations," examines the two methods by which organizations can pursue process improvement using a CMMI model. The two representations are explained from the standpoint of two imaginary companies that manufacture electronic toys. Foo Toys chooses the continuous representation because it wants to focus improvement efforts in two predefined areas, risk management and the integration of components. Widget Toys chooses the staged representation because it wants to improve the company’s overall development capability and wants to compare its process-improvement efforts against those of competitors that use the same model.

In the Roundtable interview, SEI staff and members of the CMMI Steering Group engage in a wide-ranging discussion about the CMMI project. Topics include CMMI models versus other improvement models, transitioning systems engineers to CMMI models, CMMI models and international standards, the effect on senior management of implementing CMMI models for process improvement, and how organizations should and should not use CMMI models.