ISACA Changes their IP policy regarding CMMI. What does that mean to us?

 Hey Appraiser!

Our consultant just told us we had to purchase an Enterprise license in order to conduct a CMMI Appraisal now - what gives?  ~Monet Grabba

3 Tips for passing you CMMI Appraisal!

Monet,

With the release of CMMI v3.0 also came a new IP policy.  They discussed doing this when V2 came out, but wisely backed off. No longer.

The new policy is that the Practice names (statements), Value Statements, Intent, and examples are proprietary and cannot be shared with anyone who does not have an active license for the CMMI Model Viewer.

Many of these are the same exact practices that were in v1.3, which was, practically speaking, public domain because it was build with taxpayer dollars.  It's gonna be hard to stuff that back in the bag.

What this means for Lead Appraisers and companies adopting CMMI  without a license, is that appraisal results CANNOT state the name of the practice that is being reviewed and "scored" (characterized).  So...if I need to tell a client that the 1st practice in Estimating has a weakness, that's all I can tell them, unless they have an active license for EVERYONE that is in the room!

Now, don't get me wrong.  I know the fine folks at ISCA fairly well, and they're smart people, but this stuff ain't rocket science.  "Establish an Estimate" (I paraphrase here so I don't get lashed with a wet noodle) isn't the stuff of process innovation.  Most of CMMI descibes actions smart people would take if they have the right tools and training.

I understand the examples, value intent statements, and explanatory material.  That is truly original (though sometimes uninspiring). But the practice names have been around, in some form, since v1.0, and everyone has them already.

Nevertheless, those are the new rules.  So, if you're going to adopt CMMI you should get an enterprise license.  You'll want it anyhow - there's actually some great stuff in there.

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