In the 1980s, several military projects involving software subcontractors ran
over-budget and were completed much later than planned, if they were completed
at all. In an effort to determine why this was occurring, the United States Air
Force funded a study at the SEI. The result of this study was a model for the
military to use as an objective evaluation of software subcontractors. In 1989,
the Capability Maturity Model was published as Managing the Software Process.
The basis for the model is the Quality Management Maturity Grid introduced by
Philip Crosby in his 1979 book 'Quality is Free'.
1987: SEI-87-TR-24 (SW-CMM questionnaire), released.
1989: Managing the Software Process, published.
1990: SW-CMM v0.2, released (first external issue see Paulk handout).
1991: SW-CMM v1.0, released.
1993: SW-CMM v1.1, released.
1997: SW-CMM revisions halted in support for CMMI.
2000: CMMI v1.02, released.
2002: CMMI v1.1, released.
2006: CMMI v1.2, released.