Forum for Advancing Software engineering EducationForum for Advancing Software engineering Education
Volume 6 Number 4 Wednesday, February 21, 1996
Contents:
TCSE Chair Nominations
Purchasing Training for a Software Organization
CMM Version 2 Upgrade Training
The Power of Small Teams
Function Points List Server
A Market for SE Educators
CFP: Should U.S. software engineers be licensed?
Date: 20 Feb 1996 13:03:53 -0600
Subject: TCSE Chair Nominations
This is a call for recommendations to the Nominations Committee
for the next Chair of the IEEE-CS Technical Council on
Software Engineering (TCSE).
The TCSE Chair is a two-year term beginning July 1, eligible
for re-election once. The present Chair is completing his
second (final) term.
Qualifications and information can be found on the TCSE web
site at http://www.tcse.org/election
Recommendations to the Nominations Committee are due by February 29
via the TCSE Secretary.
James H. Cross II
TCSE Secretary
Computer Science and Engineering office: (334) 844-6315
107 Dunstan Hall fax: (334) 844-6329
Auburn University, AL 36849 email: cross@eng.auburn.edu
Date: 21 Feb 1996 14:33:10 -0600
Subject: Purchasing Training for a Software Organization
The SEI has released a new technical report entitled "Training
Guidelines: Purchasing Training for a Software Organization" by
Maribeth B. Carpenter and Harvey K. Hallman.
The guidelines focus on issues surrounding the purchasing of software
engineering training:
- determining whether a training solution is appropriate
- determining whether it is appropriate to purchase training
- specifying the subject matter to be taught
- information a candidate training vendor should supply
- what you should provide training vendors
- selecting a training vendor
Appendices illustrate the specification of training needs. The subject
matter of software architecture development is used as an example.
The report is available on line at:
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/products/publications/95.reports/95.tr.010.html
To obtain a bound copy of the report, ask for document
CMU/SEI-95-TR-010 when ordering from:
Research Access Inc.
800 Vinial Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
requests@rai.com
Toll Free: (800) 685-6510
Voice: (412) 321-2992
FAX: (412) 321-2994
URL: http://www.rai.com/
Date: 20 Feb 1996 08:11:28 -0600
Subject: CMM Version 2 Upgrade Training
Time to Begin Planning for CMM Version 2 Upgrade Training
A February 5, 1996 memo from Mark Paulk, SEI's CMM v2 Product Manager,
to the CMM Correspondence Group details the CMM v2 revision and release
strategy. According to the memo, the tentative timetable is:
Release v2.0 in first quarter 1997
Release v2.1 in 199.
The memo identifies Version 2 as potentially a "major revision" of the
CMM. The areas for revision currently under study are: additional Key
Process Areas, architecture, and harmonizing with other process
standards (SPICE and ISO9000). V2.0 may contain several new Key Process
Areas; those mentioned in the memo are: Risk Management, Software Test
Management, Software Reuse, and Requirements Elicitation. Its
architecture may also be revised from the current staged architecture to
a continuous architecture, such as that used by SPICE and the Systems
Engineering CMM. Harmonizing with other process standards will be used
to address gaps in coverage between the CMM and those standards, such as
software delivery and installation.
All these potential revisions have a significant impact on CMM- based
training programs. New courses will need to be developed or acquired
for the new KPAs. Existing courses will need to be updated with the new
CMM architecture and all new material added to address gaps between the
CMM and other process standards.
To receive updates on v2, send your name and address to:
CMMv2 c/o Carolyn Tady
Software Engineering Institute
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
Internet: cmt@sei.cmu.edu
Files can also be downloaded via ftp at:
ftp://ftp.sei.cmu.edu/pub/cmm/v2
Date: 12 Feb 1996 14:22:38 -0600
Subject: The Power of Small Teams
NEWS - From Edupage
THE POWER OF SMALL TEAMS: Sun Microsystems chief technology officer
Eric Schmidt favors small teams and a focused approach to technical
problems: "The proper arrangement at a company is a very large
number of very small businesses. The best things were done by very
small engineering teams, because a small engineering team is forced
to make tradeoffs to do only one thing. They are very committed...
But small teams go against human nature. Human nature is to build
bigger and bigger enterprises." He cites examples to bolster his
argument: "Unix was developed by two people. Java was done by a
team of less than five, Mosaic was done by two to four people and
the Mac system was done by about 12 people. Even DOS was actually
developed by only two people." (Investor's Business Daily 17 Jan 96
A1)
Date: 13 Feb 1996 08:53:06 -0600
Subject: Function Points List Server
This LISTSERV on Function Points is managed by CIM, an Interest group on
software metrics based in Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. There are now more
than 300 subscribers.
Each mail sent to the mailing list is re-routed through the mailing list
to all addresses of subscribers to the mailing list. To subscribe, send
mail to CIM@CRIM.CA with EMPTY subject line and message body
SUB FUNCTION.POINT.LIST "Your name"
To post a message, write to FUNCTION.POINT.LIST@CRIM.CA
For more information, contact
Denis St-Pierre
Computer Research Institute of Montreal (CRIM)
Denis.St-Pierre@CRIM.CA
Date: 21 Feb 1996 08:27:30 -0600
Subject: A Market for SE Educators
>From Edupage:
PROGRAMMERS NEEDED
The Software Human Resources Council says Canada faces a disturbing
shortage of programmers and predicts an overall shortage of 20,000
workers by 1999.
(Ottawa Citizen 20 Feb 96 C1)
Date: 12 Feb 1996 14:19:36 -0600
Subject: CFP: Should U.S. software engineers be licensed?
The National Software Council invites you to participate in a conference
to examine a significant policy issue for U.S. industry
In its role as a facilitator of national discussion, the NSC sponsors
forums to examine software issues that affect the U.S. economy and
society. The NSC does not have a "position" on this issue.
NSC Forum:
"SHOULD U.S. SOFTWARE ENGINEERS BE LICENSED ?"
Call for Presentations
25-26 June 1996
St. Louis, Missouri
Professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, and civil engineers, are
personally accountable for work they perform and are expected to be
demonstrably conversant with the body of knowledge in their fields.
Shouldn't software engineers be so too?
The job title "software engineer" is ill-defined and ambiguous as used
in industrial practice across the United States. In some States, it is
unlawful to use the term "software engineer" for people who are not
registered professional engineers. There are professional registration
or recognition mechanisms already in place for software professionals in
various countries. IEEE and ACM have had a joint task force studying
this topic.
Advocates claim that, sooner or later, the States, the U.S. Government,
other national governments, and/or the European Community are going to
require that the design of critical software be certified for
safety/efficacy/utility by those already judged to be competent to do so.
The proponents say that the software industry must establish appropriate
machinery to judge competence in the software engineering field or it
will be done for us by others.
Whether professional registration practices, such as licensing and
certification, are needed, desirable, or even practical is a matter of
debate. There are many unanswered questions. Do we know enough about
the requisite body of knowledge? Are the key principles of software
engineering sufficiently known and agreed? What would be the likely
impact on education, training, employment, liability insurance,
economics of software development and maintenance, and on the
marketplace for software-dependent goods and services?
In this NSC Forum, speakers and panel discussions will review and debate
the issues surrounding licensing of software engineers and its effect on
the U.S. software industry.
Presentations, panels, session proposals and tutorials are invited on
all aspects of this issue, and representing all sides of the debate.
Topics include:
-- Professional registration -- Thresholds of competency
-- Certification -- Impact on hiring practices
-- Licensing -- Role of software process
-- Program accreditation -- Principles of software engr
-- Safety-critical systems -- Requisite body of knowledge
-- Liability -- Ethics
-- Legal responsibilities -- Identifying best practices
-- Economic impact -- Standards
-- Professional code of conduct -- Opening Pandora's Box
Presentation and session proposals are due by March 15, 1996.
Papers are not required. Presentation slides, submitted later,
will be published in the meeting notes.
Submit a 1 to 2 page description to:
NSC Forum, P.O. Box 400, Burlington, MA 01803
forum@nscusa.org fax 617-272-8464
For more information:
http://www.nscusa.org/forum96
General Chair:
Elliot Chikofsky, DMR Group,
404 Wyman Street, Suite 450, Waltham, MA 02154
617-487-9000 x157; e.chikofsky@computer.org
Forum Advisory Committee:
Andrew Chruscicki, Rome Laboratory - USAF
John Marciniak, Kaman Sciences
others tba
The NSC Forum will be held along with the 5th Reengineering Forum
conference (27-28 June). For information on REF 1996,
see the Web site: http://www.reengineer.org/forum
Cooperation pending with several national and international
computing societes and professional organizations
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