What is the status of the SEPG Conference?

Dear CMMI Appraiser -- I saw a mysterious tweet from you about the “future of the SEPG conference”? Could that be true? What about the rumors that the SEI had canceled the SEPG conferences series? ~ Gary G.

Dear Gary, thanks following @CMMIAppraiser on Twitter. While it is still too soon to share the details, we’re excited to say: yes! The SEPG Conference has a future!

Rather than give credibility to the rumors, here are the facts.  In December 2012, the SEI officially transitioned operations of the CMMI to the CMMI Institute (www.cmmiinstitute.com), headed up by global technology executive, Kirk Botula. At that point, the future of the SEPG Conference Series was unknown, and rumors were flying.

I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Kirk in my capacity as Chairman of the Partner Advisory Board. I have been particularly impressed by Kirk’s passion for the SEPG Conference, and the community as a whole. We agreed there are several aspects of the annual get-together that engineering and software professionals have really come to appreciate more than anything else:

• The end-user (customer) experience.  Learning from other end-users how they used CMMI to make their companies stronger
• Seeing speakers who are industry leaders with a proven record of successful conferences
• The social experience. It’s great to have dedicated time to build stronger relationships with customers, peers and potential partners.
• The learning experience. It’s cool to come together with professionals from around the world to learn, network and explore solutions to organizational performance problems.
• The bigger picture experience. It’s beneficial for everyone when organizations learn to better understand how to harness the power of process improvement.

There’s a reason our industry has embraced these opportunities. We’re all trying to make our companies as successful as possible. Throughout the years there has been no better place to come together and make that happen than at SEPG Conferences.

We envision the "next generation" SEPG to be leaner, filled with useful information, face-paced, and end-user focused.  More customer talks, hands-on workshops, and lightning talks.  We see less "speeches" and more interactive sessions.  Less grandiose and more hands-on.  Exciting stuff!

Also, look for the partners (like www.broadwordsolutions.com) to be more visible in order to bring the conference closer to our clients and customers.

No dates have been set, but we are currently discussing locations and timing for 2013  . . . did I say 2013?  Yes!  Stay tuned.

So, Gary, we're excited to share the good news that the SEPG Conference will be back. In the meantime, we are working on getting more details together for you. You can catch the latest by subscribing to our email, following us on Twitter @CMMIappraiser, or visiting www.cmmiinstitute.com.

Stay tuned ...

Like this blog? Forward to your nearest engineering or software exec!

Jeff Dalton is a Certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, Certified CMMI Instructor, author, and consultant with years of real-world experience with the CMMI in all types of organizations. Jeff has taught thousands of students in CMMI trainings and has received an aggregate satisfaction score of 4.97 out of 5 from his students.

Visit www.broadswordsolutions.com for more information about engineering strategy, performance innovation , software process improvement and running a successful CMMI program.

To download eBooks about CMMI, visit Jeff’s Author Page on Amazon.