A Technical History of the SEI

(3) Workforce Development
the development of materials that improve the competence of the software engineering workforce.
7 Work in this area includes the development of education and training materials as well
as bringing improved practices to the attention of practitioners and managers through workshops,
books, webinars, and other effective delivery mechanisms. This activity is performed
in conjunction with DoD, government, academic, and industry organizations.
Responding to this new guidance, the SEI balance of activities can be visualized by the following
graphic.
Figure 1: Balance of SEI Activities
Experience has demonstrated that technology transition is not a separable activity. Rather it is
viewed as a continuum as illustrated in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Technology Transition Continuum
The SEI establishes a pipeline of activities in different stages of maturity covering the first four
elements of that continuum—Explore, Create, Apply, and Amplify.
Explore: Research projects in this phase are line funded. They investigate new areas of research—areas
that are outside the scope of current research plans. Projects in this phase may
also build a technical and business case for a more substantial effort to further explore a
promising new technical idea.
Create: Research in this phase is aimed at demonstrating the feasibility and potential utility
of new ways to enhance software-enabled capabilities. Work in this phase is primarily line
funded, although sometimes PWS and Collaborative Research and Development Agreement
7 Research results have no benefit for the DoD unless they help improve the ability of practitioners
and managers to avoid or solve software-related problems.
CMU/SEI-2016-SR-027 | SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INSTITUTE | CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY 10
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