Shell Method has been a pet project of mine since the mid-1990's. In fact, I did my Master's thesis on implementing a software lifecycle management process. Shell Method was first made available during 2000, but dropped off the radar for a couple of years as I focused on other things. Now I'm back, and so is Shell Method.

When I first released Shell Method, I did it in stages, and that's the same way the re-release will go. First comes the umbrella documentation set, then the introductory guidance, followed by the specific guidance for the six stages of the iterative lifecycle. As I release each stage guidance, I'll release the document templates for that stage and also update the example site (BOTS) with completed examples of the templates. Eventually, all six stages will be done.

Why am I going this route? Because most of the bang for the buck comes from the umbrella documentation set and the Planning Stage guidance. The rest is nice-to-have, but can be inferred from the example site. Of course, if you're looking for full CMMI linkage at Level 2, you'll have to wait for the whole suite to come out.

Is this pie-in-the-sky? No. Many applications have been developed with this process over the years, and I've personally managed projects that passed formal audits using Shell Method. I'm basically taking the lessons learned over the past few years and incorporating them into a 1.1 release.

-Z-