Statistical process control
In 1989, the Software Engineering Institute introduced the notion that SPC can be usefully applied to non-manufacturing processes, such as software-engineering processes, in the Capability Maturity Model (CMM).  This idea exists today within the Level 4 and Level 5 practices of the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). However, this notion that SPC is a useful tool when applied to non-repetitive, knowledge-intensive processes, such as engineering processes, has encountered much skepticism, and remains controversial today. The problem lies in numerous areas of software which are not repetitive, but instead are one-time or one-off aspects of quality, rather than being observed for repeated performance over a long-term view.