What's new is the application to software development. The SEI Software CMM has become a de facto standard for assessing and improving software processes. Ratings range from Maturity Level 1, which is characterized by ad hoc development and lack of a formal software development process, up to Maturity Level 5, at which an organization not only has a formal process, but also continually refines and improves it. Level 5 is very difficult to attain. Customers contracting large projects will naturally seek organizations with high CMM ratings, and that has prompted increasingly more organizations to investigate software process improvement.
Mature software is also reusable software.
Artisans are not concerned with producing standardized products, and that is a reason why there is so little interchangeability in software components. The software component interface would be compatible with any other software system. The artisan approach is charming but breaks down when the system is too large for one person to comprehend on his own. And while it may not be necessary to apply formal software processes to daily programming tasks, it is important in the larger scheme of things, in that it encourages developers to think like engineers.