Method engineering: Trends and challenges

Abstract

Method Engineering (ME) is the discipline to study engineering techniques for constructing, assessing, evaluating and managing methods for developing Information Systems Development Methods (ISDM). Method engineering can therefore, be seen as concerned with meta-methods. The prevalent research view point has been the one of a meta-method supporting the selection and integration of ISDM parts that together form a new situational method i.e. a method adapted to the situation of a specific ISD project. Research in Situational Method Engineering (SME) has not exclusively, but undoubtedly produced a large portfolio of assembly-based approaches. © 2007 International Federation for Information Processing.