Methodology vs. development process: A case study for AOSE

Abstract

There is a general agreement in the fact that Agent Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) needs development process definition for an accurate process management. The main trends in the field identify process and methodology in order to approach the process definition. This paper focusses in the idea that process and methodology must be considered independently. This means that not only the same process can be used for different methodologies but also that the same methodology can be used following different processes. The most suitable process can be selected by developers depending on several factors such as: human resources available, time restrictions, costs, etc. The previous approach is justified introducing a case study, which shows how different development processes can be applied while the team is following the same methodology (in particular, INGENIAS methodology). © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.