Software process themes and issues

Abstract

Improvements in the productivity of the software industry and the quality of its products are urgently needed. Recently, efforts at improvement have begun to focus on the manufacturing process itself - the software process -viewing it as a coherent set of related steps for creating and evolving software systems. Three main interrelated themes can be identified in the work of software process technologists: software process modeling and definition; software process assessment and improvement; and software process support. Within these main themes, many technical problems need to be solved before process technology and the support it provides for industrial production reaches full maturity. This paper summarizes approaches to improving software productivity and product quality over the past thirty years, and charts the emergence of the process view during the last decade. It discusses the main themes of current process work, and identifies a number ofthe key technical issues that need to be addressed in the development of effective software process support.