The IBM-McGill project on software process

Historically, the process used to develop software has played an important role in the field of software engineering. A number of software lifecycle models have been developed in the last three decades. These models, while helpful in giving general guidance to software developers, do not expose the myriad details that are critical in any large, evolving software development project. Recent developments, however, have unfolded many hidden aspects of the software process giving rise to a new discipline which we call software process engineering. This paper depicts the software process in the context of software environments, examines recent developments in the process field, proposes a set of actions which a software development team might undertake to improve their process maturity, and describes the IBM-McGill project on software process.