What We Really Need Are Process Model Generators
BARRY W. BOEHM · 2005
A good many of the problems on software projects arise from mismatches between the process model used by the project and the project's real-world process drivers: budget, schedule, available commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software, customer standards, user mission or technology uncertainties, etc. The primary process modeling approach to date for avoiding these mismatches has been to try to develop the perfect process model: one which will work well for any combination of process drivers. Our position in this paper is that a good process model generator would be nearly as effective as the perfect process model, and much more likely to be achievable. A process model generator is a technique which operates on a project's process drivers as inputs to produce a process model for the project which is tailored to its particular process drivers. SDiral Model as a Process Model Generator Can such a process model generator be developed? We would contend that at least one process model generator is currently available: an extension of the Spiral Model [Boehm, 19881 which covers the definition and development of the software process as well as of the software product. This extension, as described in [Boehm-Belz, 19881, proceeds in a cyclic fashion to apply the same generic sequence of steps to the software process as well as the software product: Determine Pr tr' These constitute the project's process drivers: develop a productengineered version of the software in 18 months; ensure that the product will satisfy a given class of users; use COTS software wherever possible. Identifv Process Model Alte ratives.Would include the currently familiar process models such as the Waterfall Model, incremental development, prototyping/evolutionary development, ETVX/Program Process Architecture [Radice et al, 19851, plus mixes of process models that might better fit