Software Engineering Research and Industry: A Symbiotic Relationship to Foster Impact
Victor Robert Basili, Lionel Briand, Domenico Bianculli, Shiva Nejati, Fabrizio Pastore, Mehrdad Sabetzadeh · IEEE Software · 2018
Software engineering is not only an increasingly challenging endeavor that goes beyond the intellectual capabilities of any single individual engineer but also an intensely human one. Tools and methods to develop software are employed by engineers of varied backgrounds within a large variety of organizations and application domains. As a result, the variation in challenges and practices in system requirements, architecture, and quality assurance is staggering. Human, domain, and organizational factors define the context within which software engineering methodologies and technologies are to be applied and therefore the context that research needs to account for, if it is to be impactful. This article provides an assessment of the current challenges faced by software engineering research in achieving its potential, a description of the root causes of such challenges, and a proposal for the field to move forward and become more impactful through collaborative research and innovation between public research and industry. This article is part of a theme issue on software engineering’s 50th anniversary.