The incremental commitment spiral model process patterns for rapid-fielding projects
BARRY W. BOEHM, Supannika Koolmanojwong · 2010
To provide better services to customers and not to be left behind in a competitive business environment, a wide variety of ready-to-use software and technologies are available for one to grab and go and build up software systems at a very fast pace. Rapid fielding plays a major role in developing software systems to provide a quick response to the organization. This research investigates the appropriateness of current software development processes and develops new software development process guidelines, focusing on four process patterns: Use single NDI, NDI-intensive, Services-intensive, and Architected Agile. Currently, there is no single software development process model that is applicable to all four process patterns, but the Incremental Commitment Spiral Model (ICSM) can help a new project converge on a process that fits the project process scenario. The output of this research has been implemented as an Electronic Process Guide for USC Software Engineering students to use as a guideline to develop real-client Software Engineering course projects. An empirical study has been conducted to assess the suitability of the newly developed process as compared to results data from previous course projects. Subject to sources of variability in the nature of the projects, the assessment confirmed that the process selection guidelines led project teams to choose the most appropriate process pattern, and that the performance of the project teams choosing inappropriate processes produced less satisfactory results.