Software production: From art/craft to engineering

• Published in: AT&T Technical Journal Vol. 73; no. 1; pp. 59 - 68
• Main Authors: Hsueh, T. Richard, Houghton, Thomas F., Maranzano, Joseph F., Pasternack, Gerald P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK AT&T 01.01.1994; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; AT & T Bell Laboratories
• Subjects: Engineering; Product development; Software; Technology
• ISSN: 8756-2324; 2376-676X; 1538-7305
• DOI: 10.1002/j.1538-7305.1994.tb00570.x

Software-development organizations throughout industry are striving for better ways to develop, deploy, and maintain their products. Changing an organization's well-established operating procedures - to improved methods and techniques - is always a substantial challenge. But, quite often, change is crucial for maintaining competitiveness and ensuring long-term success. This paper analyzes the challenge, and identifies key elements of a typical migration path to creating a new operating paradigm. The paper also provides a framework for technology insertion, a methodology that helps develop a disciplined engineering process, allowing software projects to advance systematically in their journey to success. Experience with the AT&T mosaic of integrated software processes, known as MOSAIC, and the software-development environment (SDE), shows how MOSAIC and SDE support project teams undergoing organizational change.