Why Create New Models?

0 7 4 0 7 4 5 9 / 9 8 / $ 1 0 . 0 0 © 1 9 9 8 I E E E ecently, I had dinner with James Bach, a thoughtful and well-known figure in the software quality field. As he began to tell me about a new testing model he was developing, I gently interrupted him and suggested that, with a few exceptions, the software industry does not need any more models right now—whether new formalisms for software development, design methods, life-cycle approaches, frameworks for process improvement, or quality models. What we do need is for practitioners to routinely and effectively apply the techniques defined by our existing models and frameworks. Once we’ve reached their practical limit, we can turn to improved models that provide guidance for working in better ways. Some current approaches may be unworkable, and projects on the bleeding edge of technology, business needs, or development approaches may find current methods inadequate. More sophisticated models may also benefit practitioners who have in fact pushed current methods to their limits. My sampling of audiences at conferences and training seminars suggests, however, that many organizations do not consistently apply existing approaches for software development excellence. I outline here several sets of software engineering and management practices that, in my experience, are still not being routinely applied across the industry. Far from a lack of suitable models to help us structure our thinking and practice, the problems we most often face include ♦ insufficient awareness of current best practices and published standards in software development, management, and quality; ♦ inadequate training of practitioners and managers in these established practices; ♦ resistance to change, expressed as the “notinvented-here”syndrome and an insistence that “our project is different and those things don’t apply”; and ♦ a shortage of discipline, rigor, and available time for people to continuously improve their personal software processes by applying a broad spectrum of superior techniques.