Diffusing Software-Engineering Methods

July 1989 T ethnology transfer has become an important area of concern in software engineering. Yet we do not have good frameworks for systematically studying the nature of software-technology transfer, nor for developing sound and prescriptive strategies for facilitating successful diffusion. Softwareengineering technology, as Peter Freeman has defined it,’ consists of any concepts, tools, techniques, methods, and generalized technical structures that software engineers use to create softwareintensive systems that meet stated technical, economic, and social objectives. Examples of this technology include modularization techniques, design methodologies, review techniques, programming environments, estimation techniques, and metrics. Diffusion is the process of transferring technology from those who develop it to those who apply it. Although diffusion is important in all disciplines, it assumes crit-