Opinion: The Demise of the Waterfall Model Is Imminent

ABSTRACT

Rumors of the demise of the Waterfall Life-cycle Model are greatly exaggerated. We discovered this and other disappointing indicators about current software engineering practices in a recent survey of almost 200 software professionals. These discoveries raise questions about perception versus reality with respect to the nature of software engineers, software engineering practice, and the industry.

REFERENCES

• 1: 1. Software Requirements Practices Questionnaire: see http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/c/j/cjn6/ survey.html.
• 2: Colin J. Neill , Phillip A. Laplante, Requirements Engineering: The State of the Practice, IEEE Software, v.20 n.6, p.40-45, November 2003 [doi>10.1109/MS.2003.1241365]
• 3: 3. See reference 2.
• 4: W. W. Royce, Managing the development of large software systems: concepts and techniques, Proceedings of the 9th international conference on Software Engineering, p.328-338, March 1987, Monterey, California, United States
• 5: 5. See reference 2.
• 6: Frederick P. Brooks, Jr., The mythical man-month (anniversary ed.), Addison-Wesley Longman Publishing Co., Inc., Boston, MA, 1995

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.9 Management
          Subjects: Life cycle

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.m Miscellaneous

General Terms:
Human Factors, Management