A Conceptual Model of the Software Development Process

Abstract

We believe that all software development processes can be described by a single abstraction that accounts for the great variety of processes that exist, outcomes of interest and project-specific factors that occur in real-world projects. The abstraction is best represented as a conceptual model, the components of which are theoretical constructs, or models, in their own right. We believe that such a model will facilitate model building to solve individual problems, provide support for empirical research and, in the long term, provide a tool for predictions based on understanding. We are taking the first steps in building such a model