Benefits and effective application of software engineering standards

Many years of effort have been expended by experienced practitioners and academic experts in developing software engineering standards. Organizations should see it as a positive advantage-rather than as a costly negative necessity-when they are required to develop software to a recognized standard. A genuine, constructive program of measures to ensure compliance with an objective standard will achieve development process improvements that would otherwise be difficult to motivate and bring to fruition. Drawing on the author's experience in software development for the Space and Civil Aviation industries, this paper provides an overview and comparison of a number of the available software engineering standards. It goes on to describe implications and benefits that flow from these standards. Suggestions are made for effective practical application of the standards, both at individual project and at organization level.