Method Engineering Process Patterns

Method Engineering (ME) is based on the notion that no two software development projects are identical, and hence, the same development process is never executed twice. The need therefore arises for custom-built software development methodologies that are tailored to fit the specific project situation at hand, thus giving rise to the various Situational Method Engineering (SME) approaches currently in use. A process pattern is a description of a recurring development process fragment that can be used as a building block for engineering development processes. Software development process patterns are extensively used in SME, mainly as process components assembled together to form bespoke methodologies; however, the SME field itself has not been scrutinized as to the methodology development process fragments frequently encountered. Situational method engineering knowledge captured in the form of SME process patterns is not only useful for building and improving SME processes, but it also facilitates knowledge transfer among method engineers. We propose a set of SME process patterns obtained through studying existing method engineering approaches. The set of patterns has been used for developing a generic pattern-based framework for SME. The framework can be used for developing SME processes according to the specific requirements of method engineering projects. The resulting process can then be enacted to yield custom-built, project-specific software development methodologies.