Software Engineering in The Small.

IEEE Software 

Abstract

Over the past five to eight years, software has become a vital component of almost every business as well as of national economies. Almost every product or service has become software-enabled. As a result, organizations’ competitiveness is largely becoming dependent on their abilities to use software as a competitive weapon. What is making the competitive landscape more complex is the kind of pressures organizations are facing in terms of time to market, new features, cost, and, of course, quality and reliability. Furthermore, organizations are finding it increasingly challenging to operate as convergence, discontinuity, and economic boundarylessness are leading to the birth of a new breed of global customers. And any organization’s survival—let alone success—is therefore clearly becoming dependent on an ability to understand the characteristics of such global customers and serve them accordingly. It is clear that in their quest for software excellence,1 organizations have to rely increasingly on software engineering techniques and methodologies in addition to relying on and refining their traditional business strategies.