A mapping study on the feasibility of method engineering

Abstract

Software processes have become inherently complex to cope with the various situations we face in project environments. In response, the research area of method engineering arose in the 1990s aiming at the systematization of process construction and application. Although the research area has gained much attention and offered a plethora of contributions so far, we still have little knowledge about which basic concepts are finally established and what their feasibility is. To overcome this shortcoming, we need a systematic investigation of the publication flora in method engineering. To reach this aim, we contribute a systematic mapping study and investigate, inter alia, which contributions were published over time and which research type facet they address to distill a common understanding about available method engineering concepts and their maturity. On the basis of the review of 83 publications, our results show that even if a high number of contributions is available, most of those contributions only repeat and discuss formerly introduced concepts, whereas reports on empirically sound evidence on the feasibility are still missing. Although the research area constitutes a many contributions, yet missing are a common understanding of method engineering and empirically sound investigations that would allow for practical application and experience extraction. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

On the usefulness and ease of use of a model-driven Method Engineering approach

“…A similar conclusion was reached in 1997 by Ter Hofstede et al [13], who stated that more empirical research was needed to substantiate the claims associated with the potential benefits of ME. Despite these demands for more empirical research, two decades later it is still hard to find empirical studies that investigate methods and tools for ME [11].…”

“…Kuhrmann et al concluded in a recent mapping study [11] that there are hardly any reports on the practical application of ME available in the literature. Henderson-Sellers et al argue in [2,12] that practitioners often fail to see the usefulness of ME mainly due to its complexity and cost in terms of time, money, and people.…”

A Model-Driven Approach for the Design, Implementation, and Execution of Software Development Methods

“…For this reason, we used MOSKitt as the base platform for implementing the CAME environment that is presented in this thesis: MOSKitt4ME. [3] and later by Kuhrmann et al in [11].…”

“…Kuhrmann et al concluded in a recent mapping study [11] that there are hardly any reports on the practical application of Method Engineering available in the literature. Henderson-Sellers et al argue in [3,31] that practitioners often fail to see the usefulness of Method Engineering mainly due to its complexity and cost in terms of time, money, and people.…”

“…[6,7,8,9]). However, even though all of this work has established a solid theoretical basis, Method Engineering is not widely used in industrial settings [3,6,10,11]. This is because the costs of applying Method Engineering are usually perceived as being larger than those of using out-of-the-box methods, which are delivered by large vendors and consulting companies [3].…”