В целом, отрасль разработки ПО сейчас довольно молода и страдает от недостатка устоявшихся, проверенных процессов и практик, т.к. в основном разработка ПО рассматривалась больше как творческий, нежели как инженерный процесс.
Возможно, проведение аналогий с такими зрелыми отраслями промышленности, как строительство, позволит выделить факторы успеха и применить их к отрасли разработки ПО.
Контекст:
The development of software systems is a relatively young industry and has not reached the level of maturity typically found in more traditional branches of industry. Consequently, products developed using software technology often suffer from a lack of the established practices required for their development and exploitation as commercial products. This lack of experience is a result of the emphasis software development has, so far, placed on the creative processes and methods used in the initial development of computer- based systems. This emphasis is found in nearly all of the existing software engineering methods and related tools that have been developed to assist in the realization of software systems.