User-centric Software Engineering

Abstract

The rapid introduction of new technology, a growing number of users, and competition from the developing world are all pushing the computer industry in new directions. Any nation's software industry that hopes to survive as a world-class enterprise must make fundamental challenges in the software development process and its supporting development environment. The traditional waterfall approach to software development focuses on requirements defined early in the process, often releasing systems years later that are obsolete on delivery. In the mid-1980's, however, programming environments emerged that let developers build usable prototypes in days or weeks instead of months or years. These capabilities opened the way for alternative approaches to developing software. One of the most important results of the ARPA-Rome Planning Initiative (ARPI) was the formalization of such a new approach. We call it User-Centric Software Engineering. USE represents a synthesis of methods advocated and practiced by leaders in the software engineering field. The initial aim of USE is to encourage collaboration between users and developers to help design more efficient business processes and supporting software.< >