Abstract

Managing software engineering projects is tough. The body of methods, rules, postulates, procedures, and processes that are used to manage a software engineering project are collectively referred to as a methodology.  

There are two well known methodologies commonly used in practice today. These are known as the waterfall  [Boe76a]   and the spiral  [Boe88]   methodologies. Both of these methodologies organize some tasks very well, but have narrow focus, so that crucial aspects of one methodology are missed in the other methodology.

An alternative methodology is proposed here, called the WaterSluice.   The WaterSluice borrows the iterative nature of the spiral methodology along with the steady progression of the waterfall methodology. In addition, in the WaterSluice the tasks are prioritized and the most beneficial step is accomplished first. This methodology is positioned in a total view of the software engineering process based on the capability maturity model  [ORO93] and  [PWCC95].

The WaterSluice methodology represents a more accurate rendering of current software engineering practices. In this sense, the WaterSluice is not new but merely represents a concise description of the state of the art.

This thesis defines the WaterSluice methodology and the accompanying software engineering processes. A collection of theorems is presented establishing the strengths and weaknesses of the WaterSluice as compared to the waterfall and the spiral methodologies.

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