Fine-grain process modelling

Abstract

We propose the use of fine-grain process modelling as an aid to software development. We suggest the use of two levels of granularity, one at the level of the individual developer and another at the level of the representation scheme used by that developer. The advantages of modelling the software development process at these two levels, we argue, include respectively: the production of models that better reflect actual development processes because they are oriented towards the actors who enact them; and models that are vehicles for providing guidance because they may be expressed in terms of the actual representation schemes employed by those actors. We suggest that the previously published approach (A. Finkelstein et al., 1990; 1992) of using multiple "ViewPoints" to model software development participants, the perspectives that they hold, the representation schemes that they deploy and the process models that they maintain, is one way of supporting the fine-grain modelling we advocate. We point to some simple, tool-based experiments we have performed that support this proposition.<>