Key Points

• In spite of 50 years of software development methodology and process improvement, we need a new paradigm to develop increasingly complex software systems.

• Productivity gains in software development have not kept up with the performance increases in hardware. New hardware technology enables and encourages new applications, which require much larger and more complex programs.

• Perhaps a dozen models of software development aim to improve development productivity and/or enhance quality. They all work reasonably well when faithfully and diligently applied.

• The Department of Defense has sponsored a number of software development process improvement initiatives as a leader in the use of sophisticated computer applications and dedicated or embedded applications.

• The Design for Trustworthy Software (DFTS) technology addresses challenges of producing trustworthy software using a combination of the iterative Robust Software Development Model, Software Design Optimization Engineering, and Object-Oriented Design Technology.