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The search for specific software development methodologies

This talk item started on the Template talk:Software Engineering, see here

At the moment

1970s
1980s
1990s
New millennium

The question stays how many Software development methodologies there are, and how many there are actually described in Wikipedia. Now I allready noticed some extra methodologies:

Unified Process

The Unified Process article lists some more methods, all refinements and variations of the Unified Process framework. (3 of 8 allready listed above: Agile, Enterprise and Rational)

Two other remarkable things

This seems like enough for now. The trick is to determine which of these are actually methodologies, or else just principles, models, approaches, or some thing else with doesn't fit the scheme here.

-- Marcel Douwe Dekker (talk) 00:19, 28 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Method vs. Methodology

I think the article should be renamed to Software development method. Method and Methodology are not synonyms, but have different meanings. See the article Methodology for explanation on their meanings. Also software engineering text books such as Pressmann [1] and Sommerville [2] use systematically term software development method instead of methodology.

I didn't change anything yet, but unless someone disagrees, I'll do the change. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Okivekas (talk • contribs) 17:38, 19 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I don't agree. This article speaks of both methods and methologies. The waterfall model could be considered a method. But Software prototyping among other things a methology. I do think this artcle should explain about the difference. -- Marcel Douwe Dekker (talk) 18:47, 19 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The Software prototyping page itself seems to use mostly word method. Also Agile software development uses mostly method, though unsystematically. Software development seems to use word methodology, though mostly in context where method would clearly be the appropriate word.
Methodology is defined as follows: "Methodology includes the following concepts as they relate to a particular discipline or field of inquiry:
  1. a collection of theories, concepts or ideas;
  2. comparative study of different approaches; and
  3. critique of the individual methods"
The first meaning gives some room for interpretation whether e.g. software prototyping should be seen as method or methodology (as it indeed can be seen as collection of various prototyping models).
However, on non-wikipedian sources such as the disipline textbooks, the word method is systematically used, including also e.g. prototyping (see e.g. Pressman 5th ed. section 11.4.2, Prototyping Methods and Tools). Thus I'd say, that the practice in software engineering is to call all the different development models methods. Methodology would then mean the collection of all the different methods and the study of them.--Okivekas (talk) 21:10, 19 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
This article is designed to represent "system development methodology", and it talks about several software development tools: from flow charts and methods to methodologies. This article is not just and only about methods. I do think this article could be improved explaining the difference.
We are not here to do our own original research, as you are arguing, and determine to real term or meaning or what. We are here to represent reliable sources. -- Marcel Douwe Dekker (talk) 21:40, 19 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, clearly changing the name of the article is not an obvious thing, so I will not do it. I fail to see how original research is related to this, I just refered to sources which use the terms to explain the common practice (in wikipedia and elsewhere). There is nothing original in that.
however, all the examples you describe sound like methods to me, and methodology isn't really a developmemnt tool, but study of development tools.
I agree that clarifying the difference sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately I can't do it since I don't really understand the difference in the way you define it (isn't just defining meanings of terms with no explanantion also original research?). --Okivekas (talk) 08:53, 20 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, I think you made a good point, that there could be differences between methods and methodologies here. And this could be better explained in the article.
Now I think your argument was original research, because you didn't refer to a notable source that stated "there are no methodologies in the field of Software development, just methods". You used those sources to make a (new) point. And you are doing it again. A statement like a "methodology isn't really a developmement tool" sound like more original research to me. I can only respond with my own original experience, that the term methodology may refer to a comparative study, the methodologies defined in the field of software engineering are not meant to be only comparative studies, but a collection of methods to guide software developement. now that I think of it, I think the Wikipedia definition of methodology is incomplete... it should mention methods.
Now furter explaining the difference can start with making an assumption and then finding some notable sources that confirms it. Or just google for (reliable or not) sources that mention both "system development methodology" and "system development method".
One of my first assumptions is, that it is a historical thing: the term "software development methodology" is more used in the past, and the term "software development method" in the presents. So I checked Google books with "Return content published between" in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s and found:
  • The term Software Development Methodogy is used: 8, 180, 642, 610, 409 times
  • The term Software Development Method is used: 4, 13, 272, 319, 229 times
Now three things I can preliminary conclude here are:
  1. The term "Software Development Methodogy" seems to be used twice as much a the term "Software Development Method" since the 1980s
  2. While the term "Software Development Methodogy" got populair in the 1970s, the term "Software Development Method" started being used in the 1980s.
  3. ... and my first assumption doesn't seem to hold.
This conclusions seems likely. This experiment itself is original research, and I could even use some of these findings in a history section. But more likely I would try to find a reliabe source about the history of "Software Development Methodogy" stating it became populair in the 1970s. This searches are just a beginning. It needs a lot of original research to further develop this article. But you can only use the notable source you found.
One way or an other this historical search again confirms the term "Software Development Methodogy" is more used the the term "Software Development Method". And it seems like a lot of work explaining the differences. -- Marcel Douwe Dekker (talk) 14:40, 20 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
P.S. I think the Wikipedia methodology article is unreliable. And I question your argumentation even more. You apparently choose to ignor the first definition given in the methodology article, stating methodology is a "collection of methods".

The term "methodology" is broader than "method," because methods come from methodology. The term method is more specific to a process. -- Oicumayberight (talk) 16:47, 18 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Merge proposal

Considering the merge proposal into the software development process article, I'm suggesting a partial merge. Move the software development methods out of this article and merge them into the software development process article. Then redirect the term software development method to the software development process article. Leave this a smaller article with a broader scope that doesn't describe specific methods, but instead describes the nature of developing or using methodology and the alternatives, if there are any. Oicumayberight (talk) 16:47, 18 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Do you mean moving the Software development approaches section to the software development process article?
I guess this could be an option. There seems to be at least three different subjects in the articles
  1. The different stages of the software development process
  2. The different models or approaches used as a framework, and
  3. The different kind of methodologies developed to govern the software development process.
I agree there is no clear separatation of these subjects in both article. -- Marcel Douwe Dekker (talk) 22:59, 18 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That's what I mean. There is no fine line distinction. But there is a difference that can be somewhat contrasted by the choice of content between the two articles. Oicumayberight (talk) 23:30, 18 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I agree their is no fine line here. Some of the methodologies mentioned here are listed as philosophies as well, see List of software development philosophies. There is no fine line between approaches, models, methods, methodologies and philosophies. And the different methodologies define different stages in the development process. I do think it is this to much to explain in one article. -- Marcel Douwe Dekker (talk) 22:25, 19 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
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