Situational Method Engineering

Software engineering strives to introduce methodologies aim to deliver quality software systems. However, it is agreed that there is no unique methodology can be suitable for all projects situation without a level of customization. Method Engineering (ME) presents an engineering approach to restructure rigid methodologies/methods into reusable components of methods. Situational method engineering (SME) is particular paradigm of ME aims to enable the composition of new methods by selecting appropriate method components from some method repository according to requirement of the specific project at hand. Many SME approaches have realized this aim with their own perspectives. However, the use of these approaches is still limited to their inventors, and the approaches themselves are not automated or supported with tools. Moreover, the interoperability between different approaches is an issue. Service-oriented architecture (SOA) provides a promising solution for such problems. Service-oriented software engineering (SOSE) concerns of designing and developing software systems within a set of design principles that govern SOA. Based on the assumption that software methods is a software too, this paper proposes to design a SME service-oriented methodology, in which it allows the development of software development methods in the form of services and within the SOA.