Comparing software development models using CDM

During the last few decades a number of software development models have been proposed and discussed within the Software Engineering community. Examples of such models are Waterfall, Spiral, V Model, and Prototyping. The introduction of different models and their subsequent adoption by practitioners motivates the need to compare them. Comparisons are defined to i) find the best fit for a particular software development project; ii) improve the models themselves; iii) facilitate dissemination and education on development best practices and iv) find relevant information to define new models. However, existing comparisons are often largely based on the experience of practitioners and the intuitive understandings of the authors. Consequently, they tend to be subjective and inaccurate. The lack of a systematic way of comparing development models reduces understanding of such models and their overall acceptance by practitioners. We propose a systematic way of comparing software development models based on a formal technique originally proposed to compare design methodologies. The use of one well-defined formal technique provides a more consistent and efficient way to compare software development models and could be used to fine-tune the software development process of a software development organization. We present the results of a case study conducted to compare two well known and largely used development models. Results of such comparisons could be used by Information Technology educators to show their students the advantages and disadvantages of each model and instruct them on how and when to apply each model or variations of them.