CASE AND ITS CHALLENGE FOR CHANGE

Abstract

Although the majority of professional trade press and academic attention regarding CASE (Computer Aided Software/Systems Engineering) has focused on technology, software developers have not been deluded by overinflated productivity gains attributed to those technologies. Truly profound technologies require a concomitant change in methods, practices, and techniques. Unfortunately, the majority of the software industry has had the expectation that CASE will automate their current work without rethinking work practices. Changing work practices, particularly among highly independent-minded software developers, who prize independent creativity more than team engineering, is the most difficult challenge facing the advance of the software development profession. Equally difficult is the ideological change from a productivity improvement expectation to a quality improvement expectation. This paper examines the current rate of CASE adoption and the changes necessary to accelerate its successful adoption.