Determination of Concurrent Software Engineering Use in the United States

Scope of Study: This dissertation summarizes the current use of concurrent software engineering (CSE) by information technology (IT) organizations in the United States and its effectiveness in improving software delivery time, quality, and cost. From a total population of 7,173 IT organizations, a one-third sample of 2,391 were surveyed. A net valid response of 142 organizations was received, which represents a valid return rate of 6.2 percent. The responses were then analyzed against software development time, quality, and cost metrics according to the software development methodologies used.

Findings and Conclusions: This study shows the extent to which pure CSE and CSE in combination with the traditional system development life cycle (SDLC) are used in the United States. There are strong indications that CSE improves software development time and cost, but this could not be statistically proven from the data. There is no indication that CSE improves software quality.