Selecting a Software Engineering Methodology Using Multiobjective Decision Analysis

With the emergence of agent-oriented software engineering methodologies, software developers have a new set of tools to solve complex software requirements. One problem software developers face is to determine which methodology is the best approach to take to developing a solution. A number of factors go into the decision process. This thesis defines a decision making process that can be used by a software engineer to determine whether or not a software engineering approach is an appropriate system development strategy. This decision analysis process allows the software engineer to classify and evaluate a set of methodologies while specifically considering the software requirement at hand. The decision-making process is developed on a multi-objective decision analysis technique. This type of technique is necessary as there are a number of different, and sometimes conflicting, criterions. The set of criteria used to base the decision was derived from literature sources and validated by an opinion survey conducted to members of the software engineering community. After developing the decision making framework, a number of case studies are examined.