Document Driven Disciplined Development of Software

Abstract

It is no accident that the branches of engineering are called "disciplines". Every properly educated engineer has learned that the design of quality products requires discipline and a willingness to follow standard procedures. Engineers understand that they must produce a specified set of documents and perform a variety of analyses whose results must be included in the documents. Engineers who do these things are less likely to produce a defective product. In many jurisdictions, engineers who fail to follow the standard discipline may be considered to have been negligent. Software development should not be different but most developers have not been taught the appropriate discipline and neither their employers nor the customers know what to demand. At the heart of the problem is our failure to agree on a set of documents that contain analyzable descriptions and specifications. We begin with highly simplified "models" that have a vague resemblance. Most of these models have properties that could never be implemented and ignore critical facts that are essential for trustworthy products.