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A Study in Software Maintenance

Technical Report
This report presents the results of interviews between CASE Environments Project team members and personnel in eight software maintenance projects within an agency of the U.S. government. The purpose of the study was to learn more about the tools, procedures, and techniques project personnel use in their work.
Publisher

Software Engineering Institute

CMU/SEI Report Number
CMU/SEI-93-TR-008

Abstract

In an effort to find out more about the tools, procedures, and techniques that project personnel use in their work, the Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) Environments Project interviewed personnel in eight software maintenance projects within an agency of the U.S. government. These interviews highlighted problems that we believe are typical of many software maintenance organizations (i.e., the need for more effective software maintenance tools, lack of communication between individuals working on similar projects, low status of maintenance personnel, and lack of a design-for-maintenance philosophy during the software development phase). This report highlights the findings of these interviews, provides our analysis of the findings, and makes recommendations directed at the agency for improvement in the areas of tools, people, and processes. We believe that what we observed is very typical of the state of the practice in these areas and, as a result, this report and its recommendations are applicable to other large or small software maintenance projects.

Cite This Technical Report

Dart, S., Christie, A., & Brown, A. (1993, June 1). A Study in Software Maintenance. (Technical Report CMU/SEI-93-TR-008). Retrieved March 29, 2024, from https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/library/a-study-in-software-maintenance/.

@techreport{dart_1993,
author={Dart, Susan and Christie, Alan and Brown, Alan},
title={A Study in Software Maintenance},
month={Jun},
year={1993},
number={CMU/SEI-93-TR-008},
howpublished={Carnegie Mellon University, Software Engineering Institute's Digital Library},
url={https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/library/a-study-in-software-maintenance/},
note={Accessed: 2024-Mar-29}
}

Dart, Susan, Alan Christie, and Alan Brown. "A Study in Software Maintenance." (CMU/SEI-93-TR-008). Carnegie Mellon University, Software Engineering Institute's Digital Library. Software Engineering Institute, June 1, 1993. https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/library/a-study-in-software-maintenance/.

S. Dart, A. Christie, and A. Brown, "A Study in Software Maintenance," Carnegie Mellon University, Software Engineering Institute's Digital Library. Software Engineering Institute, Technical Report CMU/SEI-93-TR-008, 1-Jun-1993 [Online]. Available: https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/library/a-study-in-software-maintenance/. [Accessed: 29-Mar-2024].

Dart, Susan, Alan Christie, and Alan Brown. "A Study in Software Maintenance." (Technical Report CMU/SEI-93-TR-008). Carnegie Mellon University, Software Engineering Institute's Digital Library, Software Engineering Institute, 1 Jun. 1993. https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/library/a-study-in-software-maintenance/. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Dart, Susan; Christie, Alan; & Brown, Alan. A Study in Software Maintenance. CMU/SEI-93-TR-008. Software Engineering Institute. 1993. https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/library/a-study-in-software-maintenance/