Re-founding software engineering practice - The SEMAT initiative

In 2009 a group of leading international Software Engineering thinkers, authors and methodologists began collaborating on an initiative to “Re-found” Software Engineering. Ivar Jacobson (Use Cases, UML, RUP), Bertrand Meyer (Design-by-Contract and the OO Language Eiffel) and Richard Soley (CEO of the Object Management Group (OMG)) established the SEMAT (Software Engineering Method and Theory) Initiative. Supporters of the initiative have signed a declaration somewhat reminiscent of the famous Agile Manifesto. Over the past two years a great deal of work has been carried out on defining the “kernel of widely-agreed elements”. It holds out the promise of fundamentally changing the discipline of software engineering. This short paper describes the current status of SEMAT and explores opportunities for the SA Software Engineering community to become active participants in this initiative.