Software process paradigm and its constraint mechanisms

In order to achieve the objectives of software engineering, it is necessary to select an appropriate software process paradigm, generally known as software process model. But being lack of its theoretical research in-depth, it is difficult to use it to guide software process effectively. In the paper, the concept and definition of software process paradigm were standardized; its elements were analyzed; its constraint mechanisms were explored; and the corresponding formal descriptions were presented. The study is useful to guide software process better.