Software production strategies-from multiple viewpoints

Four viewpoints concerning software production are discussed. The first viewpoint says that software production strategy should be explored in the context of a hierarchy of strategies spanning three tiers-business tier, project tier and process tier. The second viewpoint says that any software process can be managed through a six-step framework of defining, measuring, analyzing, controlling, modeling and improving the process. The third viewpoint says that much can be learned from the manufacturing industry on cycle time reduction. In particular, there are different approaches to save time in different time components-learning time, waste time, wait time, and repeat time. The fourth viewpoint recommends the use of the COSMOS model (H.T. Yeh et al., 1991), with its equal emphasis on activity, communication and infrastructure dimensions, to guide software production management