A Procedure for Extracting Software Development Process Patterns

Process patterns represent well-structured and successful recurring activities of Software Development Methodologies. They are able to form a library of reusable building blocks that can be utilized in Situational Method Engineering for constructing a custom SDM or enhancing an existing one to fit specific project situation. Recently, some researchers have subjectively extracted process patterns from existing SDMs based on cumulative experience in various domains; however, how to objectively extract process patterns from SDMs by adopting a systematic procedure has remained as question. In this regard, this paper is concerned with a procedure aiming to take process patterns out of existing SDMs. An example illustrates applicability of the proposed procedure for extracting process patterns in a specific context.