Towards an SDLC for software development projects involving distributed systems

Abstract

[Context] Since the 1970’s, Distributed Systems have been turning into a more viable and reliable option for the implementation of information systems. Since then, their evolution continued in an accelerated pace. They now are applicable to a variety of purposes, such as online games, financial systems, cloud computational solutions, etc. It is possible then to assume that today, Distributed Systems are found everywhere, and that there is a great probability for any given in-progress software development project to be using this paradigm as part of its delivery proposal. Thus, it is relevant to study the impacts that Distributed Systems bring to the Project Management discipline. [Objectives] In this dissertation we discuss those impacts and challenges, as well as propose a Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) and associated practices, both adapted for use within software development projects involving Distributed Systems. These practices are optimized for implementation under a Waterfall regime, but are also adaptable for use under the Scrum agile framework. [Method] At first a Systematic Mapping Study (SMS) was conducted for understanding the State-of-the-art regarding academic studies located in intersection of Project Management and Distributed Systems. Next, empirical qualitative interviews were held with members from the Information Technology Industry, aiming to confirm the SMS results as well as obtaining feedback regarding present day’s challenges of Distributed Systems Projects. Desirable countermeasures for these challenges were also being searched for. [Results] As a third and final step, a generic SDLC as well as its associated practices, both tailored for projects involving DS, were proposed in direct response to the results obtained from the qualitative interviews. The tailored practices constitute the backbone of our contributions. The presented proposals went through the process of memberchecking for validation and refinement, which led to the final version shown in this dissertation.