You don't just Use Software Processes, You have to Engineer Them: A Teachers' Experience Report

Software processes are the game plan to develop comprehensive software systems, and there are many ways to teach software processes. Nowadays, the normal approach is to teach students to use software processes correctly, usually by explaining what agile methods are about or by introducing tools that already implement selected processes, and then letting students apply such selected tools and methods in smaller projects or project courses. However, while this approach addresses the application of, e.g., Scrum or Unit Testing, the question of how a company develops its own software process is not answered. With this paper, we address this issue and share our experiences from more than 15 years of teaching the analysis, design, realization, and improvement of software processes in our joint Software Process Engineering course, which is based on a structured Software Process Improvement model. We contribute insights into the process improvement model that builds the foundation of the course, an overview of the course content, and we share our experiences, lessons learned, and recommendations for teachers.