The Rival Model: A Competition-biased Model for Software Development

Abstract

The use of process models for managing the development of software products often requires sporadic modifications for better results. One of the problems in the software industry is that software engineering teams desire models that are closer to market reality. This paper proposes a model that modifies the incremental software development model by introducing competitive development of the first increment amongst coding teams. The adoption of this model results into at least 2 build options to be considered for election – serving as the best initial build for the project scenario in question. The rival model encourages team motivation that help push for ensuring that the best build option is used for the first increment. It also gives room for selecting the first build option based on metrics that are pertinent to the uniqueness of the product under development. The rival model presents a high potential to push quality and efficacy, especially when it concerns user-centred software products. Keywords: Software development process model, incremental model, software quality, competitive development