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Best Practices for Software Development: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract:

Software process standardization is crucial for organizations dedicated to software development in order to produce quality products on pbkp_redictable schedules consistently. For this matter, the adoption of best practices is an essential factor in the standardization processes. However, best practices tend to be described as common sense, opinions, or casual advice and are poorly formalized and documented. Thus, it is important to know the state-of-the-art in the field of best practices in software development and their identification. Here we report the conduction of a systematic literature review (SLR) that aims to identify (a) what best practices are, (b) what are their distinctive characteristics; (c) which methods, techniques or strategies are used to identify them, and (d) how their performance is evaluated. From a total of 24 primary studies selected, we identified seven different definitions of best practice in software development, two best practice classification schemes based on their characteristics such as name, definition, stakeholders, and context. Besides, we found one method, three strategies, and five techniques used for best practice identification and two methods to evaluate their performance as separate entities in the software development life cycle. The results of this SLR will help in the identification and evaluation of best practices for a software development organization that aims to standardize their processes.