The SPI initiatives started in FESTO in 1992. At this time
a software process assessment showed weaknesses in planning, requirements
analysis, and architectural design resulting in high maintenance efforts.
The problem was based on the fact that the system at this time was monolithic
(one big component) and the responsibilities of the team members for the
different system parts were unclear.
To achieve a better level of cooperation in the team and solving the planning
and design problems it was decided in 1993 to use a new development approach
"programming by contract" (and not the conventional waterfall model proposded
by neraly all conservative models).
The results (pay backs) were positive in 1995 and from then on the programming
by contract approach was used in a couple of projects.
