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Software Engineering was the theme of a 1968 conference in Garmisch, Germany, with at the time the leading computer scientists and methodologists in the world. That meeting is considered being the beginning of software engineering and by now we have developed the discipline over 50 years.

The first course in software engineering is the most critical. Education must start from an understanding of the heart of software development, from familiar ground that is common to all software development endeavors. This book is an in-depth introduction to software engineering that uses a systematic, universal kernel to teach the essential elements of all software engineering methods.

Many of the creators of Essence are also members of Agnostic Agile. Thus the need for Essence and its structure, elements and properties is based on the same values/needs shared with the founders and other members of Agnostic Agile.

The way we have developed software over the years has followed a zig-zag path. Early on, we had no prescribed way of working, but we created code. In the 1970s, structured methods became popular, followed by object/component methods from the mid-1980s through 2000. These were technical practices. After that, we adopted Agile methods which focused on human practices or social engineering. Now we are in the Scaling Agile phase, which includes both human and technical practices.

On June 1st, Dr. Ivar Jacobson delivered a keynote address at the annual International Conference on Software Engineering. Ivar shared his views on the history of software engineering to date and where we need to go from here.

On 20 April, 2018, Dr. Ivar Jacobson will instruct a public lecture at Chalmers University. During his talk, he will revisit the history of methods, explain why we need to break out of our repetitive dysfunctional behavior, and introduce Essence: a new way of thinking that promises many things, one of them being to dramatically change the way we educate in software development to increase the competency in our profession.

The way we develop software struggles to keep pace with changes in technology and business. Even with the rise of agile we still see people flip-flopping from one branded method (or to be more fashionable framework) to another throwing away the good with the bad, and behaving more like religious cultists than scientists. Dr. Ivar Jacobson delivered this presentation at a keynote address at SECR Russia in October 2017. He revisited the history of methods, explained why we need to break out of our repetitive dysfunctional behavior, and introduced Essence: a new way of thinking that promises to liberate the practices and enable true learning organizations.

Software Engineering Conference in Russia (SECR) is one of the brightest annual IT events in the country. The 13th edition of the SECR will take place on October, 20-22 in Saint-Petersburg and the conference program will include a key-note address by IJI Chairman Dr. Ivar Jacobson.

Essence  Agility is instrumental in moving software development toward a true engineering discipline.

"I am excited about working with industry partners at SEMAT and leveraging the ESSENCE standard", said Scott Ambler in a recent phone interview, " in order to not just have different types of re-usable domain content built up for use as accelerators in Disciplined Agile Delivery projects, but also to clearly guide the industry on the benefits of specific granular practices that are currently uniquely only present within the Disciplined Agile Delivery method.”