From Formal Techniques to Well-Founded Software Development Methods

We look at the main issue of the Colloquium “Formal Methods at the Crossroads from Panacea to Foundational Support” reflecting on our rather long experience of active engagement in the development and use of formal techniques. In the years, we have become convinced of the necessity of an approach more concerned with the real needs of the software development practice. Consequently, we have shifted our work to include methodological aspects, learning a lot from the software engineering practices and principles. After motivating our current position, mainly reflecting on our own experience, we suggest a Virtuous Cycle for the formal techniques having the chance of a real impact on the software development practices. Then, to provide some concrete illustration of the suggested principles, we propose and advocate a strategy that we call Well-Founded Software Development Methods, of which we outline two instantiations.