Software Engineering is not considered an engineering discipline throughout the world when compared to electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and civil engineering.

Software Engineering’s brief history has been filled with problems:

• Cost overruns
• Schedule slippage
• Poor performance compared to specification
• Unsatisfied customers

Software is becoming such a large factor in the systems that are being built today that it is virtually impossible to logically separate the two disciplines.

Demands for software-intensive systems have been growing steadily in the government and commercial marketplaces.

Some organizations have developed “product lifecycles” that include systems, software, hardware, marketing, manufacturing etc.