The State Of Model-Driven Development

Forrester expects model-driven development (MDD) to play a key role in the future of software development; it is a promising technique for helping application development managers address growing business complexity and demand. However, as in all early stages, there is still a lot of confusion about what MDD really is, what role standards like MDA play, what the real benefits and challenges are, and how vendors are promoting their MDD offerings. We interviewed various industry players and end users to get an update on the state of MDD. We found that while it's still in its infancy, organizations are gaining real benefits, tools are getting better, vendors are showing commitment, and MDA is being used in various ways. However, not all MDD approaches are suitable for all organizations, and application development professionals need to clearly understand the differences between modeling, between the various approaches to MDD, and when to move from one to the other.