Software management as an information technology knowledge area.

It can be argued that one of the distinguishing features of an IT graduate is that he or she is able to manage the IT resources of an organization, and to provide technical support for the use of those resources. While this perspective has certainly influenced the design of data management courses and is, to a growing extent, starting to influence the design of courses in the area of networking, we argue that it has, thus far, had very little influence on the design of software related courses. In this paper we argue that, courses in the areas of software engineering, systems analysis and design, and programming are insufficient to prepare IT graduates to take on positions as managers of the software resources of an organization. In particular, we argue that there are important skills that a software manager must possess that are not, or at best minimally, covered in these courses. In particular, coverage is weak in the areas of software acquisition and software integration. We therefore propose the inclusion of Software Management as a knowledge area in any model curriculum for baccalaureate programs in Information Technology. In this paper, we also sketch what such a knowledge area might contain and give an example of a course that would be needed over and above traditional software engineering, systems analysis and design, and programming courses to give students an adequate coverage of the entire field of software management.