SOFTWARE PROCESS IMPROVEMENT AND PRACTICE Softw. Process Improve. Pract. 2003; 8: 1–2 (DOI: 10.1002/spip.179) Editorial: Introduction to Software Process: Improvement and Practice, Volume 8 Darren Dalcher & David Raffo Editors-in-Chief Software Process: Improvement and Practice Dear Reader, There have been tremendous changes in the soft- ware industry in the past 5 years. Innovations in hardware, software, and communication platforms have enabled many new technology-based prod- ucts and services to be developed. These new products coupled with fierce competition have driven changes to how software-intensive systems are developed. The result has been the emergence of new paradigms, methodologies and tools for developing software-intensive systems including globally distributed software development, open source development, free-market software develop- ment, value-based software engineering, product- line engineering, agile software development meth- ods, and the Rational Unified Process, to name just some of the more recent entrants. Moreover, in the last decade, there has been an increasing recognition of the value of and the need to draw upon research being done in other disciplines such as finance, economics, project management, organizational behavior, and cognitive science to address the fundamental issues of developing better quality software at higher levels of productivity and reliability, in order to address market opportunities more rapidly. These are exciting times for software practitioners and researchers. There are new workshops and conferences springing up in the academic and Copyright  2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. practitioner domains addressing many of the new developments. Our wish at SPIP is to reflect this expanded scope that is inherently the new look of the field of Software Process, and to bring the best of these innovations and research to you, the reader. As a result, you will be seeing more special issues with the best papers of different conferences and workshops keeping you informed of new developments that are likely to impact the process arena. We will be having short articles where leaders in the field present their perspective on the state of the industry and current research trends. Moreover, we will necessarily expand the scope of the kind of research and practice we present to you with the aim of enriching your perspective and making this journal of greater value to you. As part of this vision, 2004 is going to be our catch-up year, and what an exciting year it is going to be. We plan to publish eight issues of SPIP during 2004. This will include all four issues of Volume 8 as well as the four issues of Volume 9. To facilitate this expanded vision, there will be changes to the editorial staff at SPIP. We would greatly like to thank the past Editors-in-Chief of SPIP: • Dewayne Perry, Department of Computer Sci- ence, University of Texas, USA • Wilhelm Sch¨ afer, University of Paderborn, Ger- many • Colin Tully, School of Computer Science, Mid- dlesex University, UK