Panel III

Synopsis: The Empirical Software Enginering, which considers software development from both the engineering and experimental points of view, allows software organizations to base their decisions on quanti- tative grounds. In this context, a fundamental role is played by empirical studies, carried out as a part of an incremental learn- ing process. Empirical studies can be performed both during pro- ject execution and after project completion as post-mortem data analysis. Knowledge obtained by means of empirical studies is used in several ways during development, to characterize a pro- ject and its context, set attainable goals, carry out sensible planning, support project execution, etc. The final objective is to package discovered knowledge in form of updated and refined models and other forms of structured knowledge gained from prior projects and save it in repository for future projects. An organ- izational unit will take care of all the activities required to augment existing knowledge and make it available to new projects on demand. The panel will be devoted to the interaction between knowledge management and experimental software engineering. More specifically, the main objectives are: