Patent ID: 7155700

Claim:
A computer-readable medium which causes a computer to operate as a server for managing the development of software by a software development team, comprising: a computer program which is stored on said computer-readable medium; said computer program including an object-module means, having an interface with a database, for producing a customized linked object structure in said database that represents a particular software development project; and, said computer program further including a software-project-definition-module means, having one interface that interacts with said object-module means and having another interface that interacts over a communication network with personal computers of said team members, for receiving control signals from any one of said personal computers and in response directing said object-module means to—1) select one of several different PROCESS objects in said database, where each PROCESS object includes a different linked object structure with multiple NODE objects that represent respective phases of a corresponding process and where a selectable number of tasks are performed in each phase that produce selectable artifacts, and 2) customize said linked object structure for said one PROCESS object by selecting the number of tasks and the artifacts that are produced in at least one particular phase.