How are Conceptual Models used in Industrial Software Development?: A Descriptive Survey

Background: There is a controversy about the relevance, role, and utility of models, modeling, and modeling languages in industry. For instance, while some consider UML as the "lingua franca of software engineering", others claim that "the majority1 [of industry practitioners] simply do not use UML." Objective: We aspire to evolve this debate to differentiate the circumstances of modeling, and the degrees of formality of models. Method: We have conducted an online survey among industry practitioners and asked them how and for what purposes they use models. The raw (anonymized) survey data is published online. Results: We find that models are widely used in industry, and UML is indeed the leading language. Three distinct usage modes of models are reported, the most frequent of which is informal usage for communication and cognition. MDE-style usage is rare, but does occur. Software architects are believed to benefit most from modeling. Conclusions: Our study contrasts and complements existing studies, and offers explanations for some of the seeming contradictions of previous results. There might be cultural differences in modeling usage that are worth exploring in the future.