Overview
ISO/IEC TR 19759:2015 (SWEBOK V3.0) - Software Engineering: Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge - is a consensus-based technical report that characterizes the boundaries of the software engineering discipline and provides topical access to the literature that supports it. Published by ISO/IEC (adopted from the IEEE Computer Society SWEBOK Guide V3.0, corrected 2016), this Technical Report is a descriptive, non‑normative resource intended to organize and map the knowledge areas of software engineering.
Key topics
The Guide structures the software engineering body of knowledge into 15 Knowledge Areas (KAs) and includes foundation topics and a Software Engineering Professional Practices KA. Core technical topics explicitly covered include (examples drawn from the Guide):
- Software Requirements - fundamentals, elicitation, analysis, specification, validation, and tools
- Software Design - architectural styles, design patterns, UI design, quality analysis, notations
- Software Construction - coding practices, reuse, integration, construction technologies and tools
- Software Testing - test levels, techniques, process, measurement and automation tools
- Software Maintenance - maintenance processes, reengineering, migration and measurement
The Guide also provides:
- Annotated references and an appendix listing relevant standards for each KA
- Specifications for KA descriptions to ensure consistent coverage across topics
- A strong orientation to the normative literature (standards and consensus documents)
Note: as a Technical Report the document does not prescribe specific technical requirements; it catalogs topics, references, and widely accepted practices.
Applications
ISO/IEC TR 19759:2015 (SWEBOK) is practical for:
- Defining education and training curricula and course content in software engineering
- Helping professional societies and certification bodies set certification and accreditation criteria
- Classifying job roles, designing performance evaluations, and specifying development tasks
- Informing management, policy makers, and licensing bodies about the discipline’s scope
- Serving as an indexed literature gateway for practitioners seeking authoritative references
Who should use it
- Software engineers and technical managers seeking a comprehensive topical map
- Educators, curriculum developers, and academic accreditors
- Certification bodies, HR teams, and recruiters in software engineering domains
- Standards committees and practitioners aligning organizational practices with accepted knowledge areas
Related standards
- SWEBOK V3.0 is produced by the IEEE Computer Society and adopted as ISO/IEC TR 19759; it has close ties to software engineering standards maintained by ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 7 and IEEE standards committees. For implementation or prescriptive requirements, consult relevant normative standards referenced in the Guide.