Software management plan

Last reviewed

February 20, 2025

Last modified

April 6, 2025

A software management plan (SMP) helps to implement best practices during software development and ensures that software is accessible and reusable in the short and longer term. The Netherlands eScience Center and NWO, the Dutch Research Council, have taken the initiative to develop (national) guidelines for software management plans, which resulted in the publication of the Practical guide to Software Management Plans in October 2022.

As an introduction to Software Management Plans, TU Delft has created a video:

“Navigating Research Data and Software: A Practical Guide for PhD Supervisors 2025”, TU Delft Library. CC-BY-4.0

Tip

The Intermediate Research Software Development course from The Carpentries is a good resource to learn the core principle of intermediate-level software development and best practices collaborating in a team.

Learn more

Software Development Plan: A quick start on building software development plans.
Software Development Life Cycle: A guide on how to follow the software development lifecycle (SDLC) systematically, and different SDLC methodologies.
Writing Software Management Plans: A guide from the Software Sustainability Institute on how to write research software management plans.
Software Management Plans documentation: A detailed documentation about software management plans, including up-to-date templates.
A Framework for Understanding Research Software: A proposal for categorizing different types of research software, and a framework for sustaining research software.