Software engineering is popularly misconceived as being an upmarket term for programming. In a way, this is akin to characterizing instructional design as the process of creating PowerPoint slides. In both these areas, the construction of systems, whether they are learning or computer systems, is only one part of a systematic process. The most important parts of this process, analysis and design, precede the actual construction. In studies of software failure, the failure is more often traced to poorly stated or missing requirements than it is nonfunctional code (Standish Group International, 1999). Even when programs are functional, the interface design may prevent easy access to that functionality by end-users. There is scope for instructional designers to use some of the body of research and experience in software engineering, especially as technology increasingly infuses learning systems. Goodyear (1995) and Bostock (1998) both refer to "courseware engineering," which represents the intersection of the fields of instructional design and software engineering. Other attempts to draw parallels between the two areas include Wilson, Jonassen and Cole (1993), who note how software engineering has largely moved away from the linear process model, still prevalent in instructional design, toward more iterative approaches utilizing prototyping. Also, an emerging concept in instructional design borrowed from the software engineering world is that of the learning object. In this article, the author introduces several software-engineering process issues of relevance to the development of methodological thinking in instructional design. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)