He is the author of a popular student textbook on software engineering, as well as a number of other books and papers.

He retired in January 2014 and since continues to do software-related things that he finds interesting.

[7] He has worked on a number of European projects involving collaboration between academia and commercial enterprises, such as the ESPRIT project REAIMS (Requirements Engineering adaptation and improvement for safety and dependability).

In 2006, Ian Sommerville was one of 23 academics in the computer field who wrote open letters calling for an independent audit of the British National Health Service's proposed Programme for IT (NPfIT) and expressing concern about the £12.4 billion programme.

[8][9][10] Most widely read of Sommerville's publications is probably his student text book Software Engineering, currently in its 10th edition[1] along with other textbooks[11][12] Sommerville has also authored or co-authored numerous peer reviewed articles, papers.