Carlo Gabriel Porto Bellini

MEASUREMENT IN SOFTWARE ENGINEERING: FROM THE ROADMAP TO THE CROSSROADS

Research on software measurement can be organized around five key conceptual and methodological issues: how to apply measurement theory to software, how to frame software metrics, how to develop metrics, how to collect core measures, and how to analyze measures. The subject is of special concern for the industry, which is interested in improving practices — mainly in developing countries, where the software industry represents an opportunity for growth and usually receives institutional support for matching international quality standards. Academics are also in need of understanding and developing more effective methods for managing the software process and assessing the success of products and services, as a result of an enhanced awareness about the emergency of aligning business processes and information systems. This paper unveils the fundamentals of measurement in software engineering and discusses current issues and foreseeable trends for the subject. A literature review was performed within major academic publications in the last decade, and findings suggest a sensible shift of measurement interests towards managing the software process as a whole — without losing from sight the customary focus on hard issues like algorithm efficiency and worker productivity.

Self-efficacy and anxiety of digital natives in face of compulsory computer-mediated tasks

Digital limitations (or, conversely, digital capabilities) are a new way to frame the digital divide discourse in three dimensions: access, cognition and behavior. Digital limitations address an individuals barriers to properly access the information and communication technologies (ICTs), as well as his/her cognitive disabilities and negative behaviors towards ICT use effectiveness. In a survey with 174 undergraduate students in a traditional state university in underdeveloped Northeastern Brazil who compulsorily use an institutional ICT-based academic system, we investigated the factorial structure and the relationship of two constructs that pertain to the cognitive dimension of digital limitations - computer self-efficacy and anxiety. Our findings address the negative correlation between the two constructs and the unanticipated proposition that both low and high levels of self-efficacy and anxiety do not signal per se the presence of cognitive digital limitations or capabilities. The levels of CSE and ANX may mean either digital limitations or capabilities.High CSE and low ANX do not necessarily promote voluntary technology use.Extremely high CSE and extremely low ANX may undermine technology use.Moderately low CSE and moderately high ANX may leverage technology use.Cognitive enablers must be promoted in state funded digital inclusion programs.

The ABCs of effectiveness in the digital society

Digital effectiveness is not the same as mastering the ICTs, rather it is the art of using them in a purposeful, healthy way.

Cognition, Behavior, and Team Structure in Enterprise Systems Implementation: A Comparative Study

The METRICS framework was developed during a landmark enterprise-wide system implementation in a Brazilian university. It was designed as a tool for managing the social subsystem (cognition, behavior, and structure) of customer teams as they work with external technology and business teams. Our research draws on METRICS to verify the stability of cognitive, behavioral, and structural attributes that are expected to impact the performance of customer teams in projects. We compare two studies developed in different periods, with different methods, theories, projects, and types of teams, and in different geographical, cultural, and economic regions of Brazil—the south and the northeast. Data collection and analysis were based on personal constructs theory and the repertory grid technique applied to select information technology professionals from external teams (that worked with customer teams) in the northeast. With 77.3% (68/88) of the original measures verified empirically, the framework was considered stable across multiple settings. Given that enterprise-wide system implementation usually involves global technology vendors, and since Brazil is an illustrative case of Latin America and the developing world, our research contributes with insights into the social aspects of customer teams that impact project performance.

Antecedentes e consequentes de flow em equipes de trabalho: revisão da literatura e aplicações em tecnologia da informação

Assumindo que o estado de fluxo (flow) tem relevância para a gestao do desempenho de equipes profissionais em geral, e de equipes de tecnologia da informacao em particular, e que a investigacao desse fenomeno preenche lacunas de conhecimento, o presente estudo realiza uma revisao sistematica da literatura para responder a seguinte questao de pesquisa: Quais os antecedentes e os consequentes do estado de flow em equipes de trabalho? Os resultados permitiram a elaboracao de um mapa causal e uma agenda para pesquisas futuras.

Information Technology Management Research in Brazil

We were introduced to JGITM in 2004, during the 5th Annual Global Information Technology Management Association (GITMA) World Conference held in San Diego, CA. Since then, we realized that the GITMA community was indeed global and enthusiastic about institutionalizing an arena for vigorous discussions on global IT management but interestingly, the South American academia seemed not to be aware of its existence and mission. So, when Dr. Palvia, GITMA President, offered Dr. Bellini the opportunity to serve as track chair for IT in South America in the following annual meetings, we were delighted with the perspective of promoting GITMA especially among our colleagues in Brazil.

Socio-technical management of software testing in information systems projects

Na industria brasileira de desenvolvimento de software para sistemas de informacoes, observa-se sensibilidade das empresas quanto a necessaria melhoria continua na qualidade do processo produtivo. Uma das formas de tratar a qualidade do desenvolvimento de software - na expectativa de alinhar os processos de negocio do cliente as rotinas computacionalmente programadas no sistema de informacoes - da-se por meio do teste de software. O teste de software busca institucionalizar praticas de gestao de projetos e desenvolvimento de produtos de software, com o objetivo de localizar os problemas - e nao garantir a sua inexistencia. A partir de uma perspectiva sociotecnica e dos modelos teoricos SET (gerencial) e ST-TS (processual) desenvolvidos nesta pesquisa para um melhor entendimento e orientacao das atividades de teste, entrevistas em profundidade com dez especialistas em qualidade e teste de software permitiram a identificacao e validacao de categorias analiticas que mediam a relacao entre fatores desses dois modelos, disto derivando-se o modelo organizacional VAST para auxiliar gestores, desenvolvedores e clientes em projetos de software para sistemas de informacoes empresariais.

Repertory grid, laddering, and content analysis: a psychometric approach to understand the information technology workforce

A major challenge when researching on people relates to how reliable information can be retrieved from them. It is a matter of how to access what is literally inside people’s mind. Access is limited by the cognitive screening process that mediates human interaction, as well as by human rhetoric. We apply repertory grid, laddering and content analysis as an integrated psychometric approach to contrast two sets of constructs: a set of theoretically based constructs about the management of information technology professionals who work in customer teams, and a set of constructs that lie behind those professionals’ cognition in the particular case of implementing enterprise-wide systems (ERP). Results confirm the effectiveness of such a methodological approach to accurately reveal cognitive phenomena and to better understand the information technology workforce.

NAMORO OU AMIZADE? A VISÃO DE CLIENTES E FORNECEDORES SOBRE RELACIONAMENTOS DE NEGÓCIO NO SETOR DE SOFTWARE (doi:10.5329/RESI.2010.0902005)

The customer is always in focus in the software sector, but scant research exists on procuring or developing software from a market perspective, in particular with the lens of relationship marketing. Besides concentrating on customer needs, customers and suppliers should foster relationships that promote the creation of value and competitive advantages for both parties. This paper discusses findings from in-depth interviews with 14 customer-supplier dyads in the Brazilian software sector (28 companies) that provided insights into specific attributes of relationships (commitment, trust, adaptation, cooperation, and communication) and contextual factors that may amplify or moderate those attributes (uncertainty, interdependence, and the existence of alternative suppliers). Results include the technical nature of trust, the operational focus of communications, the relevance of personal bonds, and the creation of interdependencies between partners on the basis of intangible assets.

PARTICIPAÇÃO EM REDES SOCIAIS VIRTUAIS SOB A ÓTICA DAS TEORIAS DA AÇÃO: INVESTIGAÇÃO ETNOGRÁFICA PRELIMINAR SOBRE A IDENTIDADE DE ESTUDANTES DE ADMINISTRAÇÃO (doi:10.5329/RESI.2009.0802007)

This research addresses the degree of coherence between online and physical actions of participants in virtual social networks. We search for a pragmatic definition of virtuality and realism, in order to conceive the Internet as an effective means of communication, socialization and behavioral analysis. In particular, we focus on identity building in virtual environments, including impression management and its effects on social and professional networks. The theoretical framework adopts the widely known theories of human action – espoused and in-use theories – in order to understand an individual’s virtual presence as characterized by one or another prevailing theory. The empirical investigation was an ethnographic research within a virtual conversation group of members, ex-members and sympathizers of the undergraduate management program of a Brazilian state university (UFPB) who interacted live and with the support of Orkut (a virtual conversation tool), so that we could search for a contrast between the informed and actual behavior of current and future managers or sympathizers of the management function. Findings suggest that there is empirical evidence on the primacy of in-use theories within that group of individuals, but there was an emergent need of developing the specific concept of espoused-only theories for some illustrative cases in the virtual world. Contributions of this research also address mainly the issue of whether we should keep separating the physical and the virtual worlds as different loci where human action is effected.