Hans Westerheim

Tailoring and introduction of the rational unified process

Reports of software a development projects that miss schedule, exceeds budget and deliver products with poor quality are abundant in the literature. Both researchers and the industry are seeking methods to counter these trends and improve software quality.Software Process Improvement is a systematic approach to improve the capabilities and performance of software organizations. One basic idea is to assess the organizations’ current practice and improve their software process on the basis of the competencies and experiences of the practitioners working in the organization. A major challenge is to create strategies and mechanisms for managing relevant and updated knowledge about software development and maintenance. Insights from the field of knowledge management are therefore potentially useful in software process improvement efforts to facilitate the creation, modification, and sharing of software processes in any organization.In the work presented in this thesis, we have made an overview of empirical studies on the effect of knowledge management in software engineering. We have categorized these studies according to a framework and we report findings on the major concepts that have been investigated empirically, as well as the research methods applied within the field. We have also investigated two main strategies for knowledge management, codification and personalization, through the application of four concrete methods in a software process improvement setting: Mentoring, Rational Unified Process, Process Workshops and Post Mortem Analysis.We have classified the work in this thesis within three main themes:RT1: Previous research on knowledge management in software engineering.RT2: Application of knowledge management to improve the software process through codification of knowledge.RT3: Application of knowledge management to improve the software process through personalization of knowledge.The main contributions are:C1: An overview of the research literature on empirical studies of knowledge management in software engineering.C2: A method for tailoring the Rational Unified Process to the development process of a software consulting company.C3: Improvements of the Process Workshops method by contextualization.C4: Improvement of the root-cause analysis phase of the lightweight Post Mortem Analysis for more effective project retrospectives.C5: Proposed methods to increase the learning effect of mentor programs in software engineering.

Using rational unified process in an SME – a case study

The Rational Unified Process (RUP) is a comprehensive software development process framework emphasizing use-cases, architecture focus and an iterative approach. RUP is widely known and many organizations have tried to adopt it. Being a framework, RUP has to, in some way, be tailored to the specific context of use, no software development project is alike. This paper presents a case study of a Norwegian SME that tried to adopt RUP in the simplest way, by introducing the methodology by providing comprehensive documentation and some simple training. Our study shows that the use of RUP had some positive effects but also that the use has been scattered. Interviews with users of RUP show that there is a great need of better training and practical support in getting most value out of RUP. The key message is that if you consider taking RUP into use you have to invest resources in it. Training and support are key success factors.

Tailoring RUP to a defined project type: a case study

Reports of software a development projects that miss schedule, exceeds budget and deliver products with poor quality are abundant in the literature. Both researchers and the industry are seeking methods to counter these trends and improve software quality.Software Process Improvement is a systematic approach to improve the capabilities and performance of software organizations. One basic idea is to assess the organizations’ current practice and improve their software process on the basis of the competencies and experiences of the practitioners working in the organization. A major challenge is to create strategies and mechanisms for managing relevant and updated knowledge about software development and maintenance. Insights from the field of knowledge management are therefore potentially useful in software process improvement efforts to facilitate the creation, modification, and sharing of software processes in any organization.In the work presented in this thesis, we have made an overview of empirical studies on the effect of knowledge management in software engineering. We have categorized these studies according to a framework and we report findings on the major concepts that have been investigated empirically, as well as the research methods applied within the field. We have also investigated two main strategies for knowledge management, codification and personalization, through the application of four concrete methods in a software process improvement setting: Mentoring, Rational Unified Process, Process Workshops and Post Mortem Analysis.We have classified the work in this thesis within three main themes:RT1: Previous research on knowledge management in software engineering.RT2: Application of knowledge management to improve the software process through codification of knowledge.RT3: Application of knowledge management to improve the software process through personalization of knowledge.The main contributions are:C1: An overview of the research literature on empirical studies of knowledge management in software engineering.C2: A method for tailoring the Rational Unified Process to the development process of a software consulting company.C3: Improvements of the Process Workshops method by contextualization.C4: Improvement of the root-cause analysis phase of the lightweight Post Mortem Analysis for more effective project retrospectives.C5: Proposed methods to increase the learning effect of mentor programs in software engineering.

Is it Possible to Manage and Plan Co-Modal Freight Transport Without a Centralised System?

The European Union has looked to develop ICT systems that are open and interoperable. Through the case study of the Freightwise research project a research gap was identified: Is it possible to manage and plan co-modal freight transport without a centralised system? The adoption of software methodology and business process mapping enables the development and the validation of the Freightwise Framework for co-modal freight transport. The Framework divides the freight transport domain into manageable sub-domains and defines the main roles that need to interact as well as the necessary interactions in between these domains. The main roles identified are: the Transport User and the Transport Service Provider, supported by the Transportation Network Manager and the Transport Regulator. The Framework also defines a generic specification of a transport service and a small set of sufficient and necessary information objects that need to be exchanged between the four main roles. This paper explores the goal, context, methodologies utilised, results and validation in multiple business cases. The paper ends with reflections on how the results may be developed and implemented.