Rory V. O'Connor

The situational factors that affect the software development process: Towards a comprehensive reference framework

Context: An optimal software development process is regarded as being dependent on the situational characteristics of individual software development settings. Such characteristics include the nature of the application(s) under development, team size, requirements volatility and personnel experience. However, no comprehensive reference framework of the situational factors affecting the software development process is presently available. Objective: The absence of such a comprehensive reference framework of the situational factors affecting the software development process is problematic not just because it inhibits our ability to optimise the software development process, but perhaps more importantly, because it potentially undermines our capacity to ascertain the key constraints and characteristics of a software development setting. Method: To address this deficiency, we have consolidated a substantial body of related research into an initial reference framework of the situational factors affecting the software development process. To support the data consolidation, we have applied rigorous data coding techniques from Grounded Theory and we believe that the resulting framework represents an important contribution to the software engineering field of knowledge. Results: The resulting reference framework of situational factors consists of eight classifications and 44 factors that inform the software process. We believe that the situational factor reference framework presented herein represents a sound initial reference framework for the key situational elements affecting the software process definition. Conclusion: In addition to providing a useful reference listing for the research community and for committees engaged in the development of standards, the reference framework also provides support for practitioners who are challenged with defining and maintaining software development processes. Furthermore, this framework can be used to develop a profile of the situational characteristics of a software development setting, which in turn provides a sound foundation for software development process definition and optimisation.

Investigating software process in practice: A grounded theory perspective

This paper presents the results of a study of how software process and software process improvement (SPI) is applied in actual practice in the software industry using the indigenous Irish software product industry as a test-bed. The study used the grounded theory methodology to produce a theory, grounded in the field data, that explains how software processes are formed and evolve and when and why SPI is undertaken. Our research found that SPI programmes are implemented reactively and many software managers are reluctant to implement SPI best practice models because of the associated costs.

Using grounded theory to understand software process improvement: A study of Irish software product companies

Software process improvement (SPI) aims to understand the software process as it is used within an organisation and thus drive the implementation of changes to that process to achieve specific goals such as increasing development speed, achieving higher product quality or reducing costs. Accordingly, SPI researchers must be equipped with the methodologies and tools to enable them to look within organisations and understand the state of practice with respect to software process and process improvement initiatives, in addition to investigating the relevant literature. Having examined a number of potentially suitable research methodologies, we have chosen Grounded Theory as a suitable approach to determine what was happening in actual practice in relation to software process and SPI, using the indigenous Irish software product industry as a test-bed. The outcome of this study is a theory, grounded in the field data, that explains when and why SPI is undertaken by the software industry. The objective of this paper is to describe both the selection and usage of grounded theory in this study and evaluate its effectiveness as a research methodology for software process researchers. Accordingly, this paper will focus on the selection and usage of grounded theory, rather than results of the SPI study itself.

A Software Engineering Lifecycle Standard for Very Small Enterprises

Industry recognizes that very small enterprises (VSE), that develop parts involving software components are very important to the economy. These parts are often integrated into products of larger enterprises. Failure to deliver a quality product on time and within budget threatens the competitiveness of both organizations. One way to mitigate these risks is to haveall suppliers of a product chain put recognized engineering practices in place. Many international standards and models such as ISO/IEC12207 or CMMI have been developed to capture proven engineering practices. However, these standards were not designed for very small development organizations, those with less than 25 employees, and are consequently difficult to apply in such settings. An ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7 Working Group has been established to address these difficulties by producing a software engineering standard tailored to VSE.

Development of a team measure for tacit knowledge in software development teams

In this paper we operationally define and measure tacit knowledge at the team-level in the software development domain. Through a series of three empirical studies we developed and validated the team tacit knowledge measure (TTKM) for software developers. In the first study, initial scale items were developed using the repertory grid technique and content analysis. In Study 2, supplied repertory grids were administered to novices and experts to establish differential items, and Study 3 validated the TTKM on a sample of 48 industrial software development teams. In developing the TTKM we explored the relationships between tacit knowledge, explicit job knowledge and social interaction and their effect on team performance as measured by efficiency and effectiveness. In addition we assess the implications for managing software development teams and increasing team performance through social interaction.

Acquiring and sharing tacit knowledge in software development teams: an empirical study

Abstract Context Sharing expert knowledge is a key process in developing software products. Since expert knowledge is mostly tacit, the acquisition and sharing of tacit knowledge along with the development of a transactive memory system (TMS) are significant factors in effective software teams. Objective We seek to enhance our understanding human factors in the software development process and provide support for the agile approach, particularly in its advocacy of social interaction, by answering two questions : How do software development teams acquire and share tacit knowledge ? What roles do tacit knowledge and transactive memory play in successful team performance ? Method A theoretical model describing the process for acquiring and sharing tacit knowledge and development of a TMS through social interaction is presented and a second predictive model addresses the two research questions above. The elements of the predictive model and other demographic variables were incorporated into a larger online survey for software development teams, completed by 46 software SMEs, consisting of 181 individual team members. Results Our results show that team tacit knowledge is acquired and shared directly through good quality social interactions and through the development of a TMS with quality of social interaction playing a greater role than transactive memory. Both TMS and team tacit knowledge predict effectiveness but not efficiency in software teams. Conclusion It is concluded that TMS and team tacit knowledge can differentiate between low- and high-performing teams in terms of effectiveness, where more effective teams have a competitive advantage in developing new products and bringing them to market. As face-to-face social interaction is key, collocated, functionally rich, domain expert teams are advocated rather than distributed teams, though arguably the team manager may be in a separate geographic location provided that there is frequent communication and effective use of issue tracking tools as in agile teams.

Software engineering support activities for very small entities

The emerging ISO/IEC 29110 standard Lifecycle profiles for Very Small Entities has at its core a Management and Engineering Guides which is targeted at very small entity (enterprise, organization, department or project) having up to 25 people, to assist them unlock the potential benefits of using standards which are specifically designed to address there needs. The developers of the standard, ISO/IEC JCT1/SC7 Working Group 24 (WG24), recommend the use of pilot projects as a mean to trial the adoption of the new International standard in small organisations. Accordingly an ISO/IEC 29110 pilot project has been established between the Software Engineering group of Brest University and a 14 person company with the aim of establishing an engineering discipline for a new web-based project. This paper details the lessons learned from the pilot project and based on our experiences with using ISO/IEC 29110 we identify a potential deficiency and accordingly propose new process area, “Infrastructure and Support” for include in the future evolution of ISO/IEC 29110 Process Profiles.

Software Project Management in Very Small Entities with ISO/IEC 29110

The recently published ISO/IEC 29110 standard Lifecycle profiles for Very Small Entities has at its core a Management and Engineering Guide [1] which are targeted at very small entities (enterprises, organizations, departments or projects) having up to 25 people [2], to assist them unlock the potential benefits of using standards which are specifically designed to address their needs. This paper discusses the role and structure of Project Management in the emerging ISO/IEC 29110 standard Software Process Lifecycles for Very Small Entities as well as its practical implication. This paper will also focus on the design and development of project management support documentation and their associated usage in early trials of ISO/IEC 29110.

An Innovative Approach to the Development of an International Software Process Lifecycle Standard for Very Small Entities

For very small software development companies, the quality of their software products is a key to competitive advantage. However, the usage of Software Engineering standards is extremely low amongst such very small software companies. A primary reason cited by many such companies for this lack of quality standards adoption is the perception that they have been developed for large multi-national software companies and not with small and very small organizations in mind and are therefore not suitable for their specific needs. This paper describes an innovative systematic approach to the development of the software process lifecycle standard for very small entities ISO/IEC 29110, following the Rogers model of the Innovation-Development process. The ISO/IEC 29110 standard is unique amongst software and systems engineering standards, in that the working group mandated to develop a new standard approached industry to conduct a needs assessment and gather actual requirements for a new standard as part of the standards development process. This paper presents a unique insight from the perspective of some of the standards authors on the development of the ISO/IEC 29110 standard, including the rationale behind its development and the innovative design of implementation guides to assist very small companies in adopting the standards, as well outlining a pilot project scheme for usage in early trials of this standard.

The influence of SPI on business success in software SMEs

Highlights? This is the first study of this type. ? Using empirical data, we identify a positive association between SPI and business success in software SMEs. ? This evidence supports the case for adopting a positive SPI disposition in software SMEs. ? The study presents a robust new approach to examining business success in software companies. In this paper, we present the findings of a study into the relationship between software process improvement (SPI) and business success in software development small- to medium-sized companies (software SMEs). A number of earlier related studies investigated the benefits of SPI in software SMEs, particularly in terms of improvements in product quality and adherence to budgetary and schedule constraints. However, only limited or indirect research has examined the relationship between SPI and business success. In this study, we adopt the Holistic Scorecard (HSC) (Sureshchandar and Leisten, 2005) as a business success reference framework, thus examining both the financial and the non-financial aspects of business success. In addition, we utilise ISO/IEC 12207 (ISO/IEC, 2008) as a comprehensive reference framework for the investigation of SPI activity in software SMEs. Through the use of new metrics introduced in this paper, the study findings establish that there is a positive association between SPI and business success in software SMEs, highlighting the importance of SPI in successful software SMEs. This is the first time that this relationship has been demonstrated using empirical data, and therefore, the findings represent a valuable new addition to the body of knowledge.