Rory V. O’Connor

Exploring Managerial Commitment towards SPI in Small and Very Small Enterprises

This paper compares and contrasts the results of two similar studies into the software process practices in Irish Small and Very Small Enterprises. The first study contains rich findings in relation to the role and influence of managerial experience and style, with particular respect to the company founder and software development managers in small to medium seized enterprises (SMEs), whilst the second study contains extensive findings in relation to people and management involvement / commitment and SPI goal planning in very small enterprises (VSEs). By combining these results of these two studies of Irish SMEs/VSEs we can develop a rich picture of managerial commitment towards SPI and in particular explore the similarities between Small and Very Small Enterprises.

Evaluating VSEs Viewpoint and Sentiment Towards the ISO/IEC 29110 Standard: A Two Country Grounded Theory Study

The ISO/IEC 29110 standard 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 is concerned with understanding the issues that affect the adoption of software process standards by Very Small Entities (VSEs), their needs from process standards and their willingness to engage with the new ISO/IEC 29110 standard in particular. This paper bring together two complimentary studies undertaken in Ireland and Ecuador which pose questions to VSE management regarding opinions, attitude and sentiment towards the adoption of the VSE designed standard ISO/IEC 29110. A series of interviews were untaken in both countries counties with qualitative data analysis utilizing the grounded theory coding mechanisms, to produce a picture of the current situation. This paper serves as a roadmap for both researchers wishing to understand the issues of process standards adoption by very small companies and also for the software process standards community.

Toward an Integrated Conceptualization of the Service and Service System Concepts: A Systems Approach

Service and service systems concepts are fundamental constructs for the development of the emergent SSME, ITSM, and Service Oriented Software (SOS) knowledge streams. A diversified literature has provided a richness of findings, but at the same time, the lack of standardized conceptualizations is a source of confusion to IT practitioners and academics. Given this problematic situation, we pose that a systems approach is useful to address it. In this article, we review and synthesize key studies in these knowledge streams to design: (i) a framework to characterize both concepts under a system view and, (ii) harmonized definitions (e.g. identification of shared and essential properties) for such fundamental concepts. Our main contribution is scholastic, but we are confident that the posed conceptual artifacts can be further used to elaborate standardized definition for the IT service and IT service system constructs, as well as analysis tools for describe real service systems.

An Approach to Evaluating Software Process Adaptation

Process maturity reference frameworks such as ISO/IEC 15504 and the Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI) seek to assist software process improvement (SPI) efforts by prescribing a roadmap for improving the capability of the development process. However, such frameworks are not widely adopted in the practice [1], [2], especially in smaller software development organisations where the development process is often modified based on business events [3]. Such modification of the development process represents an attempt to harmonise the process with the changing needs of the business, which is a dynamic capability. Dynamic capabilities refer to the ability of businesses to adapt to changing circumstances and according to the evolutionary theory of the firm [4], organisations that possess greater dynamic capability are more successful. This paper introduces dynamic SPI capability - the ability to adapt the software process relative to changing situational circumstances – as a method for evaluating software process adaptation.

An IT Service Engineering and Management Framework (ITS-EMF)

There is a rich amount of literature on services from Information Technology (IT) (Management view) and IT System Engineering (ITSE) (Engineering view) domains. However, such a variety has produced disparate views. Furthermore, given that IT and ITSE service-based systems must be linked to business services (the User view), conceptual interrelationships are increased, causing yet more diversity. This paper identifies that this generates a lack of theoretical conceptual cohesion and leads to multiple practical confusions. To address these issues and to reduce such conceptual gaps, an IT Service Engineering and Management Framework (ITS-EMF) is proposed. ITS-EMF is generated by careful review and examination of the main conceptualizations on IT, ITSE and business services. The paper claims that ITS-EMF is useful for: (1) mapping services concepts from disparate IT literature, (2) reducing service conceptual confusion from the multiple available sources, and (3) providing conceptual links between service constructs used in business services and IT and ITSE services layers. It concludes with the implications, both academic and practical, for engineering and managing IT services in business organizations.

Software Development Processes for Games: A Systematic Literature Review

This paper describes the methodology and results from a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of the software processes used in game development. A total of 404 papers were analyzed as part of the review and the various process models that are used in industry and academia/research are presented. Software Process Improvement (SPI) initiatives for game development are discussed. The factors that promote or deter the adoption of process models, and implementing SPI in practice are highlighted. Our findings indicate that there is no single model that serves as a best practice process model for game development and it is a matter of deciding which model is best suited for a particular game. Agile models such as Scrum and XP are suited to the knowledge intensive domain of game development where innovation and speed to market are vital. Hybrid approaches such as reuse can also be suitable for game development where the risk of the upfront investment in terms of time and cost is mitigated with a game that has stable requirements and a longer lifespan.

A Learning Tool for the ISO/IEC 29110 Standard: Understanding the Project Management of Basic Profile

The “best practices” of international software standards are considered important in improving the software process. The ISO/IEC 29110 standard defines lifecycle profiles for Very Small Entities (VSEs) and VSEs have also been recognized important in the software industry. Since this standard is novel, practitioners need to be actively engaged in their own learning. Serious games offer the potential not only to entertain and educate, but can also operate as a strategy for promoting the standard itself. The findings of this explorative study make possible an initial judgment about its potential as a fun standard learning tool as well as to analyze its pertinence, engagement, strengths, and weaknesses as guidance for further evolution.

A Gamification Approach to Improve the Software Development Process by Exploring the Personality of Software Practitioners

Although there are various kinds of processes designed to manage the complexities of software development, it is still a challenging endeavor. Recently, a significant number of researchers have started to investigate social problems such as incompatibilities with respect to personality that is likely to be encountered in all stages of the software development process. However, there is no computer-based artifact to reveal the personality types of software practitioners. To bridge this gap, a virtual 3D assessment environment is developed with the ability to immerse individuals similar to a realistic model of the assessment. The interactive questionnaire is based on previous interactive personality assessment framework, which was specifically designed for software engineers. Based on the developed tool, a study was conducted on software practitioners. The data gathered via a survey study from software practitioners is analyzed to observe the difference between the results of paper-based and interactive versions of the same assessment. The analysis of this research states that there is a significant difference between the results of participant’s survey scores. Overall, these results indicate that proposed tool is relevant to help software professionals to improve the software development process when personality types are in consideration.

Changing Situational Contexts Present a Constant Challenge to Software Developers

A software process can take many forms and its optimality demands that it should be harmonised with the needs of the given software development situational context. This theoretical proposition is reasonably clear. However, the finer details of the interaction between the software process and the factors of the situational context are much less obvious. In previously published research, the authors have elaborated a reference framework that identifies the factors of a situational context that affect the software process. In this paper, we report on the application of our reference framework in an examination of the changing nature of software development situational contexts. Our corresponding study of fifteen software development companies indicates that certain factors appear more subject to change than others. This finding is a potentially important insight that can help us with the recurring challenge of adapting the software process to changing circumstances.

Towards an Understanding of Software Development Process Knowledge in Very Small Companies

The influence of software team dynamics on well-organized software development knowledge process could prevent software development organizations from suffering from the knowledge atrophy problem. To explore this, we have studied several team dynamics factors that influence the Knowledge Management Processes (KMP) in Very Small Entities (VSEs) [1]. A survey was conducted in a variety of VSEs and through statistical and qualitative content analysis for the research data, results indicate that small teams, informal team process and structure have an important influence on the level of team dynamics in the software development process.