Todd Sedano

Comparing extreme programming and Waterfall project results

Waterfall and Extreme Programming are two software project methods used for project management. Although there are a number of opinions comparing the two methods regarding how they should be applied, none have used project data to clearly conclude which one is better. In this paper, we present the results of a controlled empirical study conducted at Carnegie Mellon University in Silicon Valley to learn about the effective transition from traditional development to agile development. We conducted a comparison research against these two approaches. Multiple teams were assigned a project; some used Waterfall development, others used Extreme Programming. The purpose of this research is to look at advantages and disadvantages based upon the outcomes, generated artifacts, and metrics produced by the teams.

Software development waste

Context: Since software development is a complex socio-technical activity that involves coordinating different disciplines and skill sets, it provides ample opportunities for waste to emerge. Waste is any activity that produces no value for the customer or user. Objective: The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe different types of waste in software development. Method: Following Constructivist Grounded Theory, we conducted a two-year five-month participant-observation study of eight software development projects at Pivotal, a software development consultancy. We also interviewed 33 software engineers, interaction designers, and product managers, and analyzed one year of retrospection topics. We iterated between analysis and theoretical sampling until achieving theoretical saturation. Results: This paper introduces the first empirical waste taxonomy. It identifies nine wastes and explores their causes, underlying tensions, and overall relationship to the waste taxonomy found in Lean Software Development. Limitations: Grounded Theory does not support statistical generalization. While the proposed taxonomy appears widely applicable, organizations with different software development cultures may experience different waste types. Conclusion: Software development projects manifest nine types of waste: building the wrong feature or product, mismanaging the backlog, rework, unnecessarily complex solutions, extraneous cognitive load, psychological distress, waiting/multitasking, knowledge loss, and ineffective communication.

State-based monitoring and goal-driven project steering: field study of the SEMAT essence framework

At Carnegie Mellon University in Silicon Valley, the graduate master program ends with a practicum project during which students serve as software engineering consultants for an industry client. In this context, students are challenged to demonstrate their ability to work on self-managing and self-organizing teams. This paper presents a field study of the Software Engineering Method and Theory (SEMAT) Essence framework. The objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Essence’s novel state-based monitoring and goal-driven steering approach provided by the Essence kernel alphas and their states. The researchers conducted the study on seven graduate master student teams applying the approach throughout their practicum projects. The research methodology involves weekly observation and recording of each team’s state progression and collecting students’ reflection on the application of the approach. The main result validates that the approach provides student teams with a holistic, lightweight, non-prescriptive and method-agnostic way to monitor progress and steer projects, as well as an effective structure for team reflection and risk management. The paper also validates that the Essence kernel provides an effective mechanism for monitoring and steering work common to most student software projects. This includes the work done during project initiation as well as the work done at the project or release level. Support for technical work should come from additional practices added on top of the kernel, or by extending or altering the kernel definition. The conclusion is that the approach enables students to learn to steer projects effectively by addressing the various dimensions of software engineering. Hence the approach could be leveraged in software engineering education.

Essence reflection meetings: field study

This paper presents an empirical evaluation of the team reflection support provided by the Software Engineering Method and Theory (SEMAT) Essence framework, and compares Essence reflection meetings to other types of team reflection meetings. The researchers conducted a field study involving seven graduate master student teams running Essence reflection meetings throughout their practicum projects aiming at delivering a working product for an industry client. The main result validates that Essence meetings generate reflective team discussions through a thinking framework that is holistic, state-based, goal-driven, and method-agnostic. Student teams benefit from stepping back and assessing the project holistically throughout its lifecycle. The goals set by the frameworks checklists lead the teams to address critical aspects of the project that have not been considered. All team members are encouraged to express their views and influence the various project dimensions. Essence reflection meetings are comparable and complementary to Agile retrospectives, and project teams might want to leverage both techniques. The value added by Essence reflections is to surface unknown issues, help monitor progress, steer the project to a higher state, and prevent retrospectives from being repetitive by varying styles.

Practice and perception of team code ownership

Context: Team code ownership is a software development practice where any team member can modify any part of the teams code. However, many factors beyond official policy affect a developers sense of ownership. Objective: The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors that affect a teams sense of code ownership. Method: Following Constructivist Grounded Theory, the first author conducted participant-observation of several software development projects, and interviewed 21 software engineers, interaction designers, and product managers. Iterating between theoretical sampling and analysis continued until achieving theoretical saturation. Results: Team code ownership is a feeling. Developers feel team code ownership more when they understand the system context, have contributed to the code in question, perceive code quality as high, believe the product will satisfy the user needs, and perceive high team cohesion. Limitations: Outcomes of grounded theory research are not statistically generalizable to defined populations, and may not apply to organizations with different software development cultures. Conclusion: Team code ownership is rooted in numerous cognitive, emotional, contextual and technical factors and cannot be achieved simply by policy.

Sustainable Software Development through Overlapping Pair Rotation

Context: Conventional wisdom says that team disruptions (like team churn) should be avoided. However, we have observed software development projects that succeed despite high disruption. Objective: The purpose of this paper is to understand how to develop software effectively, even in the face of team disruption. Method: We followed Constructivist Grounded Theory. The primary researcher conducted participant-observation of several projects at Pivotal (a software development company), and interviewed 21 software engineers, interaction designers, and product managers. The researcher iteratively sampled and analyzed the collected data until achieving theoretical saturation. Results: This paper introduces a descriptive theory of Sustainable Software Development. The theory encompasses principles, policies, and practices aiming at removing knowledge silos and improving code quality (including discoverability and readability), hence leading to development sustainability. Limitations: While the results are highly relevant to the observed projects at Pivotal, the outcomes may not be transferable to other software development organizations with different software development cultures. Conclusion: The theory refines and extends the understanding of Extreme Programming by adding a few principles, policies, and practices (like the unique Overlapping Pair Rotation practice) and aligning these principles, policies, and practices towards the business goal of sustainability.

Green-Lighting Proposals for Software Engineering Team-Based Project Courses

Many software engineering curriculum conclude with a practicum or capstone project course. For courses involving external clients, the course owner typically follows a Request for Proposal process to vet (or green-light) qualified clients and projects. Even though green-lighting projects does not guarantee project success, the goal is to reduce risks by systematically examining each proposal to identify potential problems that the instructor could solve, mitigate against, or simply decide not to deal with by rejecting the proposal. We propose and evaluate a Green-Lighting Approach based on the SEMAT (Software Engineering Method and Theory) Essence framework. Our objective is to identify if such a framework could improve the Request for Proposal process at Carnegie Mellon University in Silicon Valley and other universities. We conducted a case study by observing and interviewing the course owner, examining a group of proposals, and identifying issues with the current proposal process and practicum projects. We proposed a green-lighting project state that, based upon Essence Alphas, describes the minimal and ideal states that a project proposal should achieve to be accepted. The Green-Lighting Approach generated conversations among the faculty that clarified the guidelines for accepting and prioritizing proposals and identified deficiencies in our Request for Proposal. Additional work is required to refine the proposed Green-Lighting Approach based on current findings and further validate the approach. Using Essence for green-lighting practicum projects in academia presents some limitations. The framework does not explicitly factor in business forces that affect proposal selection, might be overly complex for the task, and might require modification with partial Alpha states. However, Essence provides a systematic approach for evaluating proposals based on various project dimensions. This approach could be used as an inspiration for deriving simpler custom green-lighting checklists.

Recent Trends in Graduate Software Engineering

This panel will discuss recent trends in graduate software engineering programs, including adoption of GSwE2009, cooperative programs between schools, increasing use of distance education formats, and specialization of programs for industry partners. Panelists will also discuss the evolving relationship of software engineering to other disciplines, such as computer science and systems engineering.

Lessons learned from an extended participant observation grounded theory study

Context: Conducting a Grounded Theory study is rigorous, demanding, and challenging. Misperceptions exist within the software engineering community. Objective: The purpose of this paper is to describe one extended participant observation Grounded Theory study for aiding new empirical researchers wanting to run similar research studies. Method: Following Constructivist Grounded Theory, we conducted a two-year five-month participant-observation of eight software development projects at Pivotal, a software development organization, interviewed 33 software engineers, interaction designers, and product managers, and analyzed one year of retrospection topics. We iterated between analysis and theoretical sampling until achieving theoretical saturation, publishing papers on team code ownership, sustainable software development through overlapping code ownership, and software development waste. Results: This paper describes the missteps, challenges, and unique insights that occurred while conducting a Grounded Theory study. Limitations: While the results are highly relevant to the researcher, the outcomes might not apply to other researchers. Conclusion: Conducting my own Grounded Theory research study, attending Glasers Seminar, and reading and rereading Charmazs and Glasers books helped the researcher overcome misperceptions about Grounded Theory research.

A Gentle Introduction to Learn by Doing

We believe the masters program in Software Engineering offered by Carnegie Mellon Universitys Silicon Valley Campus to be unique in that it is entirely team-based and project-centered [1]. Students learn by doing as they are coached just in time by faculty in the context of authentic projects, and they are evaluated on the work they produce. Student satisfaction is high: 94% believe that the program has given them a competitive advantage with respect to their professional peers, and their promotion and salary histories bear out this belief. This tutorial introduces the attendees to our learn-by-doing instructional approach through participation in a learn by doing experience, performing a usability analysis of a commercial website, followed by discussion to highlight what we believe to be important principles of teaching by coaching.