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Software Process Improvement - EuroSPI 2007 Conference

Software Process Improvement, 14th European Conference, EuroSPI 2007, Potsdam, Germany, September 26-28, 2007, Proceedings

Software process improvement : 14th European Conference, EuroSPI 2007, Potsdam, Germany, September 26-28, 2007 : proceedings

Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming: 9th International Conference, XP 2008, Limerick, Ireland, June 10-14, 2008, Proceedings ... Notes in Business Information Processing)

Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming, 9th International Conference, XP 2008, Limerick, Ireland, June 10-14, 2008. Proceedings

Agile processes in software engineering and extreme programming : 10th international conference, XP 2009, Pula, Sardinia, Italy, May 25-29, 2009 : proceedings

Product-Focused Software Process Improvement, 10th International Conference, PROFES 2009, Oulu, Finland, June 15-17, 2009. Proceedings

Software product roadmapping in a volatile business environment

Product roadmapping enhances the product development process by enabling early information and long-term decision making about the products in order to deliver the right products to the right markets at the right time. However, relatively little scientific knowledge is available on the application and usefulness of product roadmapping in software product development context. This study develops a framework for software product roadmapping, which is then used to study the critical aspects of the product roadmapping process. The collection of empirical evidence includes both quantitative and qualitative data which sheds further insight into the complexities involved in product roadmapping. Results revealed that organizations view the product roadmap mainly as a tool for strategic decision making as it aims at showing the future directions of the company's products. However, only a few companies appear to have an explicit approach for handling the mechanisms for creating and maintaining such a roadmap. Finally, it is suggested that the strategic importance of product roadmapping is likely to increase in the future and, as a conclusion, a new type of agility is required in order to survive in the turbulent and competitive software business environment.

Improving Software Developer's Competence: Is the Personal Software Process Working?

Emerging agile software development methods are people ori- ented development approaches to be used by the software industry. The personal software process (PSP SM ) is an accepted method for im- proving the capabilities of a single software engineer. Five original hy- potheses regarding the impact of the PSP to individual performance are tested. Data is obtained from 58 computer science students in three university courses on the master level, which were held in two different educational institutions in Finland and Denmark. Statistical data treat- ment shows that the use of PSP did not improve size and time estima- tion skills but that the productivity did not decrease and the resulting product quality was improved. The implications of these findings are briefly addressed.

Measuring the Success of Software Process Improvement: The Dimensions

Quality managers, change agents and researchers are often troubled in defining and demonstrating the level of success achieved in software process improvement (SPI) initiatives. So far, there exist only few frameworks for identifying the level of success achieved in SPI. Analysis shows that these frameworks do not provide a comprehensive view from all relevant stakeholders involved in SPI. Early results from an ongoing research effort to discover and operationalise success dimensions are reported. Adapted from the project management literature it is suggested that five dimensions characterise the level of success achieved in SPI: (1) project efficiency, (2) impact on the process user, (3) business success, (4) direct operational success and (5) process improvement fit. Results from an empirical analysis are reported where 23 change agents evaluated the relative level of importance of each dimension. Early results indicate that change agents valued the process user satisfaction the most and the process improvement fit the least. This finding confirms the need of having various stakeholders and dimensions acknowledged in a framework that is used to measure the overall success of an SPI initiative.

Perspectives on Global Software Development: special issue on PROFES 2007

The field of software engineering has evolved significantly over the past decades. It can be argued that software has become the vital element of any system or service. Interestingly, even in the field of automotive industry, 90% of recent innovations stem from software and electronics (ITEA2 2005). Ever since the classic NATO conference in 1968, however, software has been argued to be in some state of crisis. From the 1990s, the crisis has been labeled as a chronic one. It is quite evident that several attempts to improve the state of software industry have taken place with varying levels of success. Software process improvement approaches have been developed since many decades ago. The results have been impressive, on the one hand, but many problems still exist. As an example, the business impact of software process improvement endeavors has been difficult to pinpoint, several of the improvement initiatives appear to fall short of their goals, and overemphasis on comparing processes with fixed reference models may lead an organization astray regarding the product or service perspective. The Profes conference series was established in 1999 to provide a venue for industry and academia to present and discuss the shift from model-based improvement to a product-oriented perspective in the field of software engineering and software process improvement. This includes a context-oriented understanding of the process-product relationships. Recently, the focus in practice and, consequently, in research has been on viewing software development as a global endeavor rather than a local one. There are several reasons for this. To name but a few: The distribution of software development enables the optimum use of competence regardless of the geographical location. The large software-intensive organizations operate in the global space and market, which makes distribution a necessity rather than a choice. On the positive side, distribution enables the development of software and services close to the prominent market area. Despite these relatively clear advantages and 2 benefits, global software development has brought with it several challenges due to increased complexity and cultural as well as technology issues. These challenges are now being tackled by means of research taking place in Europe and elsewhere as witnessed by this special issue of Profes conference research papers. Profes Conference series was established at the end of European IST project called PROFES (PROduct Focused Software process improvement) for disseminating the research results of the project area to industry. The PROFES Consortium included …

Traverse the landscape of the mind by walking: an exploration of a new brainstorming practice

Group brainstorming is a well-known idea generation technique, which plays a key role in software development processes. Despite this, the relevant literature has had little to offer in advancing our understanding of the effectiveness of group brainstorming sessions. In this paper we present a research-in-progress on brainstorming while walking, which is a practice built upon the relationship between thinking and walking. The objective is to better understand how to conduct group brainstorming effectively. We compared two brainstorming sessions, one performed during a mountain walk, the other traditionally in a room. Three preliminary findings are obtained: walking can lead to an effective idea generation session; brainstorming while walking can encourage team members to participate in and contribute to the session in an equal manner; and it can help a team to maintain sustainable mental energy. Our study opens up an avenue for future exploration of effective group brainstorming practices.