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- Rönkkö, Kari, et al.
(författare)
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Inside Information 2 − Usability and User Research : Eight years of research and method development cooperation
- 2009
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This report is a follow up to the Inside Information – Usability and User Research at UIQ Technology report that was made available in October 2006. The initial report was written from an industrial point of view aimed to market UIQ Technology through the demonstration of the UIQ usability and user research philosophy. UIQ Technology Usability Metrics (UTUM) was important result here. UTUM was considered an extremely cost-effective method for keeping in focus what is important for users and handset makers. It was a tool for guiding development decisions as well as for validating the worthiness of design concepts. The two parts in UTUM was perceived by the company as an innovation in their software development practice. The first part was the relationship to users and attitude to their participation in the design process. The second part was how the company immediately and directly incorporated this usability understanding into the software development process. UTUM, together with other usability methods and results presented in this report, have been produced in an action research manner. Due to the closure of the company, the main author of the 2006 report, and the same researchers who also supported the writing of the initial report, decided to produce a follow-up and closure version of the initial report; as a way to summarize the results from the academic and industrial cooperation. In this updated version, eight years of joint action research and cooperative method development surrounding usability and user research is concluded.
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| 2. |
- Rönkkö, Kari
(författare)
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Interpretation, interaction and reality construction in software engineering : An explanatory model
- 2007
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Ingår i: Information and Software Technology. - : Elsevier. - 0950-5849 .- 1873-6025. ; 49:6, s. 682-693
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The incorporation of social issues in software engineering is limited. Still, during the last 20 years the social element inherent in software development has been addressed in a number of publications that identified a lack of common concepts, models, and theories for discussing software development from this point of view. It has been suggested that we need to take interpretative and constructive views more seriously if we are to incorporate the social element in software engineering. Up till now we have lacked papers presenting 'simple' models explaining why. This article presents a model that helps us better to understand interpretation, interaction and reality construction from a natural language perspective. The concepts and categories following with the model provide a new frame of reference useful in software engineering research, teaching, and methods development.
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| 3. |
- Rönkkö, Kari
(författare)
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Making Methods Work in Software Engineering : Method Deployment - as a Social Achievement
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The software engineering community is concerned with improvements in existing methods and development of new and better methods. The research approaches applied to take on this challenge have hitherto focused heavily on the formal and specifying aspect of the method. This has been done for good reasons, because formalizations are the means in software projects to predict, plan, and regulate the development efforts. As formalizations have been successfully developed new challenges have been recognized. The human and social role in software development has been identified as the next area that needs to be addressed. Organizational problems need to be solved if continued progress is to be made in the field. The social element is today a little explored area in software engineering. Following with the increased interest in the social element it has been identified a need of new research approaches suitable for the study of human behaviour. The one sided focus on formalizations has had the consequence that concepts and explanation models available in the community are one sided related in method discourses. Definition of method is little explored in the software engineering community. In relation to identified definitions of method the social appears to blurring. Today the software engineering community lacks powerful concepts and explanation models explaining the social element. This thesis approaches the understanding of the social element in software engineering by applying ethnomethodologically informed ethnography and ethnography. It is demonstrated how the ethnographic inquiry contributes to software engineering. Ethnography is also combined with an industrial cooperative method development approach. The results presented demonstrate how industrial external and internal socio political contingencies both hindered a method implementation, as well as solved what the method was targeted to do. It is also presented how project members’ method deployment - as a social achievement is played out in practice. In relation to this latter contribution it is provided a conceptual apparatus and explanation model borrowed from social science, The Documentary method of interpretation. This model addresses core features in the social element from a natural language point of view that is of importance in method engineering. This model provides a coherent complement to an existing method definition emphasizing formalizations. This explanation model has also constituted the underpinning in research methodology that made possible the concrete study results.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Rönkkö, Kari, et al.
(författare)
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When plans do not work out : how plans are used in software development projects
- 2005
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Ingår i: Computer Supported Cooperative Work. - 0925-9724. ; 14:5, s. 433-468
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Based on empirical material from the area of software engineering, this articlediscusses the issue of plans and planning as an integral part of and prerequisite for software development work. It relates observed practices to literature produced by the Computer Supported Cooperative Work community. Empirical studies of software development practice seldom address re-planning. By analyzing the empirical material from one project we are able to show how certain kinds of co-ordination problems arise and how they may be dealt with. The empirical research does not focus primarily on the character of plans; instead, it raises the question ‘what means are necessary and should be provided in order to cope with situations when plans do not work out? In relation to plans, especial emphasis is on ‘‘due process’’, i.e. how the project plan and the company wide project model are maintained to enable the identification and articulation of deviations from it. On the basis of our empirical analysis we propose to support the articulation and coordination work necessary in situations where plans do not adequately work out.
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| 7. |
- Dittrich, Yvonne, et al.
(författare)
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Co-Operative Method Development revisited
- 2005
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- During the last five years, we applied a research approach we call 'Co-operative Method Development' formulated on first experience with empirical research focusing especially on the social side of software engineering. This position paper summarizes the experiences and discusses the improvement and further development of this research approach based on our experiences in different research projects in co-operation with industrial partners.
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| 8. |
- Dittrich, Yvonne, et al.
(författare)
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Cooperative method development : Combining qualitative empirical research with method, techniqueand process improvement
- 2008
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Ingår i: Empirical Software Engineering. - : Springer Netherlands. - 1382-3256 .- 1573-7616. ; 13:3, s. 231-260
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The development of methods tools and process improvements is best to be based on the understanding of the development practice to be supported. Qualitative research has been proposed as a method for understanding the social and cooperative aspects of software development. However, qualitative research is not easily combined with the improvement orientation of an engineering discipline. During the last 6 years, we have applied an approach we call ‘cooperative method development’, which combines qualitative social science fieldwork, with problem-oriented method, technique and process improvement. The action research based approach focusing on shop floor software development practices allows an understanding of how contextual contingencies influence the deployment and applicability of methods, processes and techniques. This article summarizes the experiences and discusses the further development of this approach based on several research projects in cooperation with industrial partners.
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