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- Carver, Jeffrey C., et al.
(author)
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Behavioral science and diversity in software engineering
- 2021
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In: IEEE Software. - 1937-4194 .- 0740-7459. ; 38:2, s. 107-112
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Practioners' Digest department in this issue of IEEE Software covers two topics: the behavioral science of software engineering and diversity in software engineering (this issue's theme) and includes papers from the 42nd International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE20), 2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution (ICSME19), 13th International Workshop on Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering (CHASE20), Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement 2020 (ESEM20), and Association for Computing Machinery Joint European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering (ESEC/FSE20). Feedback or suggestions are welcome. In addition, if you try or adopt any of the practices included in this article, please send me and the authors of the paper(s) a note about your experiences.
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- Hyrynsalmi, Sami, et al.
(author)
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What is a minimum viable (video) game? : Towards a research agenda
- 2018
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In: Lect. Notes Comput. Sci.. - Cham : Springer Verlag. - 9783030021306 ; , s. 217-231
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The concept of ‘Minimum Viable Product’ (MVP) is largely adapted in the software industry as well as in academia. Minimum viable products are used to test hypotheses regarding the target audience, save resources from unnecessary development work and guide a company towards a stable business model. As the game industry is becoming an important business domain, it is not surprise that the concept has been adopted also in the game development. This study surveys how a Minimum Viable Game (MVG) is defined, what is reported in extant literature as well as present results from a small case study survey done to nine game development companies. The study shows that despite popularity of minimum viable games in the industrial fora, the presented views on the concept are diverged and there is lack of practical guidelines and research supporting game companies. This study points out research gaps in the area as well as calls for actions to further develop the concept and to define guidelines. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2018.
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- Klotins, Eriks, et al.
(author)
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A progression model of software engineering goals, challenges, and practices in start-ups
- 2021
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In: IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. - : IEEE. - 0098-5589 .- 1939-3520. ; 47:3, s. 498-521
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Context: Software start-ups are emerging as suppliers of innovation and software-intensive products. However, traditional software engineering practices are not evaluated in the context, nor adopted to goals and challenges of start-ups. As a result, there is insufficient support for software engineering in the start-up context.Objective: We aim to collect data related to engineering goals, challenges, and practices in start-up companies to ascertain trends and patterns characterizing engineering work in start-ups. Such data allows researchers to understand better how goals and challenges are related to practices. This understanding can then inform future studies aimed at designing solutions addressing those goals and challenges. Besides, these trends and patterns can be useful for practitioners to make more informed decisions in their engineering practice.Method: We use a case survey method to gather first-hand, in-depth experiences from a large sample of software start-ups. We use open coding and cross-case analysis to describe and identify patterns, and corroborate the findings with statistical analysis.Results: We analyze 84 start-up cases and identify 16 goals, 9 challenges, and 16 engineering practices that are common among startups. We have mapped these goals, challenges, and practices to start-up life-cycle stages (inception, stabilization, growth, and maturity). Thus, creating the progression model guiding software engineering efforts in start-ups.Conclusions: We conclude that start-ups to a large extent face the same challenges and use the same practices as established companies. However, the primary software engineering challenge in start-ups is to evolve multiple process areas at once, with a little margin for serious errors.
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| 6. |
- Klotins, Eriks, et al.
(author)
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Exploration of technical debt in start-ups
- 2018
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In: Proceedings - International Conference on Software Engineering. - New York, NY, USA : IEEE Computer Society. - 9781450356596 ; , s. 75-84
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Context: Software start-ups are young companies aiming to build and market software-intensive products fast with little resources. Aiming to accelerate time-to-market, start-ups often opt for ad-hoc engineering practices, make shortcuts in product engineering, and accumulate technical debt. Objective: In this paper we explore to what extent precedents, dimensions and outcomes associated with technical debt are prevalent in start-ups. Method: We apply a case survey method to identify aspects of technical debt and contextual information characterizing the engineering context in start-ups. Results: By analyzing responses from 86 start-up cases we found that start-ups accumulate most technical debt in the testing dimension, despite attempts to automate testing. Furthermore, we found that start-up team size and experience is a leading precedent for accumulating technical debt: larger teams face more challenges in keeping the debt under control. Conclusions: This study highlights the necessity to monitor levels of technical debt and to preemptively introduce practices to keep the debt under control. Adding more people to an already difficult to maintain product could amplify other precedents, such as resource shortages, communication issues and negatively affect decisions pertaining to the use of good engineering practices. © 2018 ACM.
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| 7. |
- Klotins, Eriks, 1985-, et al.
(author)
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Use of agile practices in start-up companies
- 2021
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In: e-Informatica Software Engineering Journal. - : Wrocław University of Science and Technology. - 1897-7979 .- 2084-4840. ; 15:1, s. 47-64
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Context Software start-ups have shown their ability to develop and launch innovative software products and services. Small, motivated teams and uncertain project scope makes start-ups good candidates for adopting Agile practices. Objective We explore how start-ups use Agile practices and what effects can be associated with the use of those practices. Method We use a case survey to analyze 84 start-up cases and 56 Agile practices. We apply statistical methods to test for statistically significant associations between the use of Agile practices, team, and product factors. Results Our results suggest that development of the backlog, use of version control, code refactoring, and development of user stories are the most frequently reported practices. We identify 22 associations between the use of Agile practices, team, and product factors. The use of Agile practices is associated with effects on source code and overall product quality. A teams’ positive or negative attitude towards best engineering practices is a significant indicator for either adoption or rejection of certain Agile practices. To explore the relationships in our findings, we set forth a number of propositions that can be investigated in future research. Conclusions We conclude that start-ups use Agile practices, however without following any specific methodology. We identify the opportunity for more fine-grained studies into the adoption and effects of individual Agile practices. Start-up practitioners could benefit from Agile practices in terms of better overall quality, tighter control over team performance, and resource utilization. © 2021 Wroclaw University of Science and Technology. All rights reserved.
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| 8. |
- Klotins, Eriks, 1985-, et al.
(author)
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Use of Agile Practices in Start-ups
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Context. Software start-ups have shown their ability to develop and launch in- novative software products and services. Small, motivated teams and uncertain project scope makes start-ups good candidates for adopting Agile practices.Objective. We explore how start-ups use Agile practices and what effects can be associated with the use of those practices.Method. We use a case survey to analyze 84 start-up cases and 56 Agile prac- tices. We apply statistical methods to test for statistically significant associa- tions between the use of Agile practices, team, and product factors.Results. Our results suggest that backlog, version control, refactoring, and user stories are the most frequently reported practices. We identify 22 associations between the use of Agile practices, team, and product factors. The use of Agile practices is associated with effects on source code and overall product quality. A teams’ positive or negative attitude towards best engineering practices is a significant indicator for either adoption or rejection of certain Agile practices. To explore the relationships in our findings, we set forth a number of propositions that can be investigated by future research.Conclusions. We conclude that start-ups use Agile practices, however without following any specific methodology. We identify the opportunity for more fine- grained studies into the adoption and effects of individual Agile practices. Start- up practitioners could benefit from Agile practices in terms of better overall quality, tighter control over team performance and resource utilization.
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| 9. |
- Klünder, Jil, et al.
(author)
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Catching up with Method and Process Practice: An Industry-Informed Baseline for Researchers
- 2019
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In: Proceedings - 2019 IEEE/ACM 41st International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering in Practice, ICSE-SEIP 2019. ; May 2019, s. 255-264
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Software development methods are usually not applied by the book.companies are under pressure to continuously deploy software products that meet market needs and stakeholders' requests. To implement efficient and effective development processes, companies utilize multiple frameworks, methods and practices, and combine these into hybrid methods. A common combination contains a rich management framework to organize and steer projects complemented with a number of smaller practices providing the development teams with tools to complete their tasks. In this paper, based on 732 data points collected through an international survey, we study the software development process use in practice. Our results show that 76.8% of the companies implement hybrid methods.company size as well as the strategy in devising and evolving hybrid methods affect the suitability of the chosen process to reach company or project goals. Our findings show that companies that combine planned improvement programs with process evolution can increase their process' suitability by up to 5%.
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| 10. |
- Kuhrmann, Marco, et al.
(author)
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What Makes Agile Software Development Agile
- 2022
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In: IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. - 0098-5589 .- 1939-3520. ; 48:9, s. 3523-3539
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Together with many success stories, promises such as the increase in production speed and the improvement in stakeholders' collaboration have contributed to making agile a transformation in the software industry in which many companies want to take part. However, driven either by a natural and expected evolution or by contextual factors that challenge the adoption of agile methods as prescribed by their creator(s), software processes in practice mutate into hybrids over time. Are these still agile In this article, we investigate the question: what makes a software development method agile We present an empirical study grounded in a large-scale international survey that aims to identify software development methods and practices that improve or tame agility. Based on 556 data points, we analyze the perceived degree of agility in the implementation of standard project disciplines and its relation to used development methods and practices. Our findings suggest that only a small number of participants operate their projects in a purely traditional or agile manner (under 15%). That said, most project disciplines and most practices show a clear trend towards increasing degrees of agility. Compared to the methods used to develop software, the selection of practices has a stronger effect on the degree of agility of a given discipline. Finally, there are no methods or practices that explicitly guarantee or prevent agility. We conclude that agility cannot be defined solely at the process level. Additional factors need to be taken into account when trying to implement or improve agility in a software company. Finally, we discuss the field of software process-related research in the light of our findings and present a roadmap for future research.
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