| 1. |
- Bjarnason, Elizabeth, et al.
(författare)
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A Theory of Distances in Software Engineering
- 2016
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Ingår i: Information and Software Technology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0950-5849. ; 70, s. 204-219
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- [Context] Coordinating a software project across distances is challenging. Even without geographical and time zone distances, other distances within a project can cause communication gaps. For example, organisational and cognitive distances between product owners and development-near roles such as developers and testers can lead to differences in understanding and interpretation of the business requirements. Applying good software development practices, known to enhance alignment and coordination within development projects, can alleviate these challenges. [Objective] The aim of our research is to identify and describe underlying factors which can explain why certain practices support aligning and coordinating software development projects. [Method] We have inductively generated a theory analysing empirical data consisting of 15 interviews from 5 different companies. The systematic and iterative analysis was based on an initial hypothesis that distances affect development, and on results from previous research. [Results] We present a theory of distances that explains how practices improve the communication within a project by impacting distances between people, activities and artefacts. We also present a theoretical model of how specific alignment practices affect different types of distances. [Conclusions] The results provide a basis for further research and can be used by software organisations to improve on software practice.
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| 2. |
- Bjarnason, Elizabeth, et al.
(författare)
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Alignment Practices Affect Distances in Software Development: A Theory and a Model
- 2014
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Ingår i: GTSE 2014 Proceedings of the 3rd SEMAT Workshop on General Theories of Software Engineering. - New York, NY, USA : ACM. - 9781450328500 ; , s. 21-31
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Coordinating a software project across distances is challenging. Even without geographical and time zone distances, other distances within a project can cause communication gaps. For example, organisational and cognitive distances between product owners and development-near roles such as developers and testers can lead to weak alignment of the software and the business requirements. Applying good software development practices, known to enhance alignment, can alleviate these challenges. We present a theoretical model called the Gap Model of how alignment practices affect different types of distances. This model has been inductively generated from empirical data. We also present an initial version of a theory based on this model that explains, at a general level, how practices affect communication within a project by impacting distances between people, activities and artefacts. The presented results provide a basis for further research and can be used by software organisations to improve on software practice.
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| 3. |
- Johnson, Pontus, et al.
(författare)
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Report on the Second SEMAT Workshop on General Theory of Software Engineering : GTSE 2013
- 2013
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Ingår i: Software Engineering Notes. - 0163-5948 .- 1943-5843.
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Software engineering needs a general theory, i.e., a theory thatapplies across the field and unifies existing empirical and theoreticalwork. General theories are common in other domains, suchas physics. While many software engineering theories exist, nogeneral theory of software engineering is evident. Consequently,this report reviews the emerging consensus on a general theory insoftware engineering from the Second SEMAT General Theory ofSoftware Engineering workshop co-located with the InternationalConference on Software Engineering in 2013. Participants agreedthat a general theory is possible and needed, should explain andpredict software engineering phenomena at multiple levels, includingsocial processes and technical artifacts, should synthesize existingtheories from software engineering and reference disciplines,should be developed iteratively, should avoid common misconceptionsand atheoretical concepts, and should respect the complexityof software engineering phenomena. However, several disputes remain,including concerns regarding ontology, epistemology, levelof formality, and how exactly to proceed with formulating a generaltheory.
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| 4. |
- Jussi, Kasurinen, et al.
(författare)
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A self-assessment framework for finding improvement objectives with ISO/IEC 29119 test standard
- 2011
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- One of the latest additions in defining the test process is the upcoming ISO/IEC 29119 standard, which aims to define a universally applicable generic test process model. However, currently the standard does not offer any support for the adoption process of the model. In this paper, we present our framework, which aims to combine a maturity level-based approach with the standard process. Our objective was to create an easy-to-use framework for organizations to assess how closely their existing test process follows the standard, and give feedback on improvement objectives. Our results indicate that combining maturity levels with the standard is a viable approach to assess the implementation of the standard in practice.
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| 5. |
- Larsen, Even Åby, et al.
(författare)
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A model for analyzing changes in systems development practices
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application. - 1552-6496 .- 1532-4516. ; 13:3, s. 21-48
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper introduces an empirically grounded model for analyzing intended and unintended changes in the prevalence of information systems development practices. In the model, any development practice observable in a development organization can be analyzed according to two dimensions: the intended scope of defined practices versus the actual scope of enacted practices. Furthermore, the model identifies eight types of change paths in systems development practices based on the two dimensions: emergence, entropy, initiation, abandonment, formalization, informalization, implementation, and recalcitrance. The eight types of change paths provide an integrated theoretical model for understanding how systems development practices can change in organizations and projects and among individual developers in a given context. The paper concludes by discussing how the model complements and integrates concepts of the contemporary research on systems development practices and outlines its potential uses for future research.
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| 6. |
- Maglyas, Andrey, et al.
(författare)
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Core software product management activities
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Advances in Management Research. - : EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD. - 0972-7981 .- 2049-3207. ; 14:1, s. 23-45
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - Software product management (SPM) unites disciplines related to product strategy, planning, development, and release. There are many organizational activities addressing technical, social, and market issues when releasing a software product. Owing to the high number of activities involved, SPM remains a complex discipline to adopt. The purpose of this paper is to understand what are the core and supporting SPM activities. Design/methodology/approach - The authors adopted the research method of meta-ethnography to present a set of techniques for synthesizing individual qualitative studies to increase the degree of conceptualization. The results obtained from three empirical studies were synthesized using the meta-ethnography approach to enhance, rethink, and create a higher level abstraction of the findings. Findings - The results show that the study has both theoretical and practical contribution. As the meta-ethnography synthesis has not been widely applied in software engineering, the authors illustrate how to use this research method in the practice of software engineering research. The practical contribution of the study is in the identification of five core and six supporting SPM activities. Originality/value - The practical value of this paper is in the identification of core SPM activities that should be present in any company practicing SPM. The list of supporting SPM consists of activities that are not reported to product manager but affect the product success.
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| 7. |
- Päivärinta, Tero, et al.
(författare)
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Theorizing about Software Development Practices
- 2015
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Ingår i: Science of Computer Programming. - : Elsevier BV. - 0167-6423 .- 1872-7964. ; 101, s. 124-135
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The paper focuses on the challenge of generating theoretical support for software development, especially when human software developers are involved in the software development process. We outline a model, “Coat Hanger”, for theorizing about development practices. The model focuses on the intended rationale for the actual realization and resulting impacts of using particular practices in varying contexts. To illustrate the use of the model, we have studied recent practice-oriented articles in the journal Science of Computer Programming. A survey of articles in the journal between 2010 and 2013 showed that out of 371 articles, only four studied software development in professional organizations with actual software practitioners as informants. The Coat Hanger model was then used to identify the theoretical strengths and weaknesses of these four practice descriptions. The analysis is used as the basis to declare the potential of our model as a conceptual aid for more structured theorizing about software development practices. The contribution of the model is the introduction of a concretization of how theorizing can be done through reflection-in-action, instead of regarding research on software practices plainly from the prevailing viewpoint of technical rationality.
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| 8. |
- Päivärinta, Tero, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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Towards Stakeholder Governance on Large E-Government Platforms - A Case of Suomi.fi
- 2019
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 10th Scandinavian Conference on Information Systems (SCIS2019). - : Association for Information Systems (AIS).
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- E-government evolves towards large-scale software platforms that integrate access to and information exchange among public services. Governance of large-scale e-government platforms is challenging because of the large number of stakeholders with diverging needs, agendas, and changing service portfolios. This paper presents a revelatory case, the e-government platform Suomi.fi, its stakeholders and stakeholder interactions related to development and governance of the platform. Our stakeholder analysis of Suomi.fi identified 15 stakeholder interaction types and related issues regarded as important for governance of large-scale e-government platforms. The results contribute by addressing the importance of stakeholder identification and continuing governance beyond individual development and implementation projects. Such a large-scale platform involved additional stakeholder types of external influencers (including media, other countries, the European Union, third party software integrators) and other external platforms, compared to the project-centric stakeholder models. Hence, we argue for extended stakeholder governance models and practices for large-scale e-government platforms.
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| 9. |
- Smolander, Kari, et al.
(författare)
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Forming theories of practices for software engineering
- 2013
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Ingår i: 2nd SEMAT Workshop on a General Theory of Software Engineering (GTSE). - Piscataway, NJ : IEEE Communications Society. - 9781467362733 ; , s. 27-34
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The paper outlines a model for theorizing about development practices, especially taking into account the intended rationale for, actual realization of, and resulting impacts from using particular practices in varying contexts. This includes discussing of two different modes of thinking through which we can approach software development practices: technical rationality vs. reflection-in-action. By framing development practices taking place in software organizations as organizational practices, the paper also sketches previous practice research in organizations, which has profoundly informed this work. Finally, the paper compares the SEMAT approach to the outlined model, and suggests a few points of critique and complementary elements to the SEMAT initiative, especially in its capabilities towards theorizing.
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| 10. |
- Wilson, Magnus, 1965-
(författare)
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Towards Effective and Efficient Business Model change : Opportunities and challenges for software-intensive product development companies
- 2019
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Digitalization initiates and drives significant changes to the process level, organization level, and business level of software-intensive product development (SIPD) companies and their customers. Digitalization creates new opportunities through digital transformation strategies of the business environment. Digitalization also significantly reduces the turnaround-time on a transaction, driving new challenges for the alignment of business and technology changes. For a successful business model realization, a company must understand what capabilities the organization has (in staff and products), what is required, and more importantly, how to turn these capabilities into good-enough abilities without disturbing the effectiveness and efficiency of the daily operations. Integrating the product and service development and the value delivery with a learning organization is critical for efficient business model change (BMCh).This thesis seeks to develop conceptual models for how BMCh is linked to value, learning organization design, and the transformation of capabilities into abilities derived from business model activities and actor interactions. Such conceptual models facilitate to investigate and identify critical mechanisms and capabilities needed to effectively and efficiently manage BMCh at full scale for SIPD companies, allowing them to exploit the on-going digitalization, may it be through (disruptive) business model innovation, technology innovation, or by continuously adapting and evolving the business operations. I use the SIPD company as the unit of analysis, with the dual-lens of value and knowledge, set in the context of a business model and how the value creation and capture are influenced by the interaction between two actors performing a business model activity. I build on the business model literature and infuse theories for knowledge creation, learning organizations, and contractual promises to create value. Conducting a cross-disciplinary literature review, followed by a synthesis of related literature, industry best-practices, and an associated design science study, my propositions were validated in a longitudinal case study exploring a service industrialization program in the telecommunication industry.I have produced five conceptual models and seven propositions as a start to be able to support the design of a governance mechanism, as the critical engine for both the learning organization and effective and efficient BMCh. The industry now explores the models found during the case study.My synthesis shows a need for further research into BMCh regarding early detection and measurements of gaps in value, gaps in knowledge, ambiguity, equivocality, and abilities. Flexible role-based governance views present the measurements, as part of the governance mechanisms for full-scale, effective, and efficient BMCh. Further, I also aim to implement such governance mechanisms in software, by using the associated research in intent-driven systems. In the meantime, I propose industry to build knowledge and experience related to the seven propositions.
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