| 1. |
- Falessi, Davide, et al.
(författare)
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Empirical software engineering experts on the use of students and professionals in experiments
- 2018
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Ingår i: Empirical Software Engineering. - : Springer New York LLC. - 1382-3256 .- 1573-7616. ; 23:1, s. 452-489
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- [Context] Controlled experiments are an important empirical method to generate and validate theories. Many software engineering experiments are conducted with students. It is often claimed that the use of students as participants in experiments comes at the cost of low external validity while using professionals does not. [Objective] We believe a deeper understanding is needed on the external validity of software engineering experiments conducted with students or with professionals. We aim to gain insight about the pros and cons of using students and professionals in experiments. [Method] We performed an unconventional, focus group approach and a follow-up survey. First, during a session at ISERN 2014, 65 empirical researchers, including the seven authors, argued and discussed the use of students in experiments with an open mind. Afterwards, we revisited the topic and elicited experts’ opinions to foster discussions. Then we derived 14 statements and asked the ISERN attendees excluding the authors, to provide their level of agreement with the statements. Finally, we analyzed the researchers’ opinions and used the findings to further discuss the statements. [Results] Our survey results showed that, in general, the respondents disagreed with us about the drawbacks of professionals. We, on the contrary, strongly believe that no population (students, professionals, or others) can be deemed better than another in absolute terms. [Conclusion] Using students as participants remains a valid simplification of reality needed in laboratory contexts. It is an effective way to advance software engineering theories and technologies but, like any other aspect of study settings, should be carefully considered during the design, execution, interpretation, and reporting of an experiment. The key is to understand which developer population portion is being represented by the participants in an experiment. Thus, a proposal for describing experimental participants is put forward.
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| 2. |
- Garousi, Vahid, et al.
(författare)
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Practical relevance of software engineering research : synthesizing the community’s voice
- 2020
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Ingår i: Empirical Software Engineering. - : Springer. - 1382-3256 .- 1573-7616. ; 25:3, s. 1687-1754
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Software engineering (SE) research should be relevant to industrial practice. There have been regular discussions in the SE community on this issue since the 1980’s, led by pioneers such as Robert Glass. As we recently passed the milestone of “50 years of software engineering”, some recent positive efforts have been made in this direction, e.g., establishing “industrial” tracks in several SE conferences. However, many researchers and practitioners believe that we, as a community, are still struggling with research relevance and utility. The goal of this paper is to synthesize the evidence and experience-based opinions shared on this topic so far in the SE community, and to encourage the community to further reflect and act on the research relevance. For this purpose, we have conducted a Multi-vocal Literature Review (MLR) of 54 systematically-selected sources (papers and non peer-reviewed articles). Instead of relying on and considering the individual opinions on research relevance, mentioned in each of the sources, the MLR aims to synthesize and provide the “holistic” view on the topic. The highlights of our MLR findings are as follows. The top three root causes of low relevance, discussed in the community, are: (1) Researchers having simplistic views (or wrong assumptions) about SE in practice; (2) Lack of connection with industry; and (3) Wrong identification of research problems. The top three suggestions for improving research relevance are: (1) Using appropriate research approaches such as action-research; (2) Choosing relevant (practical) research problems; and (3) Collaborating with industry. By synthesizing all the discussions on this important topic so far, this paper aims to encourage further discussions and actions in the community to increase our collective efforts to improve the research relevance. Furthermore, we raise the need for empirically-grounded and rigorous studies on the relevance problem in SE research, as carried out in other fields such as management science.
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| 3. |
- Holmén Notander, Jesper, et al.
(författare)
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Challenges in Flexible Safety-Critical Software Development -- An Industrial Qualitative Survey
- 2013
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Ingår i: Lecture Notes in Computer Science/Product-Focused Software Process Improvement. - Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg. - 1611-3349 .- 0302-9743. - 9783642392580 ; 7983, s. 283-297
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Development of safety-critical systems is mostly governed by process-heavy paradigms, while increasing demands on flexibility and agility also reach this domain. Objectives. We wanted to explore in more detail the industrial needs and challenges when facing this trend. Method. We launched a qualitative survey, interviewing engineers from four companies in four different industry domains. Results. The survey identifies human factors (skills, experience, and attitudes) being key in safety-critical systems development, as well as good documentation. Certification cost is related to change frequency, which is limiting flexibility. Component reuse and iterative processes were found to increase adaptability to changing customer needs. Conclusions. We conclude that agile development and flexibility may co-exist with safety-critical software development, although there are specific challenges to address.
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| 4. |
- Karvonen, Teemu, et al.
(författare)
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Hitting the Target : Practices for Moving Toward Innovation Experiment Systems
- 2015
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Ingår i: Software Business. - Cham : Springer. ; 210, s. 117-131
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The benefits and barriers that software development companies face when moving beyond agile development practices are identified in a multiple-case study in five Finnish companies. The practices that companies need to adopt when moving towards innovation experiment systems are recognised. The background of the study is the Stairway to Heaven (StH) model that describes the path that many software development companies take when advancing their development practices. The development practices in each case are investigated and analysed in relation to the StH model. At first the results of the analysis strengthened the validity of the StH model as a path taken by software development companies to advance their development practices. Based on the findings, the StH model was extended with a set of additional practices and their adoption levels for each step of the model. The extended model was validated in five case companies.
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| 5. |
- Lindholm, Christin, et al.
(författare)
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Software risk analysis in medical device development
- 2011
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 37th EUROMICRO Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications. - 9780769544885 ; , s. 362-365
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of risk management in the development of safety-critical software is to eliminate or reduce harmful behaviour. In health-care it is essential to manage risk related to software due to its increased use in medical devices and other computer systems. This paper presents some of the experiences gained from an ongoing case study at a large hospital in Sweden. The study focuses on identification and analysis of risks using scenarios and how effective this approach is. The research is conducted as action research, with the aim of analysing and giving input to the organisation’s new software risk management process.
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| 6. |
- Lwakatare, Lucy Ellen, et al.
(författare)
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Towards DevOps in the Embedded Systems Domain : Why is It so Hard?
- 2016
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Ingår i: 2016 49th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS). - : IEEE. - 1530-1605. - 9780769556703 ; , s. 5437-5446
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- DevOps is a predominant phenomenon in the web domain. Its two core principles emphasize collaboration between software development and operations, and the use of agile principles to manage deployment environments and their configurations. DevOps techniques, such as collaboration and behaviour-driven monitoring, have been used by web companies to facilitate continuous deployment of new functionality to customers. The techniques may also offer opportunities for continuous product improvement when adopted in the embedded systems domain. However, certain characteristics of embedded software development present obstacles for DevOps adoption, and as yet, there is no empirical evidence of its adoption in the embedded systems domain. In this study, we present the challenges for DevOps adoption in embedded systems using a multiple-case study approach with four companies. The contribution of this paper is to introduce the concept of DevOps adoption in the embedded systems domain and then to identify key challenges for the DevOps adoption.
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| 7. |
- Mendes, Fabiana, et al.
(författare)
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Insights on the relationship between decision-making style and personality in software engineering
- 2021
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Ingår i: Information and Software Technology. - : Elsevier B.V.. - 0950-5849 .- 1873-6025. ; 136
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context: Software development involves many activities, and decision making is an essential one. Various factors can impact a decision-making process, and by understanding such factors, one can improve the process. Since people are the ones making decisions, some human-related aspects are amongst those influencing factors. One such aspect is the decision maker's personality. Objective: This research investigates the relationship between decision-making style and personality within the context of software project development. Method: We conducted a survey in a population of Brazilian software engineers to gather data on their personality and decision-making style. Results: Data from 63 participants was gathered and resulted in the identification of seven statistically significant correlations between decision-making style and personality (personality factor and personality facets). Furthermore, we built a regression model in which decision-making style (DMS) was the response variable and personality factors the independent variables. The backward elimination procedure selected only agreeableness to explain 4.2% of DMS variation. The model accuracy was evaluated and deemed good enough. Regarding the moderation effect of demographic variables (age, educational level, experience, and role) on the relationship between DMS and Agreeableness, the analysis showed that only software engineers’ role has such effect. Conclusion: This paper contributes toward understanding the relationship between DMS and personality. Results show that the personality variable agreeableness can explain the variation in decision-making style. Furthermore, someone's role in a software development project can impact the strength of the relationship between DMS and agreeableness. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.
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| 8. |
- Runeson, Per, et al.
(författare)
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A factorial experimental evaluation of automated test input generation – Java platform testing in embedded devices
- 2011
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Ingår i: Product-Focused Software Process Improvement/Lecture Notes in Computer Science. - Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg. - 9783642218439 ; 6759, s. 217-231
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background. When delivering an embedded product, such as a mobile phone, third party products, like games, are often bundled with it in the form of Java MIDlets. To verify the compatibility be- tween the runtime platform and the MIDlet is a labour-intensive task, if input data should be manually generated for thousands of MIDlets. Aim. In order to make the verification more efficient, we investigate four different automated input generation methods which do not require extensive modeling; random, feedback based, with and without a constant startup sequence. Method. We evaluate the methods in a factorial design experiment with manual input generation as a reference. One original experiment is run, and a partial replication. Result. The results show that the startup sequence gives good code coverage values for the selected MIDlets. The feedback method gives somewhat better code coverage than the random method, but requires real-time code coverage measurements, which decreases the run speed of the tests. Conclusion The random method with startup sequence is the best trade-off in the current setting.
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| 9. |
- Runeson, Per, et al.
(författare)
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An evaluation of functional size methods and a bespoke estimation method for real-time systems
- 2000
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Ingår i: Product Focused Software Process Improvement - 2nd International Conference, PROFES 2000, Proceedings. - Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg. - 1611-3349 .- 0302-9743. - 3540676880 - 9783540676881 - 9783540450511 ; 1840, s. 339-352
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Functional size, or function points, is a language-independent measure of software size. It is used as an estimator of development effort and software code size, in particular in the domain of information systems, while in real-time systems it is not so widely spread. In this paper, functional size measurements are empirically evaluated by applying them to a recently completed project. Two established methods, Mark II Function Points (MKII) and Full Function Points (FFP) are used. In addition, a bespoke method that focuses on the information supplied by the requirements specifications at the studied company is developed and evaluated. The method is designed to make effort estimates based on states and transitions in a state machine representation of a requirements specification. The results indicate fairly weak relationships between functional size and LOC for both of the established methods. The bespoke method was applied to the same data and it is concluded that the relationship between the software size according to the new method and the actual code size show better correlation between estimated and real size compared to the analysis for the functional size methods.
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| 10. |
- Santos, Adrian, et al.
(författare)
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A family of experiments on test-driven development
- 2021
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Ingår i: Empirical Software Engineering. - : Springer. - 1382-3256 .- 1573-7616. ; 26:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context:: Test-driven development (TDD) is an agile software development approach that has been widely claimed to improve software quality. However, the extent to which TDD improves quality appears to be largely dependent upon the characteristics of the study in which it is evaluated (e.g., the research method, participant type, programming environment, etc.). The particularities of each study make the aggregation of results untenable. Objectives:: The goal of this paper is to: increase the accuracy and generalizability of the results achieved in isolated experiments on TDD, provide joint conclusions on the performance of TDD across different industrial and academic settings, and assess the extent to which the characteristics of the experiments affect the quality-related performance of TDD. Method:: We conduct a family of 12 experiments on TDD in academia and industry. We aggregate their results by means of meta-analysis. We perform exploratory analyses to identify variables impacting the quality-related performance of TDD. Results:: TDD novices achieve a slightly higher code quality with iterative test-last development (i.e., ITL, the reverse approach of TDD) than with TDD. The task being developed largely determines quality. The programming environment, the order in which TDD and ITL are applied, or the learning effects from one development approach to another do not appear to affect quality. The quality-related performance of professionals using TDD drops more than for students. We hypothesize that this may be due to their being more resistant to change and potentially less motivated than students. Conclusion:: Previous studies seem to provide conflicting results on TDD performance (i.e., positive vs. negative, respectively). We hypothesize that these conflicting results may be due to different study durations, experiment participants being unfamiliar with the TDD process, or case studies comparing the performance achieved by TDD vs. the control approach (e.g., the waterfall model), each applied to develop a different system. Further experiments with TDD experts are needed to validate these hypotheses. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC part of Springer Nature.
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| 11. |
- Sauvola, Tanja, et al.
(författare)
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Towards Customer-Centric Software Development : A Multiple-Case Study
- 2015
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Ingår i: Proceedings 41st Euromicro Conference On Software Engineering and advanced applications Seaa 2015. - : IEEE. - 9781467375856 ; , s. 9-17
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Customer involvement in software development is essential for building successful software products. Incremental improvements and enhancements of software require an in-depth and continuous understanding of customer needs. Also, mechanisms for managing customer feedback data need to be in place. However, previous research shows that the feedback loops from customers are slow and the process for obtaining timely feedback is challenging. In this study, we investigate customer feedback mechanisms and the ways in which customer data can be used to inform continuous improvement of software products. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, we present a multiplecase study conducted in five Finnish software companies, where we identify how customer feedback data is collected and used in different product development activities. Second, we provide an explanatory 'customer touchpoint' (CTP) model which provides an overall understanding of customer feedback data collection and the related challenges in the case companies during software development.
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| 12. |
- Tripathi, Nirnaya, et al.
(författare)
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An anatomy of requirements engineering in software startups using multi-vocal literature and case survey
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Systems and Software. - : Elsevier Inc.. - 0164-1212 .- 1873-1228. ; 146, s. 130-151
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context: Software startups aim to develop innovative products, grow rapidly, and thus become important in the development of economy and jobs. Requirements engineering (RE) is a key process area in software development, but its effects on software startups are unclear. Objective: The main objective of this study was to explore how RE (elicitation, documentation, prioritization and validation) is used in software startups. Method: A multi-vocal literature review (MLR) was used to find scientific and gray literature. In addition, a case survey was employed to gather empirical data to reach this study's objective. Results: In the MLR, 36 primary articles were selected out of 28,643 articles. In the case survey, 80 respondents provided information about software startup cases across the globe. Data analysis revealed that during RE processes, internal sources (e.g., for source), analyses of similar products (e.g., elicitation), uses of informal notes (e.g., for documentation), values to customers, products and stakeholders (e.g., for prioritization) and internal reviews/prototypes (e.g., for validation) were the most used techniques. Conclusion: After an analysis of primary literature, it was concluded that research on this topic is still in early stages and more systematic research is needed. Furthermore, few topics were suggested for future research. © 2018 Elsevier Inc.
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| 13. |
- Unterkalmsteiner, Michael, et al.
(författare)
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Software startups-A research agenda
- 2016
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Ingår i: e-Informatica Software Engineering Journal. - : Politechnika Wroclawska. - 1897-7979 .- 2084-4840. ; 10:1, s. 89-123
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Software startup companies develop innovative, software-intensive products within limited time frames and with few resources, searching for sustainable and scalable business models. Software startups are quite distinct from traditional mature software companies, but also from micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises, introducing new challenges relevant for software engineering research. This paper's research agenda focuses on software engineering in startups, identifying, in particular, 70+ research questions in the areas of supporting startup engineering activities, startup evolution models and patterns, ecosystems and innovation hubs, human aspects in software startups, applying startup concepts in non-startup environments, and methodologies and theories for startup research. We connect and motivate this research agenda with past studies in software startup research, while pointing out possible future directions. While all authors of this research agenda have their main background in Software Engineering or Computer Science, their interest in software startups broadens the perspective to the challenges, but also to the opportunities that emerge from multi-disciplinary research. Our audience is therefore primarily software engineering researchers, even though we aim at stimulating collaborations and research that crosses disciplinary boundaries. We believe that with this research agenda we cover a wide spectrum of the software startup industry current needs.
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| 14. |
- Wagner, Stefan, et al.
(författare)
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Status quo in requirements engineering : A theory and a global family of surveys
- 2019
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Ingår i: ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology. - : Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). - 1049-331X .- 1557-7392. ; 28:2, s. 1-48
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Requirements Engineering (RE) has established itself as a software engineering discipline over the past decades. While researchers have been investigating the RE discipline with a plethora of empirical studies, attempts to systematically derive an empirical theory in context of the RE discipline have just recently been started. However, such a theory is needed if we are to define and motivate guidance in performing high quality RE research and practice. We aim at providing an empirical and externally valid foundation for a theory of RE practice, which helps software engineers establish effective and efficient RE processes in a problem-driven manner. We designed a survey instrument and an engineer-focused theory that was first piloted in Germany and, after making substantial modifications, has now been replicated in 10 countries worldwide. We have a theory in the form of a set of propositions inferred from our experiences and available studies, as well as the results from our pilot study in Germany. We evaluate the propositions with bootstrapped confidence intervals and derive potential explanations for the propositions. In this article, we report on the design of the family of surveys, its underlying theory, and the full results obtained from the replication studies conducted in 10 countries with participants from 228 organisations. Our results represent a substantial step forward towards developing an empirical theory of RE practice. The results reveal, for example, that there are no strong differences between organisations in different countries and regions, that interviews, facilitated meetings and prototyping are the most used elicitation techniques, that requirements are often documented textually, that traces between requirements and code or design documents are common, that requirements specifications themselves are rarely changed and that requirements engineering (process) improvement endeavours are mostly internally driven. Our study establishes a theory that can be used as starting point for many further studies for more detailed investigations. Practitioners can use the results as theory-supported guidance on selecting suitable RE methods and techniques.
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| 15. |
- Weyns, Kim, et al.
(författare)
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A Maturity Model for IT Dependability in Emergency Management
- 2010
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Ingår i: Lecture Notes on Computer Science. - Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg. - 1611-3349 .- 0302-9743. - 9783642137914 ; 6156, s. 248-262
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In many organisations a gap exists between IT management and emergency managemement. This paper illustrates how process improvement based on a maturity model can be used to help organisations to evaluate and improve the way they include IT dependability information in their emergency management. This paper presents the IDEM3 (IT Dependability in Emergency Management Maturity Model) process improvement framework which focuses especially on the cooperation between IT personnel, emergency managers, and users, to proactively prevent IT dependability problems when the IT systems are most critical in emergency situations. This paper describes the details of the framework, how the framework was developed and its relation to other maturity models in related fields.
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