| 1. |
- Chen, Xingru
(author)
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Improving Internal Software Reuse in the Context of Contemporary Software Engineering Practices
- 2023
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Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Context: Companies adopt many software reuse practices, such as software product line, reuse verbatim, and systematic reuse, to improve their internal software development and maximize the benefits. Contemporary software engineering (SE) practices, such as microservices and InnerSource, influence internal software reuse.Objective: In this thesis, we aim to improve internal software reuse in the context of contemporary SE practices. To do that, we want to 1) understand the state-of-the-art and the state-of-the-practice of software reuse costs and benefits and the challenges that companies are currently facing and 2) identify interventions to improve internal software reuse. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review to understand the state-of-the-art of software reuse costs and benefits. We performed two exploratory case studies to understand the state-of-the-practice of software reuse costs and benefits, challenges, and improvement areas in the context of contemporary SE practices. We performed another follow-up improving case study to investigate the medium-sized case company's readiness of adopting InnerSource for software reuse.Results: Existing literature reported more software reuse benefits than costs. The most reported software reuse benefits are better product quality and improved productivity. Verbatim reuse and systematic reuse result in more reuse benefits. Most of the included primary studies are of moderate quality, with only four having high quality. Practitioners think that software reuse costs in developing reusable assets will be paid off when developers start to reuse them. Challenges in software reuse in the context of contemporary SE practices differ between medium-sized and large-sized companies. Both of the companies perceive that InnerSource can help improve internal software reuse. Asking practitioners about both current and desired InnerSource reuse status helps identify the needed InnerSource improvements, thus helping companies succeed in adopting InnerSource for reuse. Conclusion: Both existing literature and our two case studies investigating software reuse in the context of contemporary SE practices showed that software reuse improves quality and productivity and has costs in developing and integrating reusable assets. However, the overall benefits outweigh the costs. Both case companies faced challenges in improving their internal reuse, where the most common challenges were about developing and maintaining reusable assets. The results showed that InnerSource helps develop and maintain reusable assets and further improves internal software reuse.
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| 3. |
- Linåker, Johan, et al.
(author)
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A method for analyzing stakeholders’ influence on an open source software ecosystem’s requirements engineering process
- 2020
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In: Requirements Engineering. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0947-3602 .- 1432-010X. ; 25:1, s. 115-130
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- For a firm in an open source software (OSS) ecosystem, the requirements engineering (RE) process is rather multifaceted. Apart from its typical RE process, there is a competing process, external to the firm and inherent to the firm’s ecosystem. When trying to impose an agenda in competition with other firms, and aiming to align internal product planning with the ecosystem’s RE process, firms need to consider who and how influential the other stakeholders are, and what their agendas are. The aim of the presented research is to help firms identify and analyze stakeholders in OSS ecosystems, in terms of their influence and interactions, to create awareness of their agendas, their collaborators, and how they invest their resources. To arrive at a solution artifact, we applied a design science research approach where we base artifact design on the literature and earlier work. A stakeholder influence analysis (SIA) method is proposed and demonstrated in terms of applicability and utility through a case study on the Apache Hadoop OSS ecosystem. SIA uses social network constructs to measure the stakeholders’ influence and interactions and considers the special characteristics of OSS RE to help firms structure their stakeholder analysis processes in relation to an OSS ecosystem. SIA adds a strategic aspect to the stakeholder analysis process by addressing the concepts of influence and interactions, which are important to consider while acting in collaborative and meritocratic RE cultures of OSS ecosystems.
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| 4. |
- Linåker, Johan, et al.
(author)
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A Survey on the Perception of Innovation in a Large Product-focused Software Organization
- 2015
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In: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing (LNBIP). - Cham : Springer International Publishing. - 1865-1348. ; 210, s. 66-80, s. 66-80
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Context.Innovation is promoted in companies to help them stay competitive. Four types of innovation are defined: product, process, business, and organizational. Objective. We want to understand the perception of the innovation concept in industry, and particularly how the innovation types relate to each other. Method. We launched a survey at a branch of a multi-national corporation. Results. From a qualitative analysis of the 229 responses, we see that the understanding of the innovation concept is somewhat narrow, and mostly related to product innovation. A majority of respondents indicate that product innovation triggers process, business, and organizational innovation, rather than vice versa. However, there is a complex interdependency between the types. We also identify challenges related to each of the types. Conclusion. Increasing awareness and knowledge of different types of innovation, may improve the innovation. Further, they cannot be handled one by one, but in their interdependent relations.
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| 5. |
- Linåker, Johan, et al.
(author)
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Collaboration in Open Government Data Ecosystems: Open Cross-sector Sharing and Co-development of Data and Software
- 2020
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In: Electronic Government : Electronic Government 19th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference, EGOV 2020, Linköping, Sweden, August 31 – September 2, 2020, Proceedings - Electronic Government 19th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference, EGOV 2020, Linköping, Sweden, August 31 – September 2, 2020, Proceedings. - Cham : Springer International Publishing. - 1611-3349 .- 0302-9743. - 9783030575991 - 9783030575984 ; 12219, s. 290-303
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Open innovation highlights the potential benefits of external collaboration and knowledge-sharing, often exemplified through Open Source Software (OSS). The public sector has thus far mainly focused on the sharing of Open Government Data (OGD), often with a supply-driven approach with limited feedback-loops. We hypothesize that public sector organizations can extend the open innovation benefits by also creating platforms, where OGD, related OSS, and open standards are collaboratively developed and shared. Objective: The objective of this study is to explore how public sector organizations in the role of platform providers facilitate such collaboration in the form of OGD ecosystems and how the ecosystem’s governance may be structured to support the collaboration. Method: We conduct an exploratory multiple-case study of two such ecosystems, focused on OGD related to the Swedish labor market and public transport sector, respectively. Data is gathered through interviews, document studies, and prolonged engagement at one of the platform providers. Results: The study presents governance structure and collaboration practices of the two ecosystems and discusses how these contribute to the platform providers’ goals. The case studies highlight the need for platform providers to take an active and multi-functional role in enabling the sharing of data and software from and between the members of the ecosystem. Conclusions: We conclude that OGD ecosystems offer public sector organizations a possibility to catalyze the potential innovation output of OGD, but that it requires investment and adoption of an open and collaborative mindset.
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| 6. |
- Linåker, Johan, et al.
(author)
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Collaborative Aspects of Open Data in Software Engineering
- 2022
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In: IEEE Software. - : IEEE Computer Society. - 0740-7459 .- 1937-4194. ; 39:1, s. 31-35
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Engineers require high-quality data for the design and implementation of today's software, especially in the context of machine learning (ML). This puts an emphasis on the need for the publication and sharing of data from and between organizations, public as well as private. Following the paradigm of open innovation, open data provide a mechanism to increase the availability of information, offering utility and improving innovation and user choice through the inevitable interoperability this enables.
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| 8. |
- Linåker, Johan
(author)
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Guiding Development of Contribution and Community Strategies in Open Source Software Requirements Engineering
- 2019
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Background:For software-intensive organizations, Open Source Software (OSS) may provide a pivotal building block in business models and strategies, product and service offerings, as well as in tool and infrastructure setups. The Requirements Engineering (RE) and development processes of OSS take place inside communities where the focal organization is a stakeholder among many, including competitors. Therefore, to exploit the potential benefits of OSS, an organization has to consider what it shares as OSS and how it engages with the OSS communities. By being too open, an organization may expose itself to risks such as giving away differentiating functionality. On the contrary, being too closed may cause misalignment between an organization's RE process and that of a community.Objective:The objective of this thesis is two-fold. Firstly, to create guidance for organizations in making decisions of what to share as OSS in line with the organization's business goals. Secondly, to create guidance for how an organization can identify OSS communities where they need to have an influence on the RE process, and how they can gain it, in order to achieve its internal agenda.Research Methodology:We used a design science research approach, applying empirical software engineering research methods to investigate the problem context and design and validate solution artifacts that may be used as treatments in the problem context. The relevance of the research has been maintained through a close industry collaboration with several case studies and interview surveys.Results: To address the two objectives, we introduce the two concepts of contribution and community strategy. Contribution strategies answer the questions if a software artifact (e.g., a feature or project) or parts of it should be released as OSS, when in time, and if it should be contributed to an existing OSS community, or if a new community should be established. Community strategies answer the questions what OSS communities an organization considers as important and need to have an influence on in terms of their RE process, and also how this influence may be gained. The thesis offers problem understanding of how organizations reason in terms of these questions, as well as guidance for how the different types of strategies may be developed. In regards to contribution strategies, results also offer guidance on how to create supporting guidelines, processes, and infrastructure on an organizational level.Conclusion:The results of this thesis are captured in a number of frameworks, models, and methods. These artifacts contribute to an understanding of the problem context and provide design knowledge and exemplars that may be transferred and implemented by organizations in a real-world problem context. Evaluation of such a technology transfer is a topic for future work.
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| 9. |
- Linåker, Johan, et al.
(author)
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How Firms Adapt and Interact in Open Source Ecosystems: Analyzing Stakeholder Influence and Collaboration Patterns
- 2016
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In: Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality : 22nd International Working Conference, REFSQ 2016, Gothenburg, Sweden, March 14-17, 2016, Proceedings - 22nd International Working Conference, REFSQ 2016, Gothenburg, Sweden, March 14-17, 2016, Proceedings. - Cham : Springer International Publishing. - 0302-9743. - 9783319302829 - 9783319302812 ; 9619, s. 63-81
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- [Context and motivation] Ecosystems developed as Open Source Software (OSS) are considered to be highly innovative and reactive to new market trends due to their openness and wide-ranging contributor base. Participation in OSS often implies opening up of the software development process and exposure towards new stakeholders. [Question/Problem] Firms considering to engage in such an environment should carefully consider potential opportunities and challenges upfront. The openness may lead to higher innovation potential but also to frictional losses for engaged firms. Further, as an ecosystem progresses, power structures and influence on feature selection may fluctuate accordingly. [Principal ideas/results] We analyze the Apache Hadoop ecosystem in a quantitative longitudinal case study to investigate changing stakeholder influence and collaboration patterns. Further, we investigate how its innovation and time-to-market evolve at the same time. [Contribution] Findings show collaborations between and influence shifting among rivaling and non-competing firms. Network analysis proves valuable on how an awareness of past, present and emerging stakeholders, in regards to power structure and collaborations may be created. Furthermore, the ecosystem’s innovation and time-to-market show strong variations among the release history. Indications were also found that these characteristics are influenced by the way how stakeholders collaborate with each other.
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| 10. |
- Linåker, Johan, et al.
(author)
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How to characterize the health of an Open Source Software project? : A snowball literature review of an emerging practice
- 2022
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In: ACM International Conference Proceeding Series. 7 September 2022, Article number 11. - New York, NY, USA : Association for Computing Machinery. - 9781450398459
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Motivation: Society's dependence on Open Source Software (OSS) and the communities that maintain the OSS is ever-growing. So are the potential risks of, e.g., vulnerabilities being introduced in projects not actively maintained. By assessing an OSS project's capability to stay viable and maintained over time without interruption or weakening, i.e., the OSS health, users can consider the risk implied by using the OSS as is, and if necessary, decide whether to help improve the health or choose another option. However, such assessment is complex as OSS health covers a wide range of sub-topics, and existing support is limited. Aim: We aim to create an overview of characteristics that affect the health of an OSS project and enable the assessment thereof. Method: We conduct a snowball literature review based on a start set of 9 papers, and identify 146 relevant papers over two iterations of forward and backward snowballing. Health characteristics are elicited and coded using structured and axial coding into a framework structure. Results: The final framework consists of 107 health characteristics divided among 15 themes. Characteristics address the socio-technical spectrum of the community of actors maintaining the OSS project, the software and other deliverables being maintained, and the orchestration facilitating the maintenance. Characteristics are further divided based on the level of abstraction they address, i.e., the OSS project-level specifically, or the project's overarching ecosystem of related OSS projects. Conclusion: The framework provides an overview of the wide span of health characteristics that may need to be considered when evaluating OSS health and can serve as a foundation both for research and practice. © 2022 Owner/Author.
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