Organizational patterns between developers and testers : Investigating testers' autonomy and role identity

• This paper deals with organizational patterns (configurations, set-ups) between developers/programmers and testers. We firstly discuss the key differences between these two Information Systems Development (ISD) occupations. Highlighting the origin of inevitable disagreements between them, we reflect on the nature of the software testing field that currently undergoes an essential change under the increasing influence of agile ISD approaches and methods. We also deal with the ongoing professionalization of software testing. More specifically, we propose that the concept of role identity anchored in (social) identity theory can be applied to the profession of software testers, and their activities studied accordingly. Furthermore, we conceptualize three organizational patterns (i.e. isolated testers, embedded testers, and eradicated testers) based on our selective literature review of research and practice sources in Information Systems (IS) and Software Engineering (SE) disciplines. After summarizing the key industrial challenges of these patterns, we conclude the paper by calling for more research evidence that would demonstrate the viability of the recently introduced novel organizational models. We also argue that especially the organizational model of "combined software engineering", where the roles of programmers and testers are reunited into a single role of "software engineer", deserves a closer attention of IS and SE researchers in the future. © 2018 by SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications, Lda.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Programvaruteknik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Software Engineering (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Agile testing

Combined software engineering

Conflict

Organizational structure

Profession

Role identity

Social identity theory

Software engineering management

Software testing

Agile manufacturing systems

Embedded systems

Industrial research

Information systems

Information use

Intelligent agents

Professional aspects

Organizational structures

Social identity theories

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