Product-Focused Software Process Improvement (eBook)

Preface 5
Organization 6
Table of Contents 8
The Consumer Juggernaut: Web-Based and Mobile Applications as Innovation Pioneer 12
Introduction 12
The Opportunity 12
The Cutting Edge of Consumer Software 13
Capturing Innovations in Functionality 14
Capturing Other Benefits 15
Conclusions 17
References 17
Software “Best” Practices: Agile Deconstructed 19
Introduction 19
The Practice of Software Engineering 20
“Best” Practices 20
Learning – An Iterative Process 22
Observations 22
References 23
Key Questions in Building Defect Prediction Models in Practice 25
Introduction 25
Project Background 26
Defect Prediction Approach 28
Discussion of Key Questions and Decisions 29
Overview of Defect Prediction Results 35
Summary and Further Work 36
References 37
Investigating the Impact of Software Requirements Specification Quality on Project Success 39
Introduction 39
Requirements Quality in Literature 40
Study Goals 41
Project Settings 42
Hypotheses 42
Conduction and Findings 43
Strategy of Measurement 43
Results and Discussion 45
Comparison to Related Studies 47
Evaluation of Validity 49
Construction Validity 49
Conclusion Validity 49
Internal Validity 49
External Validity 50
Discussion of Repeatability 50
Conclusion and Outlook 51
References 52
Prediction of Software Quality Model Using Gene Expression Programming 54
Introduction 54
An Overview of Gene Expression Programming 55
Converting Expression Tree into k-Expression 56
Genes 56
Chromosomes 57
GEP Process 58
Research Background 58
Dependent and Independent Variables 59
Empirical Data Collection 60
Research Methodology 60
Descriptive Statistics and Outlier Analysis 60
Correlation among Metrics 60
Evaluating the Performance of the Models 61
Analysis Results 62
Descriptive Statistics 62
Gene Expression Programming (GEP) Results 63
Software Quality Metric Definition and Validation 64
Application of the FF Metric 65
Conclusion 66
References 67
Method for Software Cost Estimating Using Scope Champions 70
Introduction and Problem Statement 70
The Method of Scope Champions 71
Formal Proof of the Method 72
Practical Example of the Method Application 74
Lessons Learned 78
Threats to Validity 78
Conclusion 79
References 79
A Measurement Framework for Team Level Assessment of Innovation Capability in Early Requirements Engineering 70
Introduction 82
Research Approach 83
Case Company 84
Research Methodology 85
Validity Discussion 87
Results 87
Discussion of Some General Findings from Interviews 87
The MINT Framework 88
Validation within the Case 90
Comparison with Parallel Case 91
Related Work 94
Conclusion 95
References 96
Why a CMMI Level 5 Company Fails to Meet the Deadlines? 98
Introduction 98
Case Study 99
Methodology 99
Case Organization Description 100
Case Project Description 100
Project Management 101
Findings and Discussion 102
Effort Underestimation 102
Unforeseen Effects of the Corrective Actions 104
Conclusions 104
References 106
Towards Multi-Method Research Approach in Empirical Software Engineering 107
Introduction 107
Motivation for the Use of Empirical Methods in Software Engineering 109
Basic Terminology of the Software Engineering Experimentation 110
Quantitative Aspect of the Experimentation 112
Software Experiment Replication 113
ReportingExperiments 115
Multi-Method Research Approach 116
Conclusions 118
References 119
The Role of Empirical Evidence for Transferring a New Technology to Industry 122
Introduction 122
Related Literature 123
Technology Transfer Process 125
Knowledge Creation and Flow 125
Importance of Evidence 126
Empirical Studies for Transferring Multiview Framework 128
From Current Practice to Technology/Methodology Creation 128
From Technology/Methodology Creation to Initial Industrial Trial 128
From Initial Industrial Trial to Wider Application and Refinement 132
Conclusions 134
References 135
Towards a Framework for Using Agile Approaches in Global Software Development 137
Introduction 137
Research Background 138
Our Research 138
Conceptual Framework 139
Development Process 139
Framework Usage 140
Framework Components 141
Research Methodology and Case Study 143
Case Description 144
Discussion 147
Case Study Limitations 148
Conclusions and Future Research 149
References 150
Value Creation by Agile Projects: Methodology or Mystery? 152
Introduction 152
Background and Motivation 153
Agile Software Development 153
Related Work 154
The Concept of Business Value 155
The Research Method 155
Results 157
Definitions of Business Value 157
Comparison of the Concepts 158
Perspectives to Consider When Thinking of Business Value 159
Conceptual Categories Helping Understand Business Value 160
Summary of Results and Implications 162
Limitations 163
Comparing Our Findings to Previously Published Related Work 164
Conclusions and Future Work 164
References 165
Decision Support for Iteration Scheduling in Agile Environments 167
Introduction 167
Background 169
Release Planning 169
Iteration and Daily Planning 170
Decision Support in Iteration Scheduling 170
Conceptual Model of Agile Planning 171
Mapping Iteration Scheduling to RCPSP 172
Formulating RCPSP Model 172
Solving Iteration Scheduling 173
Tool Support 176
Experiments 176
Research Questions 176
Context and Methodology 176
Data Collection and Results 177
Analysis 177
Discussion 179
Conclusions 180
References 180
Some Findings Concerning Requirements in {/it Agile} Methodologies 182
Introduction 182
Background and Related Work 184
Case Study: From TOPENprimer to TOPENbiogas 185
The Evolution Product Description 185
The {/it Agile} Development Process Description 186
Some New and Dropped Features 187
Identified Issues in the Case Study 187
Requirements Elicitation 187
Crosscutting Requirements 189
Derived Requirements 189
Granularity 189
Customer Needs Documentation in Form of Stories 190
Discussion 190
User Stories Interaction 190
A Way to Review Stages 191
Managing Non-functional Needs 192
Conclusions and Future Work 192
References 193
An Exploratory Investigation on Refactoring in Industrial Context 196
Introduction 196
Preliminary Conceptual Framework 197
Stage 1: Decision for Refactoring 198
Stage 2: Refactoring Process 199
Stage 3: Refactoring Results 199
Empirical Methodology 200
Who Can Be the Interview Subjects? 200
Interviews 200
Final Framework and Results 201
Changes to the Preliminary Framework 202
Relationships in the Final Framework 203
The Importance of Each Factors 204
Disscussions 205
The Implications of the Factors’ Importance 205
Are the Factors and Framework Fundamental? 206
Are the Factors and Framework General? 206
Summary 207
Concluding Remarks 207
References 208
Absorbing Software Testing into the Scrum Method 210
Introduction 210
Research Setting 211
The Company and Software Under Study 211
How the Research Was Conducted 212
Absorbing Software Testing into the Scrum Method 213
Core Characteristics of the Scrum Method 213
Starting Point 214
First Iteration: Introducing Exploratory Testing 215
Second Iteration: Looking for Appropriate Team Structure 217
Third Iteration: Coordinating Testing Tasks 220
Discussion and Conclusions 224
References 225
Learning and Organizational Change in SPI Initiatives 227
Introduction 227
Learning Organizations 228
Creativity and Chaos 229
The Change Process 231
Organizations in Change 232
Software Process Management in Changing Learning Organizations 234
Management 235
Learning 237
Conclusions 238
References 239
The Role of Different Approaches in Inspection Process Improvement 242
Introduction 242
Improvement Process 243
Reference Models for Inspection Process Improvement 246
Problem Based Approach 247
Inspection Patterns 249
Effectiveness Factors 250
Conclusions 251
References 253
Scenario-Based Assessment of Process Pattern Languages 257
Introduction 257
Quality in Software Engineering 259
The Q-PAM Method 260
Method Overview 261
Creating Quality Profile 261
Constructing Scenarios 262
Analysis 262
Case Studies 263
Assessing a Pattern Language for Knowledge Sharing in Software Development 264
Assessing a Pattern Language for Global Software Development 267
Concluding Remarks 269
References 270
Towards a Systematic Metric Based Approach to Evaluate SCAMPI Appraisals 272
Introduction 272
Modeling the Appraisal Process 274
Appraisal Meta Model 274
Instantiating the Meta Model 275
Appraisal Quality Metrics 277
Metric Design 277
Goals and Requirements 278
Quality Metric for Activities 278
Quality of Appraisal Phases 281
Metric Interpretation 282
Experience and Validation 283
Conclusions 284
References 284
A New Way to Organize DFX in a Large Organization 286
Introduction 286
Research Process 288
Requirements Engineering Flow 289
Requirements Engineering Flow in the DFX Context 291
DFX Management in the Case Company 292
DMPD within Operations 294
DMPD Organization 294
Discussion 296
Conclusions 298
References 300
The Tool Coverage of Software Process Improvement Frameworks for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises 301
Introduction 301
Difficulties of SPI Implementation in Small Settings 302
Discussion of SME-Specific SPI Frameworks 304
General Properties 305
Reference Model 305
Modeling Approach 308
Assessment Methodology 309
Improvement Methodology 309
Automation Support 310
Conclusion 310
References 311
Improving the Product Documentation Process of a Small Software Company 314
Introduction 314
Research Problem 316
TheTargetCompany 317
The Documentation Process 318
Creating the Documentation Process 318
The Documentation Process Template 320
The Improved Documentation Process 320
Discussion 323
Conclusion 324
References 326
Lessons Learnt from the Improvement of Customer Support Processes: A Case Study on Incident Management 328
Introduction 328
Our Contribution 330
Research Methods 330
The Case Organization and Data Collection Methods 331
Data Analysis Method 332
Lessons Learnt from Establishing an Incident Management Process 332
Goals for the Process Improvement 332
Process Improvement Meeting I: Concepts and Terminology 333
Process Improvement Meeting II: Roles and Responsibilities 334
Process Improvement Meeting III: Process Activities 335
Requirement Specification Meetings for the Incident Management Tool 336
Process Improvement Meetings IV, V and VI: A Process Diagram 337
Analysis 337
Discussion and Conclusions 340
References 341
A Decision Model for Supporting Task Allocation Processes in Global Software Development 343
Motivation 343
Related Work 344
The Decision Model 345
Terminology and Model Goals 345
Empirical Identification of Criteria and Causal Relations 346
Model Overview 348
Example 352
Limitations and Validity of the Model 354
Conclusion and Future Work 355
References 355
Software Process Improvement: Supporting the Linking of the Software and the Business Strategies 358
Introduction 358
Business Strategy 359
Software Process Improvement 360
Process “Evaluation and Improvement of the Process Assets” 361
The Experience of Use 367
Execution of the Subprocess 1: Identifying Improvement Opportunities 368
Execution of the Subprocess 4: Concluding the Improvement Cycle 370
Conclusion 370
References 371
Integrating Value and Utility Concepts into a Value Decomposition Model for Value-Based Software Engineering 373
Introduction 373
Concept of Value in Software Business Research 374
Values of Utility-Seeking Customers 375
Values of Profit-Seeking Firms 376
Three Perspectives on Software as Technology 378
Software Artifacts 378
Software Designs 380
Software Knowledge 381
Synthesizing the Two Perspectives into a Value Decomposition Matrix 382
References 383
On Business-Driven IT Security Management and Mismatches between Security Requirements in Firms, Industry Standards and Research Work 386
Introduction 386
Terminology 387
Objectives 387
Related Work 388
Transition towards Business Driven Security Management 388
Misalignment between Industry Requirements, Standards and Academic Research 389
Interviews with Industry Practitioners 390
Methodology 390
Managerial Versus Operational View of Security 390
Importance of Security Factors 391
Who Drives Security Investments? 393
Conclusion 394
References 395
The Waterfall Model in Large-Scale Development 397
Introduction 397
Related Work 398
The Waterfall Model at the Company 399
Case Study Design 401
Research Questions 401
Case Selection and Units of Analysis 401
Data Collection Procedures 402
Data Analysis Approach 403
Threats to Validity 404
Qualitative Data Analysis 405
A Issues 407
B Issues 407
C Issues 407
D Issues 408
Quantitative Data Analysis 409
Comparative Analysis of Case Study and SotA 409
Conclusion 410
References 411
Towards a Better Understanding of CMMI and Agile Integration - Multiple Case Study of Four Companies 412
Introduction 412
Background 414
CMMI 414
AGILE Software Development 415
Research Design 416
Empirical Analysis 417
Background of the Cases 417
Implementation of the Assessments 417
Assessment Results 418
Deployment of the Improvements 422
Conclusions 423
References 424
ERP System Implementation: An Oil and Gas Exploration Sector Perspective 427
Introduction 427
Literature Review 428
Case Study 430
Background of the Company 430
IT Setup 430
Weaknesses of IT Applications 431
ERP Implementation 432
Lessons Learned and Discussions 435
Conclusions 437
References 437
11th International Workshop on Learning Software Organizations (LSO 2009) New Media in Transfer and Innovation 440
Introduction 440
Topics of Interest 441
Workshop Chairs 441
LSO2009 Program Committee 441
LSO Workshop History 442
A Half-Day Workshop on “Smarter Investment by Aligning SPI Initiatives, Capabilities and Stakeholder Values” 440
Introduction 444
References 445
Business Alignment: Measurement-Based Alignment of Software Strategies and Business Goals 446
Summary 446
References 447
Customer Communication Challenges and Solutions in Globally Distributed Agile Software Development 448
Summary of the Tutorial 448
Audience of the Tutorial 449
How the Tutorial will be Structured and Run? 449
Biographies 449
History of the Tutorial 450
References 450
Tutorial: Case Studies in Software Engineering 452
Introduction 452
Content 453
References 453
Author Index 454