Organizations are increasingly moving to the global software development (GSD) model because of significant benefits that can accrue. However, GSD is fraught with challenges arising from geographical, temporal and socio-cultural distances. The emphasis in the literature to date has typically been on how to overcome the challenges associated with GSD. While a number of GSD benefits have been widely referred to in the literature, there are also a number of less obvious benefits that can be inferred as potentially accruing from GSD. In this article, we identify the various benefits of GSD, labeling them as ‘referred’ and ‘inferred’, respectively. We provide a categorization in terms of (a) organizational, (b) team and (c) process/task. While the ‘referred’ benefits most often apply at the organizational level (e.g. cost savings, access to large multi-skilled workforces, reduced time to market and proximity to customer), the ‘inferred’ benefits apply to a greater extent at team and process/task level (e.g. task modularization, team autonomy, improved documentation and clearly defined processes). In the decision of whether or not to globalize software development activities, a categorization including both ‘referred’ and ‘inferred’ benefits will be helpful in providing a synthesis of all potential benefits associated with GSD. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Models of software projects input project details and output predictions via their internal tunings. The output predictions, therefore, are affected by variance in the project details P and variance in the internal tunings T . Local data is often used to constrain the internal tunings (reducing T ). While constraining internal tunings with local data is always the preferred option, there exist some models for which constraining tuning is optional. We show empirically that, for the USC COCOMO family of models, the effects of P dominate the effects of T i.e. the output variance of these models can be controlled without using local data to constrain the tuning variance (in ten case studies, we show that the estimates generated by only constraining P are very similar to those produced by constraining T with historical data). We conclude that, if possible, models should be designed such that the effects of the project options dominate the effects of the tuning options. Such models can be used for the purposes of decision making without elaborate, tedious, and time-consuming data collection from the local domain. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Evolving a software process without a retrospective on its evolution and, in consequence, without an appropriate understanding, can lead to important problems for a software development organization. Two examples of such problems are inefficient performance as a consequence of the arbitrary introduction of changes or difficulty in demonstrating compliance to a given standard. Capturing information on the rationale underlying process changes provides a means for better understanding process evolution. This article presents two studies aimed at understanding and identifying information needs for describing the rationale for process evolution. Additionally, it presents an approach for incrementally evolving processes supported by this rationale. This approach is derived from the results of the studies and a survey of related work. An application of the approach during the evolution of a reference process for developing service-oriented applications is presented together with experience and open questions for future research work. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article describes the approach of two big companies to combine their different process worlds and the experiences the author made. The purpose is to give the reader an understanding of the factors that have an influence in creating a global process definition. Cultural differences are playing an important role, also the different languages. Before talking about the content, the parties have to clarify the framework such as the process architecture or the process design methods. Furthermore, it is important to define tailoring conditions to be flexible enough to use the new process on different project areas. And finally the new process has to prove that it can be lived in real life. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Software process improvement implementation based on software process reference models and standards is a complex and long-term endeavor that requires investment of large sums of money. These obstacles usually hinder organizations from implementing software process improvement successfully, especially for small and medium-size enterprises that operate under strict financial resources. This paper describes the MPS.BR, a nationwide program for software process improvement in Brazilian organizations. The main goal of this initiative is to develop and disseminate a Brazilian software process model (named MPS Model) aiming to establish a feasible pathway for organizations to achieve benefits from implementing software process improvement at reasonable costs, especially small and medium-size enterprises. This paper presents the main components of the MPS Model and discusses the strategy executed to establish and maintain a community of MPS Model practitioners. The results of MPS Model adoption and dissemination in Brazilian software industry are also presented in this paper. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Do Software Processes have value in and of themselves? I believe that as process researchers and practitioners, we would like to think so. But fundamentally, I believe that we engage in processes to achieve certain business, organizational and technical outcomes. Moreover, the achievement of these desired outcomes are dependent on the individual and collective efforts of highly skilled and experienced human agents. We can improve the chances of achieving our desired outcomes through intelligent design of the process, through increased skill sets and experience, and through the use of better tools. In this issue of Software Process: Improvement and Practice, we have four articles on process and method design. We look at this issue from several perspectives. In the first article titled, Requirements for the Design of Processes, Kesav Nori discusses the requirements for the design of processes. His premise is that on an industrial scale, processes need to be repeatable and designed to address customer needs and to deliver what it is that customers value. Moreover, process design needs to assert these intents and purposes of the process when the human agents of the process conduct their intellectual tasks. Mr Nori emphasizes the important role of human agents and presents a responsibility framework that defines a scope for both individual and collective action within the organization. In the second article titled, Method Engineering: Towards Methods as Services, Professor Collette Rolland from the University of Paris discusses process design from the perspective of method engineering. Her premise is that methods need to be engineered or adapted to meet the requirements of the task at hand. These requirements are derived from customer needs as well as the requirements of all stakeholders involved. The aim of Method Engineering is to provide techniques for composing (i.e., retrieving, adapting, and assembling) new methods from reusable components. Professor Rolland's article provides a survey of important results pertaining to the defining and assembling of components. These results indicate that the full set of benefits of method components may be achieved by moving to the notion of Method as a Service (MaaS). The notion of MaaS is defined and an approach to MaaS is outlined in this article. In the third article, Scoping Software Process Lines, the authors look at the challenge of adapting complex, heterogeneous processes consistently within an organization is discussed. Often times in real-world settings, it is desired to have one standard organizational process that is generic enough to cover most if not all development projects. At the same time, there is the need to provide enough process detail and granularity to address the specific needs of the project and to provide useful guidance. To address this challenge, the authors introduce the concept of Software Process Lines which are analogous to software product lines with the goal of reducing the complexity and effort required to tailor organizational processes for each project. This article proposes the major steps to be taken to scope a software process line including: scoping, modeling, and architecting. The authors describe the scoping process in detail and discuss experience from determining the scope of space process standards for satellite software development. In the fourth article titled, A Customizable Pattern-based Software Process Simulation Model: Design, Calibration and Application, the authors address the issue of process change and assessing the impact of these changes quantitatively. The authors present a process simulation tool, GENSIM 2.0, that uses generic process lifecycle model templates (macro patterns) coupled with models that are tailored to specific project instantiations (micro patterns). The complete tailored model is then coupled with empirical data from the project and used to quantitatively assess important questions about the process such as preferred process improvement options and optimal V&V strategy. Real-world applications of this model are presented in the article. The four articles presented in this issue were based on papers that were selected as being among the best papers of the 2008 International Conference on Software Process (ICSP) held in Leipzig, Germany in May of 2008. All of the papers went through an additional reviewing process and were significantly expanded from their original conference versions. The acceptance rate for these papers was under 8%.
Software Process: Improvement and PracticeVolume 14, Issue 6 p. 303-304 Editorial Software process: The end of an Era Darren Dalcher, Editors-in-Chief, Software Process: Improvement and PracticeSearch for more papers by this authorDavid Raffo, Editors-in-Chief, Software Process: Improvement and PracticeSearch for more papers by this author Darren Dalcher, Editors-in-Chief, Software Process: Improvement and PracticeSearch for more papers by this authorDavid Raffo, Editors-in-Chief, Software Process: Improvement and PracticeSearch for more papers by this author First published: 09 November 2009 https://doi.org/10.1002/spip.447Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume14, Issue6Special Issue: Part 2: Special Issue on SPI Experiences and Innovation for Global Software DevelopmentNovember/December 2009Pages 303-304 RelatedInformation
The report presents the essence of experience from hundreds of development projects distributed over locations in eight countries with different languages and culture. The report distinguishes between distributed projects within the own organisation and cooperation with other companies and also the extent of outsourcing. The role of a beach-head in the head quarters is described. One success factor is professional project management based on a well-defined development process. The report highlights the software engineering practices that have special importance in distributed projects. Practical tips will be given for how to deal with soft facts as esteem and team building in global projects. It is explained how to avoid falling into traps in communication between different cultures in foreign languages. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article presents a reference framework and a consolidated overview of techniques aiming to advance universal access project management practices during the design and development of interactive software. The perspective adopted is that universal accessibility is a nonfunctional quality attribute, and as such, it requires suitable process-oriented support ‘sensitive’ to the technical issues involved. Consequently, a frame of reference for managing universal accessibility in interactive software development projects is described in terms of a generic and configurable development process and a collection of methods addressing specific technical targets across the various stages of the proposed process. The proposed process builds upon the scenario-based perspective on systems development and unfolds stages involved in generating and articulating scenarios from quality attributes relevant to universal accessibility. The techniques presented cover a wide range of technical targets from requirements engineering for universal accessibility to design representations, platform integration, user interface prototyping and evaluation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Iterative development methodology has been widely adopted in recent years since it is flexible and capable of dealing with requirement volatility. However, how to quantitatively manage iterative projects, and in particular, how to quantitatively manage defects across multiple iterations, remains a challenging issue. In this article, we identify three main challenges of quantitative defects management in iterative development in a leading Chinese telecommunications company (named ZZNode). The three challenges are: identifying appropriate ‘control points’ in each iteration, selecting appropriate measures and corresponding measurement methods, and determining the ‘sweet spot’ amount of effort for performing testing and defect-fixing activities. We propose a process performance Baselines based iteration Defects management (BiDefect) method to address the three challenges. We also report an industrial experience where several iterative development projects of ZZNode successfully applied the BiDefect method in initial estimating, analyzing, re-estimating, and controlling number of defects and defect detecting-fixing effort. In addition, we provide the evaluation of using BiDefect method, and discuss the benefits and lessons learned from BiDefect and its application. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Designing software processes for large enterprises is a hard task, but evolving this process can be even harder. As large companies increasingly invest in software process improvement, they have to face typical problems regarding software process evolution within such environments in order to guarantee their software process survival. This article describes experiences and lessons learned at Serpro, the largest government owned software company in Latin America, while defining its organizational standard software process and fostering its continuous evolution. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Software process analysis and improvement relies heavily on empirical research. Empirical research requires measurement, experimentation, and modeling. However, whatever evidence is gained via empirical research is strongly context dependent. Thus, it is hard to combine results and capitalize upon them for the purpose of improvement in evolving development environments. The process simulation model GENSIM 2.0 addresses these challenges. GENSIM 2.0 is a generic process simulation tool representing V-model type software development processes. Compared to existing process simulation models in the literature, the novelty of GENSIM 2.0 is twofold. Firstly, its model structure is customizable to organization-specific processes. This is achieved by using a limited set of generic structures (macro-patterns). Secondly, its model parameters can be easily calibrated to available empirical data and expert knowledge. This is achieved by making the internal model structures explicit and by providing guidance on how to calibrate model parameters. This article outlines the structure of GENSIM 2.0, gives examples on how to calibrate the model to available empirical data, and demonstrates its usefulness through two application scenarios The first scenario illustrates how GENSIM 2.0 helps in finding effective combinations of verification and validation techniques under given time and effort constraints. The second scenario shows how the simulator supports in finding the best combination of alternative verification techniques. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article focuses on design of processes in which role-playing human agents perform intellectual tasks on an industrial scale, such that processes are repeatable and result in outcomes of acceptable quality. This exploration of requirements of design of such processes revolves around a semantic theme: What do processes mean? What are their intents and purposes? How does such understanding help us in asserting these intents and purposes when processes are executed? The core contribution in this article is a responsibility framework for individual and collective intellectual action that underlies process semantics. A process results in outcomes, its product. This product must be acceptable to its recipients, its users. This was the basis for the quality revolution in discrete manufacturing industries where quality is standardized through use of capital intensive tools, and variation in performance of the process is contained through training of industrial workers. We address the concerns of design of processes for the service industries, in which role-playing human agents perform intellectual tasks on an industrial scale. In this context, the meaning of a process is defined as being responsible for the acceptability of qualities of its product produced through intellectual work. The design of processes is then predicated on a system for asserting its semantics, that of asserting acceptable product qualities. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Method engineering has emerged as the result of the necessity to adapt methods to better fit the needs of the development task at hand. Its aim is to provide techniques for retrieving reusable method components, adapting and assembling these together to form the new method. The paper provides a survey of the main results obtained for the two issues of defining and assembling components. It argues, thereafter, that the full power of method components can be widely exploited by moving to the notion of method services. The paper finally outlines a possible approach towards Method as a Service (MaaS), and illustrates it. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
During a 2-year period DELTA has performed 46 Innovation Checks in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) with great success. In addition to reported benefits experienced by the companies, the Innovation Checks have given us extensive knowledge of the companies' difficulties in having success with innovation in relation to the following five topics: product, processes, production, eBusiness (use of IT for business proposes), and marketing. This paper presents the method behind the Innovation Checks and conclusions reached from this important project carried out in cooperation with the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI). The main conclusions are: Companies don't have the necessary time to invest in innovation. Companies lack a business strategy that includes innovation. Without the time and focus, innovation will be ad-hoc rather than a mastered discipline. An Innovation Check does help companies with innovation here and now, but without a mastered innovation process it is likely to become a one-off event. This paper presents our experience from data and observations collected during the Innovation Checks. As the population is fairly small (46 companies) (Figure 1) the results are to be taken as observations and guidelines rather than scientific facts. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Defining organization-specific process standards by integrating, harmonizing, and standardizing heterogeneous and often implicit processes is an important task, especially for large development organizations. On the one hand, such a standard must be generic enough to cover all of the organization's development activities; on the other hand, it must be as detailed and precise as possible to support employees' daily work. Today, organizations typically maintain and advance a plethora of individual processes, each addressing specific problems. This requires enormous effort, which could be spent more efficiently. This article introduces an approach for developing a Software Process Line that, similar to a Software Product Line, promises to reduce the complexity and thus, the effort required for managing the processes of a software organization. We propose Scoping, Modeling, and Architecting the Software Process Line as major steps, and describe in detail the Scoping approach we recommend, based on an analysis of the potential products to be produced in the future, the projects expected in the future, and the respective process capabilities needed. In addition, the article sketches experience from determining the scope of space process standards for satellite software development. Finally, it discusses the approach, draws conclusions, and gives an outlook on future work. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
In existing global software development (GSD) literature, much focus has been on identifying the challenges that practitioners may face (such as sociocultural and temporal distance issues), while potential benefits have not been extensively analyzed. We reverse this trend by studying these potential benefits. We question whether they are well-founded assumptions and whether they are attainable in practice. This paper presents findings from a multicase study at three multi-national companies that have extensive experience in GSD. We identify the benefits mentioned in GSD literature, analyze them with regards to the companies' experiences and then conclude whether or not each benefit is being realized in practice. Our findings reveal that the realization of the assumed benefits cannot be simply taken for granted.
One of the key elements for the viability of information system projects is given by the adoption of legal assurance activities and measures since nowadays they can arise legal risks that, in some cases, can suppose a serious threat for project commercial and financial success. When calculating the return of investment (ROI) for a software process improvement initiative, readers would not take care which are the cost issues impacting on such values, supposing the activities generating such value are referable only to the processes included in a Maturity Model (MM) such as CMMI or ISO 15504. During last years, moving from the initial Philip Crosby's idea for measuring and checking the organizational evolution of an organization, a plenty of MM have been created, but there is no news about a legal assurance (LAS) process that make more systematic the way legal risks are (or should be) managed. On the other hand, professional practice usually does not incorporate standardized processes in order to discipline the legal assurance activities and measures, returning a feeling for a lack of project legal security. This article proposes to take care of LAS process as an additional process area within an MM, in order to provide a suitable instrument for the management of inherent legal risks to any information systems project. After presenting main elements for this new process, it will be presented using the typical CMMI Process Area architecture, where it would be configurable as a support process at Maturity Level 2 (ML2). Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Traditionally, software process improvement (SPI) has been approached from a problem-oriented perspective commonly using models such as the IDEAL and the DMAIC. In contrast, appreciative inquiry is a strength-based approach focusing on bringing forward the best in people and organizations to achieve successful change. While there is a significant research on SPI initiatives and the use of problem-oriented approaches there is limited knowledge about the way in which SPI initiatives unfolds when adopting a strength-based approach. Therefore, it is interesting to explore how software organizations familiar with problem-solving approaches experience the use of a strength-based approach. We present an action research study conducted at the Swedish telecom company Ericsson using appreciative inquiry to facilitate an SPI initiative implementing a new process and tool for the requirements and test case management. While the SPI initiative was considered successful, important lessons were learned regarding the use of appreciative inquiry. We conclude that the use of appreciative inquiry does not eliminate the dependence on other well-known key factors for SPI success. Also, our study indicates that the problem-solving mind-set, i.e. the satisfaction of identifying and solving problems, found among many software engineers familiar with problem-oriented approaches may impede the use of appreciative inquiry. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. All authors have made an equal contribution to the paper.
