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Article
Publication date: 11 November 2014

Debasisha Mishra and Biswajit Mahanty

The aim of this paper is to make an attempt to find good values of onsite–offshore team strength; number of hours of communication between business users and onsite team and…

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to make an attempt to find good values of onsite–offshore team strength; number of hours of communication between business users and onsite team and between onsite and offshore team to reduce cost and improve schedule for re-engineering projects in global software development environment.

Design/methodology/approach

The system dynamics technique is used for simulation model construction and policy run experimentation. The experts from Indian software outsourcing industry were consulted for model construction, validation and analysis of policy run results in both co-located and distributed software development environment.

Findings

The study results show that there is a drop in the overall team productivity in outsourcing environment by considering the offshore options. But the project cost can be reduced by employing the offshore team for coding and testing work only with minimal training for imparting business knowledge. The research results show that there is a potential to save project cost by being flexible in project schedule.

Research limitations/implications

The study found that there could be substantial cost saving for re-engineering projects with a loss of project schedule when an appropriate onsite–offshore combination is used. The quality and productivity drop, however, were rather small for such combinations. The cost savings are high when re-engineering work is sent to offshore location entirely after completion of requirement analysis work at onsite location and providing training to offshore team in business knowledge The research findings show that there is potential to make large cost savings by being flexible in project schedule for re-engineering projects.

Practical implications

The software project manager can use the model results to divide the software team between onsite and offshore location during various phases of software development in distributed environment.

Originality/value

The study is novel as there is little attempt at finding the team distribution between onsite and offshore location in global software development environment.

Article
Publication date: 16 March 2018

Joanna F. DeFranco and Phillip Laplante

The purpose of this mapping study has been performed to identify, critically analyze and synthesize research performed in the area of software engineering teams. Teams, in a…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this mapping study has been performed to identify, critically analyze and synthesize research performed in the area of software engineering teams. Teams, in a general sense, have been studied extensively. But the distinctive processes that need to be executed effectively and efficiently in software engineering require a better understanding of current software engineering team research.

Design/methodology/approach

In this work, software engineering team publications were analyzed and the key findings of each paper that met our search inclusion criteria were synthesized. In addition, a keyword content analysis was performed to create a taxonomy to categorize each paper and evaluate the state of software engineering team research.

Findings

In software engineering team research, the resulting areas that are the most active are teamwork/collaboration, process/design and coordination. Clear themes of analysis have been determined to help understand how team members collaborate, factors affecting their success and interactions among all project stakeholders. In addition, themes related to tools to support team collaboration, improve the effectiveness of software engineering processes and support team coordination have been found. However, the research gaps determined from the content analysis point toward a need for more research in the area of communication and tools.

Originality/value

The goal of this work is to define the span of previous research in this area, create a taxonomy to categorize such research and identify open research areas to provide a clear road map for future research in the area of software engineering teams. These results, along with the key finding themes presented, will help guide future research in an area that touches all parts of the software engineering and development processes.

Details

Team Performance Management: An International Journal, vol. 24 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1352-7592

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 October 2018

Jun Lin, Han Yu, Zhengxiang Pan, Zhiqi Shen and Lizhen Cui

Today’s software engineers often work in teams to develop complex software systems. Therefore, successful software engineering in practice require team members to possess not only…

1764

Abstract

Purpose

Today’s software engineers often work in teams to develop complex software systems. Therefore, successful software engineering in practice require team members to possess not only sound programming skills such as analysis, design, coding and testing but also soft skills such as communication, collaboration and self-management. However, existing examination-based assessments are often inadequate for quantifying students’ soft skill development. The purpose of this paper is to explore alternative ways for assessing software engineering students’ skills through a data-driven approach.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the exploratory data analysis approach is adopted. Leveraging the proposed online agile project management tool – Human-centred Agile Software Engineering (HASE), a study was conducted involving 21 Scrum teams consisting of over 100 undergraduate software engineering students in multi-week coursework projects in 2014.

Findings

During this study, students performed close to 170,000 software engineering activities logged by HASE. By analysing the collected activity trajectory data set, the authors demonstrate the potential for this new research direction to enable software engineering educators to have a quantifiable way of understanding their students’ skill development, and take a proactive approach in helping them improve their programming and soft skills.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there has yet to be published previous studies using software engineering activity data to assess software engineers’ skills.

Article
Publication date: 7 September 2012

Yan Yang

This paper aims to discuss the challenge for the classical idea of professionalism in understanding the Chinese software engineering industry after giving a close insight into the…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to discuss the challenge for the classical idea of professionalism in understanding the Chinese software engineering industry after giving a close insight into the development of this industry as well as individual engineers with a psycho‐societal perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

The study starts with the general review of the sociological concept of profession, professional and specialization of knowledge. Together with revealing the critical challenge from the empirical field of software engineering industry regarding its professionalization, a critique of the neglect of subjective agency in classical conception of professionalism in sociology theory and methodology is set out.

Findings

A case study with interpretation of the subject's continuously developing identification with their specialization in knowledge and occupation from their narration of career experience reveals the dynamics in this development process relating to individual, social practice and societal factors.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to empirical research of analyzing the professionalization process of software engineering and software engineers in relation to the concept of professionalism, and it contributes theoretically by discussing the challenge of this process to the development of professionalism within this highly knowledge‐based industry in a Chinese societal context.

Details

Journal of Workplace Learning, vol. 24 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1366-5626

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 1996

Robert Behling, Chris Behling and Kenneth Sousa

Notes that as we move towards an information‐based society, information technologies will play a key role in establishing and maintaining economic competitiveness and that while…

1740

Abstract

Notes that as we move towards an information‐based society, information technologies will play a key role in establishing and maintaining economic competitiveness and that while the systems development life cycle approach has brought some order to the software development process, information engineering brings additional structure to the process. Points out that re‐engineering techniques are used to align every area of the enterprise: people, strategy, technology and business processes. Describes software re‐engineering activities and processes with a special emphasis on developing and maintaining quality systems.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 96 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 2003

Oliver K. Burmeister and John Weckert

It has been argued that it is in the best interests of IT professionals, to adopt and enforce professional codes in the work place. But there is no code for usability engineers

1012

Abstract

It has been argued that it is in the best interests of IT professionals, to adopt and enforce professional codes in the work place. But there is no code for usability engineers, unless one accepts that it is a branch of software engineering. The new joint ACM/IEEE‐CS Software Engineering Code of Ethics is applied to actual usability cases. This enables usability engineers to interpret this code in their profession. This is achieved by utilizing four case studies both directly in terms of the ethical issues involved and in the light of the code. Also examined are the short‐comings of the code for the domain of usability engineering, and suggestions are made for enhancements for future revisions of the code.

Details

Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, vol. 1 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-996X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2001

Jo Hanisch, Theerasak Thanasankit and Brian Corbitt

Requirements engineering is a crucial phase in software development. Software development in a virtual domain adds another dimension to the process of requirements engineering

Abstract

Requirements engineering is a crucial phase in software development. Software development in a virtual domain adds another dimension to the process of requirements engineering. There has been growing interest in virtual teams, and more specifically in virtual software development. While structured software development methods are the obvious first choice for project managers to ensure a virtual software development team remains on track, the social and cultural aspects of requirements engineering cannot be ignored. These social aspects are especially important across different cultures, and have been shown to affect the success of an information system. The discussion in this paper is centred around the requirements engineering processes of a virtual team in a Thai Software House. This paper explains the issues and challenges of requirements engineering in a virtual domain from a social and cultural perspective. Project managers need to encourage a balance between structured methods and social aspects in requirements engineering for virtual team members. Cultural and social aspects influence the relationship between the virtual team and the client.

Details

Journal of Systems and Information Technology, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1328-7265

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 March 2021

Debasisha Mishra

This paper aims to explore the expertise level required in various kinds of business knowledge such as regulatory, domain, strategic, operation process and, business process to…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the expertise level required in various kinds of business knowledge such as regulatory, domain, strategic, operation process and, business process to execute globally distributed software projects for development, re-engineering and maintenance projects in the Indian outsourcing software industry.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a questionnaire survey method to collect the expert responses for a knowledge management framework which is suggested in the literature for software development work. The questionnaire survey findings were verified by expert interviews.

Findings

The research shows that there is a lot of similarity between re-engineering and maintenance projects for different kinds of business knowledge expertise requirements for execution. The development projects require higher expertise in all the business knowledge for execution.

Research limitations/implications

The research work studies the business knowledge required for the execution of development, re-engineering and maintenance projects in Indian outsourcing software projects. However, the project’s characteristics can vary drastically for a single kind of project. So the study cannot be generalized and instead should be used as a tool for learning.

Practical implications

The research findings can be used by software project managers to get insight into project planning, which can help the division of work between the onsite, offshore team and individual work allocation.

Originality/value

The research is novel as there are very few previous attempts to find the business expertise needed to execute various kinds of software projects in the Indian outsourcing industry.

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1996

Jaroslav Mackerle

Presents a review on implementing finite element methods on supercomputers, workstations and PCs and gives main trends in hardware and software developments. An appendix included…

Abstract

Presents a review on implementing finite element methods on supercomputers, workstations and PCs and gives main trends in hardware and software developments. An appendix included at the end of the paper presents a bibliography on the subjects retrospectively to 1985 and approximately 1,100 references are listed.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 13 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 February 2022

Martin Dietze and Marion Kahrens

This paper aims to close the gap between the generic concept of knowledge activities (KAs) and implementing them in the context of software engineering organisations concentrating…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to close the gap between the generic concept of knowledge activities (KAs) and implementing them in the context of software engineering organisations concentrating on the non-technical aspects, such as team organisation and practices.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative research used a questionnaire with practitioners such as software developers and team leads who were asked to provide feedback on a set of team practices and measures typically used in software engineering projects and assess their relation to the activities of acquiring, codifying, storing, maintaining, transferring and creating knowledge. The obtained results were analysed using frequency analysis and further descriptive statistics yielding a matrix linking the investigated team practices and measures to KAs.

Findings

Team practices and measures commonly applied in software engineering can be facilitated to trigger particular KAs. While most of these team practices and measures originate from agile methods, they are not restricted to these. A purposeful composition can help in assembling a balanced set of KAs aimed at fostering given knowledge goals in software engineering organisations.

Practical implications

By bridging the communication and terminology gap between knowledge management research and software engineering practitioners, this work lays the foundation for assessing software teams’ knowledge profiles more easily and creating prerequisites for implementing knowledge management by facilitating common practices and measures often already part of their daily work. Hence, overhead can be avoided when implementing knowledge management.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study investigating application and relevance of KAs in the software industry by linking them to practices and measures well-accepted in software engineering, thus providing the necessary vocabulary for the implementation of knowledge management in software development teams.

Details

VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems, vol. 54 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5891

Keywords

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