The sociocultural dimension of the Software Process Improvement manifesto: pilot validation by experts

The SPI Manifesto is based on three basic values: people, business focus, and organizational change underpinning the philosophy of Software Process Improvement (SPI). In turn, these values bring up to date certain SPI principles serving as a foundation for action in software development. The authors of this paper carried out a pilot expert validation of the Sociocultural dimension of the STEEPLED (Sociocultural, Technical, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, Ethical and Demographic) analysis of the SPI Manifesto. Further, the authors report on the rationale and results of the pilot validation of both the survey instrument and the qualitative responses generated by the field experts, targeting to enlighten and reinforce the importance of the Sociocultural dimension of the SPI Manifesto in research and development. The related literature review findings and the pilot research study strengthen this target. The pilot study with experts in particular provided stronger indications that the Sociocultural dimension is considered of high importance by between 62% and 88% of the respondents, who were IT and Computing professionals and software practitioners from academia and industry

Towards a multidimensional self-assessment for software process improvement: a pilot tool

The SPI Manifesto provides a framework for guiding software development organisations in their improvement efforts. Based on the Values of People, Business and Change, which are supported and informed by one or more of the ten principles, the designer and developer can avoid pitfalls, minimise risks and make their business successful. It has been established, in theory and practice, that improving the process results in improvement of the products and services emanating from that process. Following a number of earlier multidimensional analyses of the SPI Manifesto, carried out by the authors, a series of tabular representations identifying the nature, importance and strength of relationships between the Manifesto’s Values and Principles in terms of eight dimensions encapsulated in the acronym STEEPLED (Sociocultural, Technical, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, Ethical and Demographic) were developed. In this paper, we present a conceptualisation of a pilot automated tool (based on the STEEPLED Analysis), which could, potentially, be implemented/realised and used for self-assessment by software developing organisations. Starting with a self-assessment, current issues and requirements could be identified and revealed. The self-assessment using the pilot automated tool would, additionally, reveal areas requiring improvement, and would serve as a guide for the participating organisation to put focus on prioritising candidate process areas that require improvement. Also, the field testing of the pilot tool could enable the design and improvement of the tool itself, which, in turn, will be used in future for expert external/independent process assessment

Achieving sustainability: from innovation to valorisation and continuous improvement

The Software Process Improvement methodology plans and implements improvement activities to achieve specific goals, for example, increasing development speed, achieving higher product quality, and reducing costs. The approach paves way for the implementation of SPI innovations in software organisations. Innovation is the successful implementation of novel and appropriate ideas within an organisation. Innovation is underpinned by the concepts of creativity and invention. Often organisations, projects and individuals fail to gain adequate value let alone added value from their innovations. The term valorisation encompasses all activities that maximise the achievements of a project and innovation. The emphasis is on optimising the value of the project and innovation for diverse stakeholders (society, community, institutions, and individuals) and boosting its impact. In this paper, the authors report on the understandings and collective experience gained over several years in industry as well as academia culminating in the design and implementation of the European Union VALO Project which dissemination and exploitation. VALO outputs include the elements of the training and online examination for possible certification to become Valorisation experts. The insights gained from the VALO project, enabled the development of a valorisation strategy which is used, alongside quality strategies to enable the development of a Quality and Valorisation of Projects Framework. The genericity of the framework provides the potential foundations for successful projects of high quality and maximises the valorisation of project and innovation results. Software development projects (and projects in general) fail regularly. These quality failures manifest themselves in late deliveries, over-budget, not satisfying the users’ requirements and more importantly poor reliability. Quality attributes are system qualities (such as availability, modifiability, performance and security), business qualities, (such as time to market, cost and benefit, product lifetime and target market), and architectural qualities (such as conceptual integrity, correctness and completeness). Whenever any of these qualities are compromised a system can be considered a total or partial failure. Moreover, after a project’s completion, there is often evidence that it fails to deliver sustained value to stakeholders. In this paper, we examine the challenges and benefits of sustainability viewed from a STEEPLED multidimensional analysis

Ethical issues invoked by Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 is universally referred to as the fourth industrial revolution. It is a current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. The computerisation of manufacturing includes, amongst other, cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and cognitive computing. There are many challenges in the realisation of Industry 4.0. In order to adopt a "smart factory" and improved (software) processes many ethical considerations need to be identified and considered if a company is to obtain an ethical development and deployment of Industry 4.0. The purpose of normative ethics is to scrutinise standards about the rightness and wrongness of actions, the ultimate goal being the identification of the true human good. A rational appeal can be made to normative defensible ethical rules in order to arrive at a judicious, ethically justifiable judgement. In this position and constructive design research paper our steps are: First we report on the findings of a broad literature review of related research, which refers to the current challenges in the realisation of Industry 4.0. Second, we identify and list some basic generic Deontological and Teleological ethical principles and theories that can serve as normative guidelines for addressing the challenges identified in the initial step. Third, we prescribe a set of ethical rights and duties that must be exercised and fulfilled by protagonists/stakeholders in Industry 4.0 implementation in order for them to exhibit ethical behaviour. Each of these suggested actions are substantiated via an appeal to one, or a number of the normative guidelines, identified in the second step. By identifying and recommending a set of defensible ethical obligations that must be fulfilled in the development and deployment of smart factories, protagonists such as: employers, project managers, technology suppliers, trade unions, (on a microscopic level) and chambers of commerce, local and national government (on a macroscopic level) and other can fulfil their ethical duties. Thus, a deployed Industry 4.0 solution can result in technological change, social change and changes in the business paradigm, which are all ethically justifiable. Ultimately all the improvement processes of Industry 4.0 implementation must be underpinned with ethical consideration

Ethical issues invoked by Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 is universally referred to as the fourth industrial revolution. It is a current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. The computerisation of manufacturing includes, amongst other, cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and cognitive computing. There are many challenges in the realisation of Industry 4.0. In order to adopt a "smart factory" and improved (software) processes many ethical considerations need to be identified and considered if a company is to obtain an ethical development and deployment of Industry 4.0. The purpose of normative ethics is to scrutinise standards about the rightness and wrongness of actions, the ultimate goal being the identification of the true human good. A rational appeal can be made to normative defensible ethical rules in order to arrive at a judicious, ethically justifiable judgement. In this position and constructive design research paper our steps are: First we report on the findings of a broad literature review of related research, which refers to the current challenges in the realisation of Industry 4.0. Second, we identify and list some basic generic Deontological and Teleological ethical principles and theories that can serve as normative guidelines for addressing the challenges identified in the initial step. Third, we prescribe a set of ethical rights and duties that must be exercised and fulfilled by protagonists/stakeholders in Industry 4.0 implementation in order for them to exhibit ethical behaviour. Each of these suggested actions are substantiated via an appeal to one, or a number of the normative guidelines, identified in the second step. By identifying and recommending a set of defensible ethical obligations that must be fulfilled in the development and deployment of smart factories, protagonists such as: employers, project managers, technology suppliers, trade unions, (on a microscopic level) and chambers of commerce, local and national government (on a macroscopic level) and other can fulfil their ethical duties. Thus, a deployed Industry 4.0 solution can result in technological change, social change and changes in the business paradigm, which are all ethically justifiable. Ultimately all the improvement processes of Industry 4.0 implementation must be underpinned with ethical consideration

Stereotypical Enemies: American Frontiersmen and Mexican Caricatures in the Literature of an Expanding White Nation

11 Yo no soy ya americano, pero comprendo ingles 11 : I am no longer an American, but I do understand English. This ever-popular ranchero, the 11 Ba11 ad of Joaquin Murretta, 11 is a defiant assertion of the Mexican 1s dignity as well as a justification for blood revenge. The Mexican, the Mexican-American, the Spanish-American, or the Chicano has always been self-assured of his cultural identity. But in American popular literature the Spanish-speaking have not fared well. Fiction and non-fiction written by Anglo-Saxons for Anglo-Saxons has traditionally shut out the Mexican, except as a knife-toting, over-emotional, happygo- lucky thief. In other words, students of American popular culture know the Mexican only as a negative stereotype. Assured of his positive identity as a superior person, the white American is given little reason to question the validity of traditional race and national character types. Such was my case in 1967, when I was employed by the Community Action Agency in a small Colorado town. Typical of that group of rational, fair-minded social workers, I was conscious of the obvious ramifications of abusive race codifications-- Mex, spic, greaser, etc. However, I remained unconscious of just how complete my Anglo-Saxon racist conditioning had been until that day my employer, Mr. Orlando Salazar, spoke out against the then popular Frito-Lay television commercial--The Frito Bandito. I thought the commercial 11 cute, 11 and said as much. Salazar angrily retorted that there was nothing 11 cute11 about dramatizing the Mexican as an inept, comical thief--especially as his children were being "kindly" identified as little Frito Banditos. Salazar was right. Lo, the poor Anglo whose reason dictates one set of values and whose cultural conditioning dictates quite another. This investigation of the historical and literary antecedents of the stereotypical "superior" Anglo-Saxon and the "inferior" Mexican was largely motivated by my desire to comprehend the nature of the stereotypes and to understand how an why they have been preserved to plague the twentieth-century American with paradox and conflict.Englis

Transformations of the Renaissance iconography of antichrist concept and image (2 Volumes: Vol. 1: text & Vol. 2: plates)

The thesis analyses the transformations of the image of Antichrist in European art during the Renaissance. Antichrist is defined as the false Christ, based on patristic writings and scriptural exegesis and the typological tradition established in mediaeval illustrated manuscripts and encyclopaedic literature. The introductory section defines the tradition and gives an account of the contrasting Protestant interpretation of Antichrist which developed later. An identification and analysis of Antichrist's typological make-up and mode of rule take up the four succeeding chapters. The further development of the imagery is then explored in a representative selection of influential 15th century illustrated manuscripts and block books. Bosch's Prado Epiphany (1500), Luca Signorelli's The Rule of Antichrist (1499-1504), DUrer's 15 woodcuts of the Apocalypse (1498), and other selected material, are discussed in detail and generally indicate typological expansion, experimental processes in format and presentation and interpretational changes. An analysis of the total content of Bosch's Prado Epiphany adduces arguments supporting the presence of Antichrist depicted as a Jewish priest. Signorelli's, the Rule of Antichrist, is a major endorsement of the traditional viewpoint, confirming the authority and doctrines of the Church of Rome which were re-affirmed during the Counter Reformation in terms which protestants could not accept. A distinct movement towards a clearer and more persuasive message in the block books develops further in the literature of the Lutheran reformation, and by the early 1520s the identification of Antichrist as the pope is sufficiently defined to constitute a second distinctive point of view. Lucas Cranach's Passional Christi und Antichristi (1521), which is based almost entirely upon episodes in Christ's ministry, sets Christ and Antichrist as the pope, in close antithesis. This seems to be a revival of the anti-papal arguments advanced by Nicholas of Dresden in The Old Colour and the New (c.1412). The succeeding chapter tracks the crucial developments in Luther's translations of the September and December Testaments (1522), and other similar publications, which contain definitive anti-papal interpretations of recognised Antichrist chapters in the Apocalypse. A mid-16th-century Apocalypse commentary by Sebastian Meyer, illustrated by Matthew Gerung, adds substantially to the existing body of polemical imagery. Five sub-chapters present a selection of Antichrist themes from the Commentary, which develop notions of the false church, its doctrine and practice, and the differentiation of Protestant and Catholic in relation to truth and error, Christ and Antichrist. The obligation to separate from the false ecclesia was fulfilled at national level in the English Reformation, the subject of the final chapter, where a wide range of imagery confirms yet again the continuing influence of Antichrist's typological make-up. Further issues of importance which are also addressed are the characteristically English traits and attitudes, the imperial principle upholding English sovereignty, and Italian humanist influences

English poetry of the First World War and its critical and public reception

While other researchers have sought to put poetry of the First World War into perspective in the general context of twentieth century verse, it is proposed that this study will focus principally on the contemporary response - of readers, reviewers and critics - to this remarkable poetic efflorescence between the years 1914 and 1918. A general survey of the situation in English poetry on the threshold of the War is initially presented, taking into account the reading public's expectation of poetry and the current critical dicta pertaining to the composition of verse&dot; The three subsequent chapters examine in some detail the different types of War Poetry - Georgian-influenced, Imagist-inclined, non-combatant - in con-junction with analysis of the particular readership to which each appealed and the response of reviewers to the different modes, while the final chapter traces the evolution of certain themes characteristic of First World War Poetry, such as the changing concept of sacrifice and the development of the important camaraderie-motif. The brief Epilogue which completes the study assesses the overall response of readers, reviewers and literary critics of the time to First World War Poetry, and briefly evaluates the extent to which such verse contributed to the formulation of a 'new poetic' in the decades after 1918.<p

A multidimensional review and extension of the SPI Manifesto using STEEPLED analysis: an expert validation

Over a decade has passed since the inception of the SPI Manifesto. The fact that the signatories of the manifesto emanate from both the academic and the industrial communities enables a robust exchange of ideas and experiences. Continuous enrichment and refinement have been evidenced in publications, industrial projects, and consultancy across both communities. The main publication fora of this cross-disciplinary collaboration have been the EuroAsiaSPI conferences, which have stimulated the healthy evolution of innovative ideas and disciplinary action(s). There is a current debate aiming to review and update the SPI Manifesto after ten years of theory and practice whilst major trends and practices gained ground. This study aims to validate the multidimensional STEEPLED (Sociocultural, Technical, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, Ethical, and Demographic) analysis of the SPI Manifesto, and to contribute to-wards a formal review and upgrade of the SPI Manifesto. The study targets the strengthening of the dimensions which are absent, mentioned, or implied, but are not explicitly specified in the SPI Manifesto. The experts are academics and practitioners or both, all with a strong track record in the SPI movement. The authors are also academics and/or practitioners and include some of the original developers/signatories of the SPI Manifesto. This paper concludes with concrete suggestions for the update, extension, and re-launch of the SPI Manifesto and proposals for the formulation of strategies for guiding SPI