Soft Sides of Software

Software is a field of rapid changes: the best technology today becomes obsolete in the near future. If we review the graduate attributes of any of the software engineering programs across the world, life-long learning is one of them. The social and psychological aspects of professional development is linked with rewards. In organizations, where people are provided with learning opportunities and there is a culture that rewards learning, people embrace changes easily. However, the software industry tends to be short-sighted and its primary focus is more on current project success; it usually ignores the capacity building of the individual or team. It is hoped that our software engineering colleagues will be motivated to conduct more research into the area of software psychology so as to understand more completely the possibilities for increased effectiveness and personal fulfillment among software engineers working alone and in teams

Developing and improving competence profiles of project teams in engineering education

This concept paper reflects an ongoing research on designing students’ team projects in engineering education with a focus on soft skills development. The core idea is to relate project tasks with relevant team situations and team roles which require and train certain sets of soft skills. The paper proposes: a) a model for developing the relevant soft skills out of project tasks, and b) an approach to relate individual competence profiles of team members with an overall team competence profile. A core assumption is that if a team is formed, individual competences are aggregated in a certain way to form a single team competence profile. However, in the case of soft skills this aggregating is more complex than simply adding skill levels, e.g., soft skills in teams are a result of specific combinations of competences. Understanding these effects is relevant for project management and engineering education. The paper proposes a first draft of a systematic framework for investigating such effects and for making them usable for the design of student projects in engineering education. It also provides insight into an example of an agile cross-border project conducted fully online and using the scrum method. The paper is considered to be a contribution to the development of project-based learning

Predicting most productive requirements elicitation teams using MBTI personality traits model

The social and collaborative nature of requirements elicitation process bases its core dependency on aptitude, attitudes, and personality characteristics of its participants. The participant's personality characteristics are directly related with their personality traits, which can be categorized using different model has been used successfully for the assessments of personality of software engineers since last few decades. In this article, the personality traits for requirements elicitation teams have been predicted using MBTI personality assessments model, on the basis of their industry demands job descriptions/tasks and major soft skills. The article presents a complete personality prediction process using a systematic approach based on major soft skills mapping with job descriptions, personality attributes and personality. The obtained results show that extroversion and feelings personality traits are the most suitable assigned the task of requirements elicitation. The obtained results are very much aligned with the already published scholar's work for software engineer's personality assessments and development team composition

Being creative is mandatory:experiences of communication in game development from the perspective of creative employees

Abstract. Although game development is a form of software development, it cannot be compared directly to traditional software development. The audio-visual elements of games and their fundamental requirement to be “fun” make them exceptionally challenging to implement. Traditional software development has been extensively studied for decades, but research on game development is still in its early stages. More research is needed on game development because traditional software development processes and methods may not directly fit the needs of the gaming industry or may even be harmful. This thesis answers the question of how professionals who work in creative jobs in the gaming industry experience communication and feedback in the game development process and what factors they consider to be obstacles to the process. An interview study was conducted with six Finnish game developers as part of this thesis. Many of the interviewees also worked as leaders of creative workers. The interview material was subjected to a qualitative content analysis, and the results were compared with literature. The analysis revealed that creative workers consider communication and its quality to be an important part of their work. It was a source of encouragement and motivation for them, as well as a tool for ensuring the quality of their work and guidance. It was noteworthy that communication difficulties, such as those related to work instructions or feedback, were considered by the interviewees to be obstacles that slowed down the game development process. Other obstacles included poor project management and planning. Good communication is one of the most important pillars of the game development process. It helps ideas to grow by sharing a common vision and navigating through the toughest challenges. If we better understand what game development team members see, experience, and feel, we can help them thrive and persevere in their work. This can produce better games, successful companies, and happier people behind them

Towards understanding the influence of personality and team behaviors on requirements engineering activities

Requirements engineers play an important role in the development of software products and services. The nature of requirements engineering (RE) is multifaceted and influences the quality, success, or failure of software products. In gathering software requirements, engineers commonly work in a team, particularly when dealing with the customers or modeling the requirements, hence the team behavior may influence the RE activities. The investigation of requirements engineers’ personality and their team behavior associated with RE activities is still an open area in which research is still developing. This study aims to investigate the personality and team behavior of requirements engineers involved in RE activities using a systematic literature review approach. We included 64 primary studies that addressed the association between personality and team behavior of requirements engineers on the effectiveness of RE activities. The result shows that among personality dimensions, extraversion and conscientiousness were found to be the predominant personality traits that positively affect RE activities. Furthermore, team behavior of requirements engineers such as flexibility, collaboration, creativity, innovation, and norms were discovered as factors that influence the RE process, performance, and success. The findings of this study contribute to the body of knowledge and practice of RE by providing empirical evidence on the influence of requirements engineers’ personality and team behavior on the effectiveness of RE activities

Towards understanding the influence of personality and team behaviors on requirements engineering activities

Requirements engineers play an important role in the development of software products and services. The nature of requirements engineering (RE) is multifaceted and influences the quality, success, or failure of software products. In gathering software requirements, engineers commonly work in a team, particularly when dealing with the customers or modeling the requirements, hence the team behavior may influence the RE activities. The investigation of requirements engineers’ personality and their team behavior associated with RE activities is still an open area in which research is still developing. This study aims to investigate the personality and team behavior of requirements engineers involved in RE activities using a systematic literature review approach. We included 64 primary studies that addressed the association between personality and team behavior of requirements engineers on the effectiveness of RE activities. The result shows that among personality dimensions, extraversion and conscientiousness were found to be the predominant personality traits that positively affect RE activities. Furthermore, team behavior of requirements engineers such as flexibility, collaboration, creativity, innovation, and norms were discovered as factors that influence the RE process, performance, and success. The findings of this study contribute to the body of knowledge and practice of RE by providing empirical evidence on the influence of requirements engineers’ personality and team behavior on the effectiveness of RE activities

Virtual teams are here to stay: how personality traits, virtuality and leader gender impact trust in the leader and team commitment

Teleworking has, today, become a necessity for many organizations, so effective virtual team management is critical. This study analyzes the influence of the personality traits of virtual team workers on team efficiency. To do so we examine the effects of subordinates’ personalities on the trust they give the virtual team leader and the impact of this trust on commitment to the team. We also discuss how the team's degree of virtuality and the leader’s gender influence the relationship between personality and trust. The findings showed that extroversion has a positive effect on trust felt in the leader, and that this trust has a positive effect on commitment felt toward the team. On the other hand, it was observed that neuroticism had a more negative effect on trust in more virtual environments. The leader’s gender had no significant effect. The study offers advice for virtual team management and discusses its limitations and future research directions

Gender Differences in Personality Traits of Software Engineers

There is a growing body of gender studies in software engineering to understand diversity and inclusion issues, as diversity is recognized to be a key issue to healthy teams and communities. A second factor often linked to team performance is personality, which has received far more attention. Very few studies, however, have focused on the intersection of these two fields. Hence, we set out to study gender differences in personality traits of software engineers. Through a survey study we collected personality data, using the HEXACO model, of 483 software engineers. The data were analyzed using a Bayesian independent sample t-test and network analysis. The results suggest that women score significantly higher in Openness to Experience, Honesty-Humility, and Emotionality than men. Further, men show higher psychopathic traits than women. Based on these findings, we develop a number of propositions that can guide future research