A Model for Capturing and Managing Software Engineering Knowledge and Experience

During software development projects there is always a particular working "product" that is generated but rarely managed: the knowledge and experience that team members acquire. This knowledge and experience, if conveniently managed, can be reused in future software projects and be the basis for process improvement initiatives. In this paper we present a model for managing the knowledge and experience team members acquire during software development projects in a non-disruptive way, by integrating its management into daily project activities. The purpose of the model is to identify and capture this knowledge and experience in order to derive lessons learned and proposals for best practices that enable an organization to preserve them for future use, and support software process improvement activities. The main contribution of the model is that it enables an organization to consider knowledge and experience management activities as an integral part of its software projects, instead of being considered, as it was until now, as a follow-up activity that is (infrequently) carried out after the end of the projects

Experience requirements

Video game development is a high-risk effort with low probability of success. The interactive nature of the resulting artifact increases production complexity, often doing so in ways that are unexpected. New methodologies are needed to address issues in this domain. Video game development has two major phases: preproduction and production. During preproduction, the game designer and other members of the creative team create and capture a vision of the intended player experience in the game design document. The game design document tells the story and describes the game - it does not usually explicitly elaborate all of the details of the intended player experience, particularly with respect to how the player is intended to feel as the game progresses. Details of the intended experience tend to be communicated verbally, on an as-needed basis during iterations of the production effort. During production, the software and media development teams attempt to realize the preproduction vision in a game artifact. However, the game design document is not traditionally intended to capture production-ready requirements, particularly for software development. As a result, there is a communications chasm between preproduction and production efforts that can lead to production issues such as excessive reliance on direct communication with the game designer, difficulty scoping project elements, and difficulty in determining reasonably accurate effort estimates. We posit that defining and capturing the intended player experience in a manner that is influenced and informed by established requirements engineering principles and techniques will help cross the communications chasm between preproduction and production. The proposed experience requirements methodology is a novel contribution composed of: a model for the elements that compose experience requirements, a framework that provides guidance for expressing experience requirements, and an exemplary process for the elicitation, capture, and negotiation of experience requirements. Experience requirements capture the designer' s intent for the user experience; they represent user experience goals for the artifact and constraints upon the implementation and are not expected to be formal in the mathematical sense. Experience requirements are evolutionary in intent - they incrementally enhance and extend existing practices in a relatively lightweight manner using language and representations that are intended to be mutually acceptable to preproduction and to production

The use of post mortem analysis in game development

Post mortem analysis (PMA) is a method of development retrospection that has found its way into software development. PMA was the topic of a number of research papers in the 90s and early 2000s, but the research has since moved on to other subjects, despite leaving the discussion on some areas of PMA unfinished. Notably, the unsatisfactory rate of PMA adoption in the industry was identified but not addressed, while the new lightweight method of PMA was developed but not revisited with experience from the industry. PMA research is also very limited on the subject of game development, despite its interesting and unorthodox ways of utilizing PMA reports. The thesis aims to study the adoption of PMA in the game industry, with a focus on the game industry’s PMA adoption rate and the PMA methods currently being used. Software development has trended towards more agile methodologies in the last decades and game development industry in particular is often noted to only use very lightweight or even ad-hoc methodologies during development, so the game industry offers a good viewpoint for studying if the traditional PMA methods are still in use and how they may have changed over the years. Besides examining PMA adoption and methods in modern game development, this thesis also goes through the uses of PMA reports in game development. Game developers have publicly released hundreds of PMA reports, which is not a common practice in traditional PMA. The goals that the game developers have for the public reports also differ from the traditional ones. This thesis will focus particularly on public PMA report usage in game development research and the thesis will include a literature analysis on several game development research papers. The analysis shows that the game development research on PMA reports is consistent with other research and that it can also be complementary to other research, though limited in the discussed topics. The study also features a questionnaire survey aimed at Finnish game industry professionals. The survey helps to answer the research questions of this thesis as it shows that PMA is a common practice and that the PMA method in modern game development has some similarities with traditional methods though it has adopted new lightweight practices in some aspects. The survey also brings to light that even though public PMA reports are well known in the games industry, the common uses for PMA reports in the industry have not changed from the orthodox uses presented in the prior research

Analisis Dampak Penerapan Lightweight Post Mortem Analysis Process Improvement dengan Knowledge Reuse (Studi Kasus PT. Sentra Vidya Utama)

Aset utama perusahaan rekayasa perangkat lunak terletak pada Kekayaan Intelektual yang dimiliki oleh para karyawannya, kekayaan yang dapat hilang sewaktu-waktu ketika karyawan meninggalkan perusahaan. Knowledge Management sebagai displin ilmu yang menjanjikan jalan keluar untuk mengkapitalisasi properti intelektual yang ada menjadi bentuk yang mudah disimpan, dibagikan dan digunakan kembali, menjadi strategi utama bagi perusahaan dalam meningkatkan kinerja dan memastikan knowledge tetap berada dalam perusahaan. Penelitian terkait penerapan Knowledge Management dibidang Rekayasa Perangkat Lunak membahas penggunaan Metode Lightweight Post Mortem Analysis (PMA) dan Causal Map yang relevan diterapkan pada perusahaan skala kecil dan menengah, dengan tujuan untuk belajar dari keberhasilan dan kegagalan yang dialami pada proyek sebelumnya untuk memberikan rekomendasi yang lebih baik di masa depan. Penelitian ini melakukan analisis terhadap dampak penerapan metode PMA di sebuah perusahaan perangkat lunak skala menengah yang fokus pada bidang pengembangan solusi manajemen pendidikan dengan tahapan menentukan kandidat proyek yang sesuai untuk ujicoba, mengembangkan rancangan framework penerapan PMA, dan mengukur dampak penerapan metode PMA terhadap knowledge reuse dalam proyek selanjutnya. Hasil dari penelitian ini membuktikan metode lightweight postmortem analysis (PMA) dapat diterapkan dengan efektif di perusahaan pengembang vi perangkat lunak skala kecil dan menengah, selain itu kegiatan PMA dapat meningkatkan penciptaan knowledge baru yang memperbesar kemungkinan terjadinya knowledge reuse pada suatu perusahaan ========================================================================================The strength of a software engineering company does not lie in the technology they used or the expensive tools they have, but the knowledge of their employees, which can leave the company at any time. Every personnel who have completed a project will gain knowledge and experiences which can be useful for future projects. But unfortunately most of the knowledge or experience is never shared widely among personnel or team, and will be lost when the personnel left the company. The company may not realise that if such losses is allowed to happen repeatedly, it could pose a dangerous knowledge gap in a company. Common strategy taken by the company is to implement a Knowledge Management System that is expected to prevent the loss of important knowledge from the organization. Lightweight Post Mortem Analysis (PMA) as knowledge management method offers a solution to extract tacit knowledge from past experience and convert it into explicit knowledge, so that it can easily be shared to support software process improvement. Based on the theories of PMA, this research conducted analysis and trials implementation to measure the impact of PMA implementation on small-medium size (SME) software engineering company. The results of this study prove that lightweight postmortem analysis (PMA) can be applied effectively in small and medium enterprises to gain useful viii knowledge from past experience and improves new knowledge creation which can potentially lead to knowledge reuse on an enterprise

Knowledge Contribution Motivators – An Expectation-Confirmation Approach

Individual knowledge needs to be shared across IS developing organizations to provide information for all types of decisions. Considering knowledge management (KM) as a two-part process of knowledge contribution and knowledge seeking, we focus on the former one as it is (1) the required condition for knowledge sharing and (2) the greater challenge to accomplish by organizations compared to implementing successful knowledge seeking. Distinguishing different types of individual and organizational extrinsic motivators based on self-determination theory, we use expectation-confirmation theory (ECT) to analyze the extent to which software developers’ expectations towards knowledge contributions are fulfilled by organizations. Additionally, showing extrinsic motivators’ importance for software developers to contribute to KM systems, we provide organizations a roadmap for setting favorable conditions. Whereas our consolidation of previous research on knowledge contribution provides guidelines for future research on extrinsic motivators, we contribute to existing theory by applying ECT to the context of KM contribution

A Post-mortem Analysis of Production Process: The Bricklayer's Disaster

This thesis is focused on the worthwhile lessons learned while creating a short animated film. The conventional way of teaching related to practice is to have students work on projects and learn from their own experience. This thesis strives to save the reader some of the pain, time, and effort required of this learning style, by presenting the hard learned lessons from this project. An overview of the project is provided, along with a reconstructed time-line. Also, each member of the team recounted their own dilemmas and successes on the project, and proposed potential solutions to problems encountered along the way. The findings are presented in the spirit of a post-mortem analysis, which acts to collect the knowledge obtained by those involved with a project in order to increase productivity for the next time a similar task is attempted. The postmortem approach was found to be effective in identifying, illuminating, and articulating the lessons learned concerning general, practical, team-related and problem solving issues encountered while working on a short animated film

Aeronautics and space report of the President, 1980 activities

The year's achievements in the areas of communication, Earth resources, environment, space sciences, transportation, and space energy are summarized and current and planned activities in these areas at the various departments and agencies of the Federal Government are summarized. Tables show U.S. and world spacecraft records, spacecraft launchings for 1980, and scientific payload anf probes launched 1975-1980. Budget data are included

Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming: 18th International Conference, XP 2017, Cologne, Germany, May 22-26, 2017, Proceedings

agile software development; lean development; scrum; project management; software developmen

Non-equilibrium solidification of high-entropy alloys monitored in situ by X-ray diffraction and high-speed video

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) have attracted significant interest in the materials science community over the last 15 years. At the first moment, what caught the attention was the fact that these alloys tend to form solid solutions at room temperature, despite being composed of multiple elements in equiatomic or near-equiatomic concentrations. It was initially concluded that the configurational entropy plays a key role in the stabilization of the solid solutions. Later studies revealed the importance of lattice strain enthalpies, enthalpies of mixing, structural mismatch of constituents, and kinetics in phase formation/stability. The study presented in this thesis was branched into three major parts, all related to understanding phase formation, stability, or metastability in this class of alloys. The first part deals with developing an empirical method to predict single-phase solid solution formation in multi-principal element alloys. The second, which makes the core of this thesis, are non-equilibrium solidification studies of CrFeNi and CoCrNi medium-entropy alloys, and CoCrFeNi, Al0.3CoCrFeNi, and NbTiVZr high-entropy alloys. The last part is devoted to understanding the thermophysical properties of CrFeNi, CoCrNi, and CoCrFeNi medium- and high-entropy alloys. An empirical approach, based on the theoretical elastic-strain energy, has been developed to predict the phase formation and its stability for complex concentrated alloys. The conclusiveness of this approach is compared with the traditional empirical rules based on the atomic-size mismatch, enthalpy of mixing, and valence-electron concentration for a database of 235 alloys. The proposed “elastic-strain energy vs. valence-electron concentration” criterion shows an improved ability to distinguish between single-phase solid solutions, mixtures of solid solutions, and intermetallic phases when compared to the available empirical rules used to date. The criterion is especially strong for alloys that precipitate the μ phase. The elastic-strain-energy parameter can be combined with other known parameters, such as those noted above, to establish new criteria which can help in designing novel complex concentrated alloys with the on-demand combination of mechanical properties. The solidification behavior of the CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloy and the ternary CrFeNi and CoCrNi medium-entropy suballoys has been studied in situ using high-speed video-camera and synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) on electromagnetically levitated samples at Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (IFW Dresden) and German Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg. In all alloys, the formation of a primary metastable body-centered cubic bcc phase was observed if the melt was sufficiently undercooled. The delay time for the onset of the nucleation of the stable face-centered cubic fcc phase, occurring within bcc crystals, is inversely proportional to the melt undercooling. The experimental findings agree with the stable and metastable phase equilibria for the (CoCrNi)-Fe section. Crystal-growth velocities for the CrFeNi, CoCrNi, and CoCrFeNi medium- and high-entropy alloys, extracted from the high-speed video sequences in the present study, are comparable to the literature data for Fe-rich Fe-Ni and Fe-Cr-Ni alloys, evidencing the same crystallization kinetics. The effect of melt undercooling on the microstructure of solidified samples is analyzed and discussed in the thesis. To understand the effect of Al addition on the non-equilibrium solidification behavior of the equiatomic CoCrFeNi alloy, the Al0.3CoCrFeNi HEA has been studied. While the quaternary alloy melt could be significantly undercooled, this was not possible in the five-component alloy. Therefore, the investigations on phase formation, crystal growth, and microstructural evolution were confined to the low undercooling regime. In situ XRD measurements revealed that the liquid crystallized into a fcc single-phase solid solution at this undercooling level. However, ex situ XRD revealed the precipitation of the ordered L12 phase for a sample solidified with ΔT = 30 K. Crystal growth velocities are shown to be smaller than in the CoCrFeNi, CrFeNi, and CoCrNi alloys; nonetheless, they are in the same order of magnitude. Spontaneous grain refinement, without the formation of crystal twins, is observed at low undercooling of ΔT = 70 K, which could be explained by the dendrite tip radius dependence on melt undercooling. In situ studies of the equiatomic NbTiVZr refractory high-entropy alloys revealed the effect of processing conditions on the high-temperature phase formation. When the melt was undercooled over 80 K, it crystallized as a bcc single-phase solid solution despite solute partitioning between the dendritic and interdendritic regions. When the sample was solidified from the semisolid state, it resulted in the formation of two additional bcc phases at the interdendritic regions. The crystal growth velocity, as estimated from the high-speed videos, showed pronounced sluggish kinetics: it is 1 to 2 orders of magnitude smaller compared to literature data of other medium and high-entropy alloys. The study of the linear expansion coefficient α and heat capacity at constant pressure of the equiatomic CoCrFeNi and the medium-entropy CrFeNi and CoCrNi alloys revealed an anomalous behavior with S-shaped curves in the temperature range of 700 – 950 K. The anomalous behavior is shown to be reversible as it occurred during the first and second heating. However, a minimum is only observed on the first heating, while in the second heating a sudden increase of both the α and occurs at the temperature of the onset of the minima in the first heating. Magnetic moment measurements as a function of temperature showed that the observed anomaly is not associated with the Curie temperature. Consideration of the structural and microstructural evaluation discards a first-order phase transformation or recrystallization as probable causes, at least for the CoCrFeNi and CoCrNi alloys. Based on literature evidence, the anomalies in the temperature dependences of the linear expansion coefficient and heat capacity are believed to be caused by a chemical short-range order transition known as the K-state effect. However, to reveal the exact nature of this phenomenon, further experimental and theoretical studies are required, which is outside the frame of the present work.:Abstract ....................................................................................................................... I Kurzfassung .............................................................................................................. IV Chapter 1: Motivation and Fundamentals .................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 The high-entropy alloy (HEA) design concept ...................................................... 4 1.3 Empirical rules of phase formation for HEAs ....................................................... 6 1.4 Calculation of phase diagrams of HEAs ............................................................. 18 1.5 The core effects of HEAs ................................................................................... 20 1.5.1 Lattice distortion .............................................................................................. 20 1.5.2 Sluggish diffusion ............................................................................................ 22 1.5.3 Cocktail effect................................................................................................... 23 1.6 Mechanical properties ........................................................................................ 24 1.6.1 Lightweight high-entropy alloys ....................................................................... 24 1.6.2 Overcoming the strength-ductility tradeoff ...................................................... 26 1.6.3 Cryogenic high-entropy alloys ......................................................................... 28 1.6.4 Refractory high-entropy alloys ........................................................................ 30 1.7 Functional properties .......................................................................................... 33 1.7.1 Soft magnetic properties ................................................................................. 33 1.7.2 Magnetocaloric properties ............................................................................... 35 1.7.3 Hydrogen storage ............................................................................................ 36 Chapter 2: Experimental .......................................................................................... 38 2.1 Sample preparation ............................................................................................ 38 2.2 Electromagnetic levitation .................................................................................. 40 2.3 In situ X-ray diffraction ........................................................................................ 43 2.4 Microstructural and structural analysis ............................................................... 44 2.5 Thermal analysis ................................................................................................ 45 2.6 Dilatometry ......................................................................................................... 45 2.7 Magnetic moment ............................................................................................... 46 2.8 Heat treatment ................................................................................................... 46 Chapter 3: In situ study of non-equilibrium solidification of CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloy and CrFeNi and CoCrNi ternary suballoys ...................................................... 47 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 47 3.2 Results ............................................................................................................... 48 3.2.1 In situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction ................................................................. 48 3.2.2 High-speed video imaging ............................................................................... 52 3.2.3 Microstructure of the solidified samples .......................................................... 62 3.3 Discussion .......................................................................................................... 64 3.3.1 bcc-fcc nucleation and growth competition ..................................................... 64 3.3.2. Crystal growth kinetics ................................................................................... 68 3.3.3. Microstructural evolution ................................................................................ 70 Chapter 4: The effect of Al addition to the CoCrFeNi alloy on the non-equilibrium solidification behaviour.............................................................................................. 72 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 72 4.2 Results and Discussion ...................................................................................... 73 Chapter 5: Non-equilibrium solidification of the NbTiVZr refractory high-entropy alloy ................................................................................................................................. 84 5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 84 5.2 Results ............................................................................................................... 85 5.2.1 In situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction ................................................................. 85 5.2.2 Room temperature synchrotron X-ray diffraction ............................................ 88 5.2.3 High-speed video imaging ............................................................................... 89 5.2.4 Microstructure and structure analysis ............................................................. 91 5.3 Discussion .......................................................................................................... 94 5.3.1 Phase formation upon solidification ................................................................ 94 5.3.2 Crystal growth kinetics .................................................................................... 98 5.3.3 Structural and microstructural features............................................................ 99 Chapter 6: Solid-state thermophysical properties of CrFeNi, CoCrNi, and CoCrFeNi medium- and high-entropy alloys ........................................................................... 101 6.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 101 6.2 Results ............................................................................................................. 102 6.3 Discussion ........................................................................................................ 106 6.3.1 Thermophysical properties ............................................................................ 106 6.3.2 Short-range order in medium- and high-entropy alloys ................................. 109 Chapter 7: Summary ............................................................................................... 111 7.1 Empirical rule of phase formation of complex concentrated alloys ................... 111 7.2 Non-equilibrium solidification of medium- and high-entropy alloys ................... 111 7.3 Thermophysical properties of the medium- and high-entropy alloys ................ 113 Chapter 8: Outlook ................................................................................................. 115 Appendix 1 .............................................................................................................. 117 Appendix 2 ............................................................................................................. 123 Appendix 3 ............................................................................................................. 133 Appendix 4 ............................................................................................................. 134 References.............................................................................................................. 140 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. 164 List of publications .................................................................................................. 166 Erklärung ......................................................................................................................... 16