Essential competencies of exceptional professional software engineers

Department Head: Rodney R. Oldehoeft.1991 Fall.Includes bibliographical references (pages 141-144).This dissertation presents a differential study of exceptional and non-exceptional professional software engineers in the work environment. The first phase of the study reports an in-depth review of 20 engineers. The study reports biographical data, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test results, and Critical Incident Interview data for 10 exceptional and 10 non-exceptional subjects. Phase 1 concludes with a description of 38 essential competencies of software engineers. Phase 2 of this study surveys 129 engineers. Phase 2 reports biographical data for the sample and concludes that the only simple demographic predictor of performance is years of experience in software. This variable is able to correctly classify 63% of the cases studied. Phase 2 also has the participants complete a Q-Sort of the 38 competencies identified in Phase 1. Nine of these competencies are differentially related to engineer performance. A10 variable Canonical Discriminant Function is derived which is capable of correctly classifying 81% of the cases studied. This function consists of three biographical variables and seven competencies. The competencies related to Personal Attributes and Interpersonal Skills are identified as the most significant factors contributing to performance differences

Finnish Enterprise Agile Transformations : A Survey Study

Peer reviewe

Ethics in AI through the Developer's View: A Grounded Theory Literature Review

The term ethics is widely used, explored, and debated in the context of developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) based software systems. In recent years, numerous incidents have raised the profile of ethical issues in AI development and led to public concerns about the proliferation of AI technology in our everyday lives. But what do we know about the views and experiences of those who develop these systems: the AI developers? We conducted a grounded theory literature review (GTLR) of 38 primary empirical studies that included AI developers' views on ethics in AI and analysed them to derive five categories - developer awareness, perception, need, challenge, and approach. These are underpinned by multiple codes and concepts that we explain with evidence from the included studies. We present a taxonomy of ethics in AI from developers' viewpoints to assist AI developers in identifying and understanding the different aspects of AI ethics. The taxonomy provides a landscape view of the key aspects that concern AI developers when it comes to ethics in AI. We also share an agenda for future research studies and recommendations for developers, managers, and organisations to help in their efforts to better consider and implement ethics in AI.Comment: 40 pages, 5 figures, 4 table

Using Workshops to Improve Security in Software Development Teams

Though some software development teams are highly effective at delivering security, others either do not care or do not have access to security experts to teach them how. Unfortunately, these latter teams are still responsible for the security of the systems they build: systems that are ever more important to ever more people. Yet many, perhaps most, security problems can be prevented with careful design, construction and configuration of the software and systems involved, so software developers have a major contribution to make. This research investigated how to help teams of software developers achieve better security. An initial qualitative survey of 15 secure software development professionals highlighted a range of security assurance and motivation techniques suitable for teams of developers, and emphasised the human interaction aspects. A further quantitative survey of 330 successful Android developers then identified a baseline of current security practices in software development. Based on these surveys, the author created an intervention package to help software developers. Action Research techniques were used to trial and improve it in two one-year cycles with a total of 19 development teams in 11 different organisations. The later development of the package concentrated on empowering the developers involved, and reducing the involvement required from the researchers. By proving that a set of structured workshops can have an impact on the security performance of a team for a reasonable cost and without the support of security professionals, this research offers a powerful means to enhance development security in the UK, creating more secure software and systems for all users

Making sense of AI systems development

We identify and describe episodes of sensemaking around challenges in modern Artificial-Intelligence (AI)-based systems development that emerged in projects carried out by IBM and client companies. All projects used IBM Watson as the development platform for building tailored AI-based solutions to support workers or customers of the client companies. Yet, many of the projects turned out to be significantly more challenging than IBM and its clients had expected. The analysis reveals that project members struggled to establish reliable meanings about the technology, the project, context, and data to act upon. The project members report multiple aspects of the projects that they were not expecting to need to make sense of yet were problematic. Many issues bear upon the current-generation AI’s inherent characteristics, such as dependency on large data sets and continuous improvement as more data becomes available. Those characteristics increase the complexity of the projects and call for balanced mindfulness to avoid unexpected problems

Product Development within Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and Legal Risk

This open-access-book synthesizes a supportive developer checklist considering sustainable Team and agile Project Management in the challenge of Artificial Intelligence and limits of image recognition. The study bases on technical, ethical, and legal requirements with examples concerning autonomous vehicles. As the first of its kind, it analyzes all reported car accidents state wide (1.28 million) over a 10-year period. Integrating of highly sensitive international court rulings and growing consumer expectations make this book a helpful guide for product and team development from initial concept until market launch

The race between education and catastrophe: creating climate-sensitive cities

‘History is a race between education and catastrophe’ (Gurría, 2013). This is the essence of the climate-change dilemma in human settlements today. How can cities act effectively to live with climate change? After a century, the world is bracing for a perfect storm with burgeoning populations drifting to the cities, resulting in anthropogenic greenhouse gases multiplying exponentially. Rapid urban development breaks down natural systems that sequester greenhouse gases, making cities unhealthy, unbalanced, and undesirable (Blakely & Carbonell, 2012). It is reported that ‘more people are killed from poor urban design and climate-change than terrorism’ (Birkeland, 2008), which is an immense ethical problem. My focus is on creating resilient Climate-Sensitive-Cities®. This approach to tackling the urgency of climate change in cities is five-fold: 1. It audits vulnerability and coping capacity. 2. It addresses audit gaps by investing in accelerated learning for professions and communities to build capacity for resilience. 3. It appreciates that every individual can make a unique contribution to interdisciplinary capacity-building for addressing climate education through their own organisations and regions. 4. It realises that accelerated learning for the long-term investment in individuals within organisations includes collaborative coaching and partnering. 5. It recognises that optimism for a preferred future can be achieved in a world full of perverse incentives. Although there are many perspectives and prescribed actions from each discipline, my approach is founded on meta-scanning, with principle-based options that emerge from broad lessons from international and local successes. The crucial part of my work is to convert research into desirable actions in a way that demonstrates learning for better climate governance. The results of my endeavours include influence of policy and practices in fourteen countries and through professional bodies across disciplines. My contribution to transformational guidelines for international climate action transparency is recognised widely. This thesis comprises an exploration of philosophies, revisiting values, seeking answers to four research questions, a new lens with three perspectives, and project design to ensure higher fidelity with my statement of intent. My Doctorate establishes a framework that enables individuals to lead the way in climate-change practices. I intend to be a living example of such frameworks. The thesis concludes with new definitions for Climate-Sensitive-Cities® and Accelerated Learning. It also overlays triple loop policy development with the Climate Policy in Practice Cycle® as a means for funding and evaluating action. Finally, a manual for Master Classes delivered across fourteen countries works with a transformational change trajectory that articulates the journey from passive bystanding, to advocacy, to tipping points, to coping with success. Independent evaluations accelerate the uptake of these skills in governments, communities, professions, and most importantly, individuals. We need to learn, question old thinking, and relearn in order to adapt and live with the many facets of climate-change. Based on this rationale, I have structured my Doctorate to advance a deeper understanding of the technical, intellectual, and interpersonal skills required of an effective Sustainability Commissioner. Alvin Toffler stated ‘the illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn’ (ISLS, 2013). This is how we win the race of education over catastrophe