Effective communication in requirements elicitation: A comparison of methodologies

The elicitation or communication of user requirements comprises an early and critical but highly error-prone stage in system development. Socially oriented methodologies provide more support for user involvement in design than the rigidity of more traditional methods, facilitating the degree of user-designer communication and the 'capture' of requirements. A more emergent and collaborative view of requirements elicitation and communication is required to encompass the user, contextual and organisational factors. From this accompanying literature in communication issues in requirements elicitation, a four-dimensional framework is outlined and used to appraise comparatively four different methodologies seeking to promote a closer working relationship between users and designers. The facilitation of communication between users and designers is subject to discussion of the ways in which communicative activities can be 'optimised' for successful requirements gathering, by making recommendations based on the four dimensions to provide fruitful considerations for system designers

Designing a knowledge management approach for the CAMRA Community of Science

Practical Aspects of Knowledge Management, pp. 315-325.CAMRA (Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment) gathers a community of scientists that investigate several stages in the life cycle of biological agents of concern. This paper describes the knowledge management (KM) approach adopted for CAMRA’s community of scientists. The approach includes knowledge facilitators, a web- and repository-based KM system, and use-centered design. The approach relies on a KM methodology that addresses the most common causes of failures in KM approaches that was complemented with a use-centered design methodology. The resulting combined methodology represents a unique way of implementing KM to promote knowledge sharing and collaboration. We describe the principles in our design and the initial steps undertaken to implement it for CAMRA. We conclude by laying out our future steps

Multi-factor motivation model in software engineering environments

In software engineering environments, motivation has become an imperative tool for increasing the productivity and creativity levels of projects. The aim of this research is to develop a validated conceptual multifactor and motivating model that represents the interaction between the organisational, occupational and interpersonal factors in software engineering environments. However, the application of well-known motivation tools cannot guarantee high motivational levels among the members of software engineering teams. Therefore, several phenomena have been monitored and empirically tested related to the daily practices in the software engineering industry. Reviewing the literature on motivation in software engineering uncovered a list of influential factors that could motivate individuals in the workplace. These factors have been suggested as being grouped into three categories (interpersonal, occupational and organisational). The literature review stage was followed by a preliminary study to discuss and validate these factors in greater detail by interviewing eight experts drawn from the software engineering industry. The preliminary study provided this research with an initial conceptual model that could broaden the understanding of the recent state of motivation in software engineering environments. The initial model was validated and expanded by conducting two types of research (quantitative and qualitative) based on the type of information gleaned. Accordingly, 208 experienced software engineers and members of teams in the software development industry were involved in this research. The results from this research revealed a statistically significant interaction between factors from different categories (interpersonal, occupational and organisational). This interaction has helped in developing an updated new model of motivation in software engineering. In addition, the application of motivation theories in software engineering could be affected by some work-related factors. These factors were found in this research to be member role, contract types, age, organisational structure and citizenship status. Thus, all these factors have been given a high consideration when designing rewards systems in software engineering

A conceptual framework for web-based collaborative design

Although much effort has been invested to build applications that support group work, collaborative applications have not found easy success. The cost of adopting and maintaining collaborative applications has prevented their widespread use, especially among small distributed groups. Application developers have had difficulties recognizing the extra effort required by groups to use collaborative applications and how to either reduce this effort or provide other benefits to compensate for the extra work. These problems have limited the success of collaborative applications, which have not attained the same level of productivity improvements that single user applications have achieved. In this thesis we present a framework that describes the types of computer support that can facilitate the work of distributed engineering design groups. Our framework addresses support for web-based groups in particular because we believe the web can be a powerful medium for collaboration if accommodated properly. We show how the concepts in this framework can be implemented by prototyping a web-based engineering decision support system. Our framework is a synthesis of ideas motivated by an examination of literature in various fields that share a common interest in collaborative work. It can influence application development by helping developers become aware of the types of support should be considered to aid web-based collaborative design

A framework for the analysis and evaluation of software development methodologies based on formal, intrinsic and pragmatic criteria

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-151)