Supporting Software Development by an Integrated Documentation Model for Decisions

Decision-making is a vital activity during software development. Decisions made during requirements engineering, software design, and implementation guide the development process. In order to make decisions, developers may apply different strategies. For instance, they can search for alternatives and evaluate them according to given criteria, or they may rely on their personal experience and heuristics to make single solution claims. Thereby, knowledge emerges during the process of decision making, as the content, outcome, and context of decisions are explored by developers. For instance, different solution options may be considered to address a given decision problem. In particular, such knowledge is growing rapidly, when multiple developers are involved. Therefore, it should be documented to make decisions comprehensible in the future. However, this documentation is often not performed by developers in practice. First, developers need to find and use a documentation approach, which provides support for the decision making strategies applied for the decision to be documented. Thus, documentation approaches are required to support multiple strategies. Second, due to the collaborative nature of the decision making process during one or more development activities, decision knowledge needs to be captured and structured according to one integrated model, which can be applied during all these development activities. This thesis uncovers two important reasons, why the aforementioned requirements are currently not fulfilled sufficiently. First, it is investigated, which decision making strategies can be identified in the documentation of decisions within issue tickets from the Firefox project. Interestingly, most documented decision knowledge originates from naturalistic decision making, whereas most current documentation approaches structure the captured knowledge according to rational decision making strategies. Second, most decision documentation approaches focus on one development activity, so that for instance decision documentation during requirements engineering and implementation are not supported within the same documentation model. The main contribution of this thesis is a documentation model for decision knowledge, which addresses these two findings. In detail, the documentation model supports the documentation of decision knowledge resulting from both naturalistic and rational decision making strategies, and integrates this knowledge within flexible documentation structures. Also, it is suitable for capturing decision knowledge during the three development activities of requirements engineering, design, and implementation. Furthermore, a tool support is presented for the model, which allows developers to integrate decision capturing and documentation in their activities using the Eclipse IDE

TOWARDS A NOVEL APPROACH TO GEODESIGN ANALYTICS

The adoption of sustainability principles in current European regulatory framework which affect spatial planning and environmental protection, such as Directive 2001/42/C, introduced the need for collaboration and participation in spatial planning practices aiming at achieving more evidence-based, transparent and democratic decision making. However, the involvement of a wide range of actors, along with traditional collaborative and participatory methods, makes it often diffi cult to grasp the dynamics which drive the process towards the fi nal decision. Emerging design methodologies and increased recourse to advanced information technologies promise unprecedented opportunities not only for applying a system approach and coordinating involved actors, but also for tracking the evolution of the design alternatives toward the fi nal plan. In this context, this paper explores the potential offered by the collaborative Planning Support System Geodesignhub to ease and record the process workfl ow of geodesign studies. The paper describes underlying theories, research questions formulation and the fi rst results of the analysis of empirical data on the Cagliari Geodesign case study. The set of variables and relations identifi ed in this research endeavor represents the fi rst effort towards the development of an operation framework for geodesign process analysis, which may potentially contribute to clarify the relationships between the knowledge base and the actors in the planning process. The aim is to earning a deeper understanding of the process dynamics for more informed, transparent, and democratic planning, design and decision-making. KEYWORD

Designing online interaction to address disciplinary competencies: A cross-country comparison of faculty perspectives

This study was conducted at colleges in three countries (United States, Venezuela, and Spain) and across three academic disciplines (engineering, education, and business), to examine how experienced faculty define competencies for their discipline, and design instructional interaction for online courses. A qualitative research design employing in-depth interviews was selected. Results show that disciplinary knowledge takes precedence when faculty members select competencies to be developed in online courses for their respective professions. In all three disciplines, the design of interaction to correspond with disciplinary competencies was often influenced by contextual factors that modify faculty intention. Therefore, instructional design will vary across countries in the same discipline to address the local context, such as the needs and expectations of the learners, faculty perspectives, beliefs and values, and the needs of the institution, the community, and country. The three disciplines from the three countries agreed on the importance of the following competencies: knowledge of the field, higher order cognitive processes such as critical thinking, analysis, problem solving, transfer of knowledge, oral and written communication skills, team work, decision making, leadership and management skills, indicating far more similarities in competencies than differences between the three different applied disciplines. We found a lack of correspondence between faculty¿s intent to develop collaborative learning skills and the actual development of them. Contextual factors such as faculty prior experience in design, student reluctance to engage in collaborative learning, and institutional assessment systems that focus on individual performance were some of these reasons

Decision Science for Future Earth

This open access book provides a theoretical framework and case studies on decision science for regional sustainability by integrating the natural and social sciences. The cases discussed include solution-oriented transdisciplinary studies on the environment, disasters, health, governance and human cooperation. Based on these case studies and comprehensive reviews of relevant works, including lessons learned from past failures for predictable surprises and successes in adaptive co-management, the book provides the reader with new perspectives on how we can co-design collaborative projects with various conflicts of interest and how we can transform our society for a sustainable future. The book makes a valuable contribution to the global research initiative Future Earth, promoting transdisciplinary studies to bridge the gap between science and society in knowledge generation processes and supporting efforts to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Compared to other publications on transdisciplinary studies, this book is unique in that evolutionary biology is used as an integrator for various areas related to human decision-making, and approaches social changes as processes of adaptive learning and evolution. Given its scope, the book is highly recommended to all readers seeking an integrated overview of human decision-making in the context of social transformation

Integrating manufacturing knowledge with design process to improve quality in aerospace industry

There had been research efforts in the knowledge management and related disciplines devoted to integrating data and knowledge generated from manufacturing activities into the design process. Such efforts focused on approaches for enhancing engineering specifications and supplier related decision making in order to improve manufacturing quality through reducing defects. However, rarely did previous researchers address the ‘Integration’ aspect as part of a centrally-driven systematic workflow that enables collaborative knowledge capture between the internal design teams and manufacturing engineering teams firstly, and also with dispersed supplier teams. The industrial context of this research is discussed in this paper reflecting on the nature of the aerospace industry, which involves heavy reliance on information exchange to optimise designs on a day-to-day basis. This aspect had already been identified by many researchers to be under-addressed and a very significant challenge of collaborative design. The main aim of describing the context is to address the complexity involved in integrating manufacturing data generated internally first, and from suppliers second, within workflow context in order to to design a collaborative framework using knowledge management principles. The complexity also features aspects of product design and manufacturing specifically related to the the aerospace industry which tend to have exceptional functional specifications than other products from other industries. The implications of the proposed approach in the light of high value, low volume and high product lifecycle management challenges is also discussed. This paper also reports findings of an empirical investigation carried out with a leading UK based manufacturer of avionic systems with regards to manufacturing knowledge integration challenges related to improving the design of complex avionic systems, in order to enhance the design process for the business and improve the adaptation of a generic product design knowledge base. The purpose of it is to enable more rich data towards information driven design to improve manufacturing quality through defect reduction strategies and techniques

Chemical enterprise model and decision-making framework for sustainable chemical product design

The chemical product substitution process is undertaken by chemical industries for complying with regulations, like REACH in Europe. Initially devoted to chemists, chemicals substitution is nowadays a complex process involving corporate, business and engineering stakeholders across the chemical enterprise for orienting the search toward a sustainable solution. We formalize a decision making process framework dedicated to the sustainable chemical product design activity in an industrial context. The framework aims at improving the sharing of information and knowledge and at enabling a collaborative work across the chemical enterprise stakeholders at the strategic, tactical and operational levels. It is supported by information and communication technologies (ICT) and integrates a computer aided molecular design tool. During the initial intelligence phase, a systemic analysis of the needs and usages enables to define the product requirements. In the design phase, they are compiled with the help of a facilitator to generate the input file of a computer aided product design tool. This multiobjective tool is designed to find mixtures with molecular fragments issued from renewable raw materials, and is able to handle environment-health and safety related properties along with process physicochemical properties. The final choice phase discusses the solution relevancy and provides feedback, before launching the product manufacturing. The framework is illustrated by the search of a bio-sourced water–solvent mixture formulation for lithographic blanket wash used in printing industry. The sustainability of the solution is assessed by using the sustainability shades metho

The role of collaborative reflection in a faculty community

textA faculty community is a type of learning community where faculty learning and development is the focus. Previous research suggests that formally structured faculty communities promoted faculty engagement, improved teaching, thwarted career burnout, increased retention of experienced faculty, and fostered organizational change. Researchers have not examined faculty communities embedded in the workplace and the longitudinal effects these communities have on mid-career and senior faculty learning. In this study, I examined how an experienced interprofessional faculty community of medical and biomedical professionals managed the implementation of a novel graduate curriculum in translational sciences. Translational sciences education aims to enhance the collaborations between scientists and clinicians for the advancement of patient treatment and care. I focused on how faculty advanced their individual and collective understanding of the curriculum implementation using collaborative reflection during weekly community interactions. The study began at the start of the curriculum implementation and lasted fifteen months. It was a qualitative, ethnographic case study including three sources of data: naturalistic observation of teaching and faculty meetings, faculty interviews, and community artifacts. Two theoretical frameworks undergirded the design of the study: community of practice and distributed cognition. The results of the study suggest that collaborative reflection in the faculty community promoted faculty learning over time in several areas: teaching and instruction, assessment and evaluation, individual knowledge, student learning, and organizational and leadership skills. Collaborative reflection occurred in response to multiple episodes that occurred during curriculum implementation, but was focused primarily on facets of instruction, which was the dominant work of the community. Collaborative reflection enabled decision-making on instructional content and process, pedagogical content and process, and curricular content. A cyclical process of instructional development emerged in the community including: session planning, implementation, collective teaching observation, and collective instructional evaluation. Attributes of the community that emerged to support collaborative reflection included: shared goals, domain knowledge, and mutual trust. The community provided a shared social context for systematic collaborative reflection and scaffolding in instructional development. The study findings represent a specific set of experiences that may inform a model of instructional development for use with interprofessional faculty communities in academic health centers.Educational Psycholog

Online learning design in higher education: a holistic investigation of people, processes and pedagogy

The design and provision of online learning by universities has gained traction globally as a strategic move towards flexible education maximising students’ learning opportunities. A promising approach for designing high-quality online learning is collaborative design where educators work with interdisciplinary digital learning professionals. However, to date, studies that have taken a holistic approach to examine the nature and outcomes of the design work between these key university actors in a single project are lacking. This thesis addresses this gap by investigating the decision-making processes of educators and digital learning professionals during online learning design, the factors influencing their decisions, and the rationale behind their pedagogic choices. Cultural-historical activity theory was adopted as the theoretical framework to enable a thorough investigation of educators’ and digital learning professionals’ online learning design work within their broader sociocultural context. A multiple case study was employed as the overarching methodology with data collected from seven design teams (‘cases’) across six UK-based universities involved in ongoing online learning design cycles. One-to-one interviews in two stages (before and after the design of online modules) and non-participant observation of design meetings were conducted to capture participants’ insights. Relevant documents were also analysed as secondary evidence sources. Findings revealed participants’ decisions were made through framing, sharing insider knowledge and expertise, forward-looking, and breadth-first design processes. Their decisions were influenced by four levels of interacting and interdependent factors: individual, team, community and network, and institutional. The pedagogic rationale behind participants’ decisions indicates their practice re-culturation and has been conceptualised in this research as holistic, multivoiced, and connected. Collaborative design also proved to support educators’ professional development in (co-)design, pedagogy, and learning technology. These findings contribute to a multifaceted and contemporary understanding of online learning design and highlight practical implications for educators, digital learning professionals, university leadership, industry partners, and researchers.Open Acces

Characterisation of collaborative decision making processes

This paper deals with the collaborative decision making induced or facilitated by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and their impact on decisional systems. After presenting the problematic, we analyse the collaborative decision making and define the concepts related to the conditions and forms of collaborative work. Then, we explain the mechanisms of collaborative decision making with the specifications and general conditions of collaboration using the modelling formalism of the GRAI method. Each specification associated to the reorganisation of the decisional system caused by the collaboration is set to the notion of decision-making centre. Finally, we apply this approach to the e-maintenance field, strongly penetrated by the ICTs, where collaborations are usual. We show that the identified specifications allow improving the definition and the management of collaboration in e-maintenance