A survey on implicit requirements management practices in small and medium-sized enterprises

Učinkovito upravljanje zahtjevima koje uključuje i izričita i bezuvjetna motrišta pretpostavka je za uspješni razvoj softvera. Iako su razni istraživači i praktičari prepoznali važnost bezuvjetnih zahtjeva (implicit requirements - IMR) za opći uspjeh razvijenog softvera, potrebno je povezati te teorijske pretpostavke oko bezuvjetnih zahtjeva s postojećim stanjem. U radu se provodi empirijsko istraživanje o shvaćanju i provođenju bezuvjetnih zahtjeva u malim i srednje malim organizacijama koje se bave razvojem softvera. Provedena je anketa preko interneta na koju je stiglo 56 odgovora iz 23 zemlje. Analiza je pokazala da se kritički organizacijski čimbenici kao što su broj godina provedenih na poslu u nekoj organizaciji, godine iskustva organizacije u inženjeringu zahtjeva i veličina tima koji se bavi razvojem softvera pozitivno odražavaju na sagledavanje i pristup bezuvjetnim zahtjevima u okviru organizacije. Izražava se potreba za komparativnom procjenom postojećih alata podrške bezuvjetnim zahtjevima kako bi se potvrdio potencijal tih alata u rješavanju postojećih izazova i popunjavanju nedostataka koji još postoje.Effective requirements management that embraces both explicit and implicit aspects is a prerequisite for successful software development. Although different researchers and practitioners have identified the importance of implicit requirements (IMR) for overall successful outcome of software development, there is a need to correlate these theoretical assumptions about implicit requirements with the state of the practice. This paper empirically investigates the perception and handling of implicit requirements in small and medium-sized software organisations. The survey was undertaken through a web-based questionnaire to which 56 participants from 23 countries responded. The study found that critical organisational factors such as number of years in business of an organisation, the years of experience of an organisation in requirements engineering, and size of software development team have positive correlation with the perception and handling of implicit requirements within an organisation. It also recommends that a comparative evaluation of the existing support tools for implicit requirements is necessary in order to validate the potential of these tools to solve existing challenges, and determine gaps that still exist

A Canvas for Establishing Global Software Development Collaborations

Jufo-id:80620There is an increasing need and interest for organizations to collaborate with internal and external partners on a global scale for creating software-based products and services. Potential risks and different strategies need to be addressed when setting up such collaborations. Aspects such as cultural and social features, coordination, infrastructure, organizational change processes, or communication issues need to be con- sidered. Although there are already experiences available with respect to setting up global collaborations, they mainly focus on specific areas. It is dicult for companies to quickly assess if they have considered all rele- vant aspects. An overall aid that guides companies in systematically setting up global collaborations is widely missing. In this paper we present a study based on the snowballing method as a systematic approach to literature review. Based on this literature review and inputs from indus- try we investigated what aspects and practices need to be considered when establishing global software development collaborations and how to prioritize them. Based on that we created activity roadmaps that aggregate existing experiences. Reported experiences were structured into nine main aspects each containing extracted successful practices for set- ting up global software development collaborations. As a result we came up with an initial version of a canvas that is proposed as guidance for companies for setting up global collaborations in the software development domain.Peer reviewe

A Systematic Approach to Setting Up Distributed Global Collaborations for Software-based Products in the Automotive Domain

There is an increasing need for organizations to collaborate with internal and external partners on a global scale for creating software-based products and services. Many aspects and risks need to be addressed when setting up such global collaborations. Different types of collaborations such as engineering collaborations or innovation-focused collaborations need to be considered. Further aspects such as cultural and social aspects, coordination, infrastructure, organizational change process, and communication issues need to be examined. Although there are already experiences available with respect to setting up global collaborations, they are mainly focusing on certain specific areas. An overall holistic approach that guides companies in systematically setting up global collaborations for software-based products is widely missing. The goal of this thesis is to analyze existing literature and related information and to extract topics that need be taken into account while establishing global software development collaborations - to identify solutions, risks, success factors, strategies, good experiences as well as good examples. This information is structured in a way so that it can be used by companies as a well-grounded holistic approach to guide companies effectively in setting up long-term global collaborations in the domain 'software development'. The presented approach is based on scientific findings reported in literature, driven by industry needs, and confirmed by industry experts. The content of the thesis consists of two main parts: In the first part a literature study analyzes existing experience reports, case studies and other available literature in order to identify what aspects and practices need to be considered by organizations when setting up global collaborations in the domain software development. Secondly, based on the results from the literature review and consultation with the industrial partner Daimler AG, the identified aspects and practices are structured and prioritized in the form of activity roadmaps, which present a holistic guide for setting up global collaborations. The developed guidance worksheet, the so-called 'Global canvas', is meant to be a guide and reminder of all major activities that are necessary to perform when doing global collaborations for software-based products and services. The main contributions of this thesis are an analysis of the state of the practice in setting-up of global software development collaborations, identification of aspects and successful practices that need to be addressed by organizations when doing global collaborations for software-based products and services and the creation of a holistic approach that presents scientific findings to industry in an effective and credible way and guides companies in systematically setting up global collaborations

Management at the outsourcing destination - global software development in India.

In Global Software Engineering Research, there have been many studies carried out from the perspective of the company who is outsourcing software development. However, very few studies focus on the companies to whom the software development is being outsourced. In this paper, we highlight India as a major outsourcing destination and present experience from companies that manage outsourced software development.. In carrying out this activity, Indian software companies have confronted various issues which are local, remote, internal and external and for which solutions have been instigated. This paper presents research carried out within Indian software companies in which we investigated issues faced when implementing global software development and the solutions used by these companies. We present these solutions so that they can be followed by other outsourcing destinations thus enabling them to operate successfully across geographical, national and international cultural boundaries