Competency assessment : integrating COCOMO II and people-CMM for estimation improvement

"Human factor" is one of the most relevant and crucial aspects of software development projects management. Aiming at the performance improvement for software processes in organizations, a new model has been developed to diagnose people related processes. This new model is People-CMM and represents a complementary solution to CMM. On the other hand, existing estimation models in Software Engineering perfectly integrate those aspects related to personnel’s technical and general competence, but fail to integrate competence and performance measurement instruments when it comes to determine the precise value for each of the factors involved in the estimation process. After reviewing the already deployed initiatives and recommendations for competence measurement in the industrial environment and the most relevant estimation methods for personnel factors used in software development projects, this article presents a recommendation for the integration of each of the "human factor" related metrics in COCOMO II with the management tools proposed by People-CMM, which are widely implemented by existing commercial tools.Publicad

An event-driven language for cartographic modelling of knowledge in software development organisations

With software engineering now being considered a fully-fledged knowledge industry in which the most valuable asset to an organisation is the knowledge held by its employees [BD08], high staff turnover rates are becoming increasingly worrying. If software engineering organisations are to maintain their competitive edge, they need to ensure that their intellectual capital continues to grow and is not lost as people move in and out of their employ. In this paper, the authors present work involving the formalisation of a language that enables organisations to create and analyse maps of their organisational knowledge. In a more elaborate version of the traditional yellow-pages approach utilised in the cartographic school of thought, the proposed language models various relationships between knowledge assets, uses an event-driven mechanism to determine who knows what within the organisation, and finally provides metrics for detecting three types of risk related to knowledge management in modern software engineering. A three month evaluation of the language is also outlined and results discussed.peer-reviewe

Visualized Architecture Knowledge Management Collaboration Services

Software (system) architecture knowledge is a critical element in making effective design/ implementation decisions for Information Technology departments within companies. This knowledge can be codified and/ or personalized so as to harness the advantages and avoid the missed steps of implementers before us. In research of architecture knowledge enablement, there have been a few ventures, including but not limited to, Processcentric Architecture Knowledge Management Environment (PAKME) [3] and Architecture Design Decision Support System (ADDSS) [4]. In study of these ventures, we find modest attempts at focusing on dissecting types of architecture knowledge and enabling access to details through web tools. The purpose of this paper is to document the design and features of a web tool, namely Visualized Architecture Knowledge Management Collaboration Services (VAKMCS) and its approach in providing an innovative way at accessing and interacting with architecture information to make sound investment decision on IT projects

Englanninkielisten ohjelmistokonsulttien kieleen liittyvät haasteet töissä Suomessa

Ohjelmistoalalla vallitsee työvoiman kohtaanto-ongelma, eli avoimet työpaikat ja työnhakijat eivät kohtaa. Englanninkieliset työntekijät ovat yksi niistä ryhmistä, joita kohtaanto-ongelma koskettaa erityisesti. Tämä ongelma on yhteiskunnallinen, koska kieleen liittyvät haasteet työssä eivät ole pelkästään ohjelmistoalan yritysten ratkaistavissa, etenkään ohjelmistokonsultoinnin alalla, jossa ohjelmistokehitystiimin ja asiakkaan välinen vuorovaikutus on avainasemassa projektin onnistumisen kannalta. Siksi kohtaanto-ongelman ratkaiseminen koskettaa yritysten lisäksi myös heidän asiakasorganisaatioitaan, joista monet ovat julkisen sektorin toimijoita. Jotta ohjelmistoalan yritykset ja niiden yhteistyötahot voivat yhteisönä alkaa ratkaista kohtaanto-ongelmaa, täytyy ensin ymmärtää sen syitä. Tässä kandidaatintyössä tutkitaan, minkälaisia kieleen liittyviä ongelmia englanninkieliset ohjelmistoalan työntekijät kohtaavat työssään Suomessa sekä minkälaisia vaikutuksia haasteilla on heidän työhönsä. Aineisto kerättiin kyselytutkimuksella, johon pyydettiin vastauksia englantia työkielenään käyttäviltä työntekijöiltä kahdeksassa ohjelmistokonsultointiyrityksessä Suomessa. Kyselylomakkeella oli monivalintakysymyksiä liittyen haasteiden yleisyyteen sekä avoimia kysymyksiä, joissa pyydettiin kuvailemaan haasteita. Monivalintakysymyksistä kävi ilmi, että yli kolmannes vastaajista on kohdannut kieleen liittyviä haasteita vähintään kuukausittain ja vajaa viidennes viikoittain tai päivittäin. Vastaajien joukossa oli myös henkilöitä, jotka eivät olleet kokeneet kieleen liittyviä haasteita työssään. Kielen käyttöön liittyy mahdollisuus käyttää kielellistä valtaa. Siksi tutkimuksen teoreettisena viitekehyksenä on vallan teoria. Avointen kysymysten vastauksia analysoitiin kvalitatiivista sisällönanalyysia käyttäen. Ohjelmistokonsulttien kirjoittamista vastauksista tunnistettiin sekä kuvauksia vallankäytöstä toisen henkilön taholta että oman toimimisvallan kaventumista. Kandidaatintyön tuloksena esitellään seitsemän teemaa, jotka kuvaavat ohjelmistoalan työntekijöiden kohtaamia kieleen liittyviä haasteita. Nämä teemat on nimetty ”Henkilö ei puhu englantia”, ”Materiaali ei ole saatavilla ymmärrettävässä muodossa”, ”Tarvitaan kollegan apua”, ”Poissuljettuja mahdollisuuksia”, ”Suullinen kommunikaatio vaatii tarkkuutta”, ”Paineita ja tunnekuormitusta” sekä ”Työteho kärsii”. Tulokset tukevat hyvin aiempia tutkimuksia, joissa on havaittu, että henkilön valta ja kontrolli tilanteessa ovat riippuvaisia siitä, kuinka sujuva kielitaito hänellä on käytetyssä työkielessä. Tutkimuksen tulosten ja kielellisen vallan käyttöön liittyvien teorioiden pohjalta ehdotetaan, että ohjelmistoyritysten olisi inklusiivisuuden vuoksi hyvä käyttää työkielenä täysin englantia, jos yritys työllistää englanninkielisiä työntekijöitä. Lisäksi työntekijöille suositellaan koulutusta työkielen käyttöön liittyvissä aiheissa

A Knowledge Management System (KMS) Using a Storytelling-based Approach to Collect Tacit Knowledge

Since the 1990s, Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) have been largely unsuccessful in the collection of tacit knowledge. The process, whether through direct input by the holder of the tacit knowledge or through an intermediary such as the collection of tacit knowledge through interviews and videos, has not succeeded. Reasons encompass the organizational (such as culture of the organization), the technological (example: poor tools), and the individual (example: knowledge is power, i.e. where experts with rare knowledge results in knowledge hoarding instead of transfer). The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that tacit knowledge could be successfully and consistently collected from the participants themselves and placed into a KMS using a storytelling-based approach. This study extended past research that collected stories for KMS’ using interviews and videos by having participants directly entering their data, as stories, into a KMS. This was a new approach and it was posited that having participants use stories to enter their tacit knowledge themselves into a KMS would overcome their reluctance to provide tacit knowledge thus overcoming barriers to providing tacit knowledge into a KMS The validation methodology was based upon three elements: the deep-dive research element, the issues and solution element, and the dissertation proposition element. The deep-dive research element was the extensive research for the study into knowledge management, storytelling, and other various methods for collection of tacit knowledge. The issues and solution element consisted of issues about tacit knowledge that were identified from the deep-dive research element, i.e. general arguments constructed about knowledge management which were backed by data from research into knowledge management systems and storytelling. Theoretical solutions to the issues regarding the capture of tacit knowledge were then constructed which included the storytelling-based approach and a KMS framework for the collection of tacit knowledge. Lastly was the dissertation proposition element which consisted of a thorough analysis of the survey data against each of the dissertation propositions. There were three propositions. Proposition 1 was sharing of knowledge and the storytelling-based approach. Proposition 2 was about the framework, the scenarios, guiding questions, and Communities of Practice (CoP), and Proposition 3 was about participant knowledge and interaction with forums. Each proposition was evaluated independently. The study was successful and validated propositions 1 and 2. For proposition 1, 81% of the participants responded positively to the eight study questions directed towards this proposition. For all eight questions across all 21 participants, the mean was 29.952 against a target test mean of 24 with a range of 27.538-32.367. For proposition 2, 76.19% of participants scored this section positive. For all six questions across all 21 participants, the mean was 23 against a target test mean of 18 with a range of 21.394-24.606. However, the results for proposition 3 were inconclusive and must be considered a failure. Most of the respondents either scored ‘no change’ to at least 50% of the questions or they stated they had never been to a forum. For all four questions across all 21 participants, the mean was 12.905 against a target mean of 12 with a range of 11.896-13.914. Based upon propositions 1 and 2, the null hypothesis was disproved. Participants liked the storytelling-based approach, providing their tacit knowledge, and they liked the framework

Software Process Improvement in Very Small Entities: An investigation of Software Development Knowledge Management and Team issues in maintaining and evolving software process and process improvement.

technique at both management and team level in software development VSEs. These methods assisted the researchers in examining the attitude and perceptions of practitioners towards the research issues. The researchers also made use of survey questionnaires in VSEs in order to gain more input and to validate the qualitative data. The findings from the first stage analysis (qualitative analysis), in which the content analysis and grounded theory coding approaches were used, show the pattern and detailed categories that influence and are related with the software process and process improvement in VSEs. These categories are related to each other and allow the researchers to produce and validate the studies theoretical model. Likewise the second stage analysis (quantitative analysis) assisted the researchers in conforming and enhancing the first stage findings. This investigation shows that SPI programmes in VSEs are being undertaken in a very informal manner and also in indirect ways. The primary reasons identified for the informal nature of VSE SPI are due to cost, time, customer and company size, which give a higher priority to the product rather than process. In relation to teams, the small team size coupled with the working and management style have lead VSEs to be more informal in their knowledge management process and team organization. Moreover VSEs are largely ignoring the best practice SPI models. The reasons and acceptance criteria for this are discussed. This research also confirmed that SPI does not solely depend on technology but also the contributions of human aspects have a strong emphasize, especially in VSEs. Therefore a contribution of this research is to provide an extended knowledge and understanding of SPI research area in general and within VSEs domain in particular

Modelo para análise da influência do capital intelectual sobre a performance dos projetos de software

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia e Gestão do ConhecimentoEsta tese propõe um modelo para analisar a influência do capital intelectual sobre a performance dos projetos de software. A maior parte do software desenvolvido profissionalmente é concebida pela execução de projetos - empreendimentos temporários que visam produzir software e documentação de acordo com as especificações dos clientes. Desta forma, o sucesso de uma organização de software é altamente dependente da performance dos projetos que executa. Torna-se crucial, então, o reconhecimento dos fatores que influenciam a performance dos projetos, possibilitando aos gestores reforçar os elementos que impulsionam os resultados atingidos e mitigar os elementos negativos. Entre os fatores possíveis, esta tese foca nos insumos baseados em conhecimento que são aplicados na execução dos projetos, recorrendo ao arcabouço teórico do capital intelectual para descrever a estrutura e o conteúdo desses recursos. Um modelo teórico é desenvolvido para descrever os elementos do capital intelectual - capital humano, capital estrutural e capital relacional - e a performance dos projetos. O questionário gerado a partir do modelo teórico é aplicado no levantamento de dados sobre projetos realizados por empresas de software da Grande Florianópolis, um polo tecnológico com importância reconhecida nacional e internacionalmente. A análise dos dados coletados é realizada a partir de um modelo de equações estruturais de mínimos quadrados parciais (PLS-SEM), que permite a validação do modelo de mensuração e a verificação das hipóteses formuladas no modelo teórico. Os resultados do modelo estatístico revelam que os três elementos do capital intelectual exercem influências positivas e significativas sobre a performance dos projetos, sendo mais determinantes o capital humano e o capital estrutural. Constata-se ainda que o nível de capital humano é positiva e significativamente correlacionado com os níveis de capital estrutural e de capital relacional aplicados aos projetos. Esses resultados confirmam a teoria de que o capital intelectual gera valor para as organizações quando seus três elementos interagem e se desenvolvem mutuamente