Critical Success Factors for Software Reuse Projects

Systematic reuse is becoming an increasingly popular way to improve software development productivity and quality. The implementation of a software reuse methodology requires substantial investments for the company. The factors that contribute to the overall success of reuse for an organization have been examined in prior research. However, even in organizations that are successful in employing reuse, some projects may fail to achieve the targeted amounts of reuse. This suggests that there are other factors beyond the overall organizational factors affecting the success of software reuse in projects. This research explores the factors contributing to reuse success of individual projects in organizations that practice systematic software reuse methodologies. Structured interviews are conducted with software developers to identify the factors and project data is scrutinized to assess the impact of these factors. Reuse success is measured by the reuse percentage achieved. A large scale survey of software development firms will be used to empirically tests the relevance of the identified factors to systematic reuse in general. We believe that an organization that can identify the factors affecting potential software reuse will be able to better target investments in the improve- ment of reuse methodology and thus influence the software productivity and quality

Science and the IS Researcher: Building an Empire Without Walls

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a radical alternative perspective into the debate on diversity, and the use of reference disciplines in IS research. It seeks to provide the foundation for a philosophical dialectic from which a new synthesis of the opposing views on the debate may emerge. Specifically, it is argued that the boundaries that divide academic disciplines are merely social conventions; products of convenience and individual and group self-interest. In contrast to this socially constructed view of scholarly inquiry, it is argued thatscience is a common good and that maturity of a field and of a researcher is evidenced not by defending the walls of a scientific empire but by contributing to the broader scientific community in which scholars in all fields may participate. The paradigm promulgated here is one of intellectual development and knowledge sharing that breaks down the walls of disciplines, views knowledge holistically, and considers the spread and evolution of ideas as the most important goal of all researchers. More than justa philosophical ideal, with the advent of the world wide web this new paradigm becomes a very real possibilit

Intermediation on electronic markets: The case of Java software elements

This paper provides an introduction to the Java Repository - an intermediary for Java software elements. First, basic concepts for electronic intermediaries are derived from economic theory. Furthermore, the theoretic considerations are applied to the Java Repository and current and future developments of this special intermediary are presented, especially the use and implementation ofEcash to support financial transactions on the Java market

From Internal to External: An Integrated Theoretical Framework for Open Innovation

The traditional resource-based view (RBV) accentuates the heterogeneous and imperfect mobile resources serve as key determinants of the competitiveness of organizations. However, social capital theory seems to be advocated leveraging the resources residing in the relationships among individuals to facilitate the organizational performances. The open innovation product, i.e., an Open Source Software (OSS) project, consists of a group of self-organizing individuals who collaboratively co-create an innovation. Much of our understandings of OSS an open innovation is based on studies that focused on the internal resources (i.e., on the co-workers predominantly) leaving little regards to the fact that such an open innovation organization functions in a larger community of projects and people. In this regard, it is imperative to jointly build upon the RBV and social capital theory to take a broader, embracing investigation of an open innovation, i.e. open source software (OSS), system to unveil how internal and external resources can facilitate the innovation legitimacy. In particular, the internal resources include the tangible resources, such as workforce and extent of contribution, and intangible resource like governance structure. The external resources include diverse forms of social capital, such as structural, cognitive, and relational social capital. This ongoing work proposed a theoretical framework to articulate how the interplay between internal and external resources can promote the innovation legitimacy in the OSS context

Hunting Darwins Counterpart: Tracing the Exaptation Phenomenon in IS Research

The repurposing of problem-solving artifacts is an efficient way to innovate. Originating in evolutional theory, exaptation – the repurposing of an existing trait – gained recently attention in IS research due to the generative and malleable characteristics of digital technologies. Notwithstanding, research on this theoretical construct in IS research is scarce, while the innovation and economics literature already adapted the theory to, e.g., explain and predict disruptive market behaviors. With a scoping literature review, this paper pursues to draw a comprehensive picture of the current state of research of exaptation in IS research. Through an analysis of 46 publications, we could structure the field, derive three valuable contributions for the general exaptation theory and outline a future research agenda provide orientation and inspiration for further exaptation research in the digital and organizational context

Exploring software practitioners perceptions and experience in requirements reuse : a survey in Malaysia

In Software Product Lines (SPL) development, reuse process is planned ahead of time, while in traditional software development reuse can occur opportunistically: unplanned or in ad hoc manner. Although many research efforts in SPL focus on issues related to architecture, designs and codes reuse, research on requirements reuse has received slightly less attention from researchers and practitioners. Requirements Reuse (RR) in SPL is the process of systematically reusing previously defined and validated requirements for an earlier software product and applying them to a new and slightly different product within a similar domain. This paper presents a survey pertaining to RR practice that was conducted in Malaysia with two objectives: a) to identify the factors influencing software practitioners in RR, and b) to assess the factors hindering software practitioners from reusing requirements in software development. The survey results have confirmed seven factors that can influence RR practice in Malaysia. The survey results have also revealed three main impediments to RR practice in Malaysia: the unavailability of RR tools or framework to select requirements for reuse, the conditions of existing requirements to be reused (incomplete, poorly structured or not kept updated), and the lack of awareness and RR education among software practitioners pertaining to the systematic R

Estimating Systems Engineering Reuse

Systems engineering reuse is the utilization of previously developed systems engineering products or artifacts such as architectures, requirements, and test plans across different projects. Such reuse is intended as a means of reducing development cost, project schedule, or performance risk, by avoiding the repetition of some systems engineering activities. Although projects involving systems engineering reuse are becoming more frequent, models or tools for estimating the cost, benefit, and overall impact on a project as a result of reusing products or artifacts have not yet been adequately developed. This paper provides an overview of systems engineering reuse and recent developments with the Constructive Systems Engineering Cost Model (COSYSMO) to estimate the effect of reuse on systems engineering effort. The overview of systems engineering reuse includes a review of how reuse is handled in other domains and results from an industry survey. The recent developments in COSYSMO presents on-going research in the creation of a reuse extension for the model such as the identification of categories of systems engineering reuse, reuse extensions for the size drivers in the model, and a revised set of cost drivers

“Radiografía” del estado de la reutilización de software en Colombia

Due to competitive markets, the software business wants faster, better, and cheaper solutions in a short amount of time. Software reuse emerges as a viable solution to these demands since it offers significant benefits, such as increased quality and efficiency and lower development costs and effort, as well as shorter commercialization times. This research aims to study and understand the state of the practice of software reuse in Colombia, to make comparisons with related works, and to offer an instrument for decision-making in companies that adopt these practices. To reach these objectives, three stages were proposed. In the first stage, the research questions were defined. In the second stage, a survey was developed, evaluated, and carried out to validate successful practices and adoption barriers in the context of the Colombian software industry. Finally, the results were analyzed and reported. This paper showed and evidenced the expectations, adoption barriers, and factors influencing the success of software reuse in Colombian industrial environments. In the same way, the experience from the development of this work serves as a roadmap for other regions that want to analyze the current state of reuse. Nevertheless, each organization needs to determine its capabilities and find the appropriate factors to be adopted to its context.Debido a los mercados competitivos, el negocio del software quiere soluciones más rápidas, mejores y más baratas en un período corto de tiempo. La reutilización de software surge como una solución viable para estas demandas, ya que ofrece importantes beneficios, como mayor calidad y eficiencia, menores costos y esfuerzos de desarrollo y menor tiempo de comercialización. Este artículo pretende analizar el estado de la práctica de la reutilización de software en Colombia, realizar comparaciones con trabajos relacionados y ofrecer con este resultado un instrumento para la toma de decisiones en empresas que adoptan estas prácticas. Para llevar a cabo los objetivos anteriores se plantearon tres etapas. En la primera etapa se definieron las preguntas de investigación. En la segunda etapa se desarrolló, evaluó y realizó una encuesta para validar prácticas exitosas y barreras de adopción en el contexto de la industria de software colombiana. Finalmente, los resultados fueron analizados y reportados. El estudio mostró y evidenció las expectativas, barreras de adopción y factores que influyen en el éxito de la reutilización de software en entornos industriales en Colombia. El presente estudio muestra el estado actual de las prácticas de reutilización en la industria de software en Colombia. Asimismo, la experiencia en el desarrollo de este trabajo sirve como hoja de ruta para otras regiones que quieran analizar el estado actual de la reutilización. Sin embargo, cada organización necesita determinar sus capacidades y encontrar los factores adecuados para adaptarlos a su contexto