Knowledge transfer in on-collocated software architecture development: From the perspective of analysts and software architects

Learning within software development involves the transfer of knowledge between different yet interdependent functional teams.In reality however, these teams often create islands of knowledge due mostly to indistinct flow of knowledge transfer (KT), thus fail to take advantage of the opportunity to learn from each other.Taking the non"collocated software architecture development teams as a challenge, the goal of this study is to investigate the nature of KT that occurs between the analyst and software architect teams in non-collocated software architecture development.Data are collected from semi"structured interviews with 30 respondents consisting of industrial experts ranging from analyst, software architects and project managers.We managed to gather sufficient evidence that proves KT occurs, and successfully characterize the areas of knowledge used and exchanged, the interdependency between teams, the utilization of knowledge, the medium used for KT and finally, the external conditions surrounding KT during non" collocated software architecture development.These findings are useful as they rest a good understanding of KT and its vital elements in non-collocated software architecture development for all prospective researchers and practitioners

Software implementation of design patterns repository for software architecture development

Метою проектування є розгляд теоретичних та практичних засад створення репозиторію альтернативної архітектури, маючи набір загальних патернів і архітектур що реалізують різні модулі програми. Метою проекта є розгляд теоретичних та практичних засад створення та управління репозиторіем патернів і архітектур. Категоризація для побудови рапозиторію для каркасів архітектур і патернів. Предметом дослідження є програмне забезпечення теоретичні засади оцінки альтернативних архітектур та програмній комплект що формую набір альтернативних архітектур після чого проводиться порівняльна оцінка їх та загальний вибір оптимальнішої архітектури виходячи з експертних оцінок

How Do Experienced Architects Use Architecture Development Methods?

Software architecture methods play a central role in the development of large enterprise computer systems. However, the extent to which individual experienced IT architects employ a software architecture method is largely unknown. In this paper, we surveyed a group of experienced architects, and set up an “in practice” field study of some of these architects to explore the way they applied a well documented software architecture development method. Among the findings to emerge are that architects modify their method more regularly than previously recognised, and that tools for visual communication are the most commonly used tools by these architects

A Reference Architecture for Data-Driven and Adaptive Internet-Delivered Psychological Treatment Systems: Software Architecture Development and Validation Study

Background: Internet-delivered psychological treatment (IDPT) systems are software applications that offer psychological treatments via the internet. Such IDPT systems have become one of the most commonly practiced and widely researched forms of psychotherapy. Evidence shows that psychological treatments delivered by IDPT systems can be an effective way of treating mental health morbidities. However, current IDPT systems have high dropout rates and low user adherence. The primary reason is that the current IDPT systems are not flexible, adaptable, and personalized as they follow a fixed tunnel-based treatment architecture. A fixed tunnel-based architecture follows predefined, sequential treatment content for every patient, irrespective of their context, preferences, and needs. Moreover, current IDPT systems have poor interoperability, making it difficult to reuse and share treatment materials. There is a lack of development and documentation standards, conceptual frameworks, and established (clinical) guidelines for such IDPT systems. As a result, several ad hoc forms of IDPT models exist. Consequently, developers and researchers have tended to reinvent new versions of IDPT systems, making them more complex and less interoperable. Objective: This study aimed to design, develop, and evaluate a reference architecture (RA) for adaptive systems that can facilitate the design and development of adaptive, interoperable, and reusable IDPT systems. Methods: This study was conducted in collaboration with a large interdisciplinary project entitled INTROMAT (Introducing Mental Health through Adaptive Technology), which brings together information and communications technology researchers, information and communications technology industries, health researchers, patients, clinicians, and patients’ next of kin to reach its vision. First, we investigated previous studies and state-of-the-art works based on the project’s problem domain and goals. On the basis of the findings from these investigations, we identified 2 primary gaps in current IDPT systems: lack of adaptiveness and limited interoperability. Second, we used model-driven engineering and Domain-Driven Design techniques to design, develop, and validate the RA for building adaptive, interoperable, and reusable IDPT systems to address these gaps. Third, based on the proposed RA, we implemented a prototype as the open-source software. Finally, we evaluated the RA and open-source implementation using empirical (case study) and nonempirical approaches (software architecture analysis method, expert evaluation, and software quality attributes). Results: This paper outlines an RA that supports flexible user modeling and the adaptive delivery of treatments. To evaluate the proposed RA, we developed an open-source software based on the proposed RA. The open-source framework aims to improve development productivity, facilitate interoperability, increase reusability, and expedite communication with domain experts. Conclusions: Our results showed that the proposed RA is flexible and capable of adapting interventions based on patients’ needs, preferences, and context. Furthermore, developers and researchers can extend the proposed RA to various health care interventions.publishedVersio

Mobile application platform heterogeneity: Android vs Windows phone vs iOS vs Firefox OS

Modern smartphones have a rich spectrum of increasingly sophisticated features, opening opportunities for software-led innovation. Of the large number of platforms to develop new software on, in this paper we look closely at three platforms identified as market leaders for the smartphone market by Gartner Group in 2013 and one platform, Firefox OS, representing a new paradigm for operating systems based on web technologies. We compare the platforms in several different categories, such as software architecture, application development, platform capabilities and constraints, and, finally, developer support. Using the implementation of a mobile version of the tic-tac-toe game on all the four platforms, we seek to investigate strengths, weaknesses and challenges of mobile application development on these platforms. Big differences are highlighted when inspecting community environments, hardware abilities and platform maturity. These inevitably impact upon developer choices when deciding on mobile platform development strategies

Flow and automata programming inspired approach to human-readable VR training content logic modeling : View-Unit-Task-Step Unified Training Structure

This thesis introduces, demonstrates, and evaluates a custom VR training content logic modeling approach, the VUTS method we have created. We inspect the content creation needs from the point of view of the occupational safety training focused VR platform, Virtuario™, developed at The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. We review flow-based programming and Statecharts as comparison points to our approach and analyze techniques of secondary notation for their suitability for our needs. To define and evaluate our created hierarchical, visually representable flow approach, we use methods of design science to first define what we expect from an artifact that enables scalable, modular, and visualizable VR training content logic modeling: We test the artifact against requirements dictated by the pedagogical substance, software architecture development, and sustainable VR training content creation. We define the requirements for the artifact and test our developed approach against them by constructing real-life training scenarios utilizing the approach. We evaluate how this approach fares as the artifact to satisfy our set requirements. This thesis shows how our approach satisfies all the set requirements, is implementable within Unity3D game development platform, and is suitable for the content creation needs of Virtuario™