Exploring Organizations\u27 Software Quality Assurance Strategies

Poor software quality leads to lost profits and even loss of life. U.S. organizations lose billions of dollars annually because of poor software quality. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies that quality assurance (QA) leaders in small software development organizations used for successful software quality assurance (SQA) processes. A case study provided the best research design to allow for the exploration of organizational and managerial processes. The target population group was the QA leaders of 3 small software development organizations who successfully implemented SQA processes, located in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. The conceptual framework that grounded this study was total quality management (TQM) established by Deming in 1980. Face-to-face semistructured interviews with 2 QA leaders from each organization and documentation including process and training materials provided all the data for analysis. NVivo software aided a qualitative analysis of all collected data using a process of disassembling the data into common codes, reassembling the data into themes, interpreting the meaning, and concluding the data. The resulting major themes were Agile practices, documentation, testing, and lost profits. The results were in contrast to the main themes discovered in the literature review, although there was some overlap. The implications for positive social change include the potential to provide QA leaders with the strategies to improve SQA processes, thereby allowing for improved profits, contributing to the organizations\u27 longevity in business, and strengthening the local economy

Characteristics of medical device software development

This paper aims to describe the software development settings of medical device domain focusing on the demands of the safety critical software processes. Medical device software developers have to adhere to a number of regulations and standards. This paper addresses the most important characteristics of a software development framework that could support medical device software developers in their efforts to comply with these regulations as well as to improve their software development processes

A Model-Driven Approach for Business Process Management

The Business Process Management is a common mechanism recommended by a high number of standards for the management of companies and organizations. In software companies this practice is every day more accepted and companies have to assume it, if they want to be competitive. However, the effective definition of these processes and mainly their maintenance and execution are not always easy tasks. This paper presents an approach based on the Model-Driven paradigm for Business Process Management in software companies. This solution offers a suitable mechanism that was implemented successfully in different companies with a tool case named NDTQ-Framework.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TIN2010-20057-C03-02Junta de Andalucía TIC-578

Applying Agile Software Engineering On Medical Ubiquitous Computing (MUC)

Nowadays, people are involved in using computation capabilities to meet their daily life needs although most of the time they may be unaware as to how this actually happens. Ubiquities Computing is considered the future trend for providing unlimited computing capabilities that handle every service in human life. One of the most crucial implementation of Ubiquities Computing is in Medical and Hospital Service. This is due to their great importance in saving people's lives. The huge amount of data and information delivered by MUC systems draw the attention to the necessity of having a new and modern software engineering methodology; Agile Software engineering methodology is highly considered in the matter. In this paper, we present an implementation of applying agile SWE methodology on MUC System, research related issues are also discussed

Dealing With Ambiguous and Fluctuating Requirements of Embedded System Development: A Case-Study

This paper presents the findings of a case study that investigates how developers and managers deal with ambiguous and fluctuating requirements during an embedded system development in a structured process management environment. In particular, this paper focuses on improvisation and bricolage actions as a coping strategy by software developers and managers. This research adopts an interpretive approach that involves the collection and analysis of qualitative data. In this study, we observed a turbulent environment with situated improvisational and bricolage responses from developers and managers. The organizational structured process management framework was not sophisticated enough to deal with the existing challenges. Moreover, some improvisational and bricolage activities became institutionalized and, hence, became organizational routines of developers and managers. This paper indicates the value of reflexive practices as vital issues for strategic conduct in the event that improvisational and bricolage activities were deployed as a coping strategy

Mastering Agile Practice Adoption through a Model-Driven Approach for the Combination of Development Methods

Many software companies are adapting their traditional development processes to incorporate agile practices. In this context, it is necessary to count on expert knowledge to evaluate different agile practices and configure them according to project needs. However, this expert knowledge is scarce, difficult to validate, and time-consuming, since it is applied manually. As a solution, the paper presents a model-driven approach, called SIAM, which automatically generates guidelines for the adoption of agile practices through the combination of different development methods. SIAM is supported by a meta-model architecture to implement a knowledge repository that characterizes method configuration decisions, which can be reused in different development projects. SIAM has been implemented in a tool suite that facilitates the specification of models and the identification of issues during the definition of the development processes. The approach has been successfully applied to reconfigure an industrial development process with agile methods, showing that the effort required for tailoring agile practices according to organizational standards is considerably reduced

Socially-Constructed Metrics for Agile Quality: An Action Research Study

We present a method to develop socially-constructed metrics for ascertaining agile software development quality. Canonical action research (CAR) is our mode of inquiry, conducted in a key European player of healthcare information systems. The result is a set of meaningful metrics that are built according to three interrelated dimensions: (1) evidence from practice; (2) stakeholders expectations; and (3) stakeholders evaluation. Our contribution suggests simple artefacts to create socially-constructed metrics and the main guidelines to use them. Agile teams struggle with quality measurement, often supported by a plethora of metrics that do not adhere to rapidly changing project environments. We argue that socially-constructed metrics can address this problem, offering a contextualized perspective of quality that can improve tacit knowledge transfer; critical reflection about quality; and effective support in daily meetings, retrospectives, and audits. Moreover, it suggests a participative approach for continuous improvement in agile software development

<i>Trace++</i>: A Traceability Approach for Agile Software Engineering

Agile methodologies have been introduced as an alternative to traditional software engineering methodologies. However, despite the advantages of using agile methodologies, the transition between traditional and agile methodologies is not an easy task. There are several problems associated with the use of agile methodologies. Examples of these problems are related to (i) lack of metrics to measure the amount of rework that occurs per sprint, (ii) interruption of a project after several iterations, (iii) changes in the requirements, (iv) lack of documentation, and (v) lack of management control. In this paper we present Trace++, a traceability technique that extends traditional traceability relationships with extra information in order to support the transition between traditional and agile software development. The use of Trace++ has been evaluated in two real projects of different software development companies to measure the benefits of using Trace++ to support agile software development

Developing Socially-Constructed Quality Metrics in Agile: A Multi-Faceted Perspective

This research proposes development of socially-constructed metrics for quality assessment and improvement in Agile Software Development (ASD) projects. The first phase of our research includes an extensive literature review, which indicates that traditional (outcome-focused) metrics that evaluate quality are not directly transferable to adaptive, ASD projects. We then conduct semi-structured interviews confirming the necessity of considering people and process aspects for quality considerations in agile. We propose three dimensions for composite metrics in ASD, namely, (1) evidence (2) expectation and (3) critical evaluation. This combines quantitative and qualitative information drawn from people, process, and outcome-related factors. The proposed model allows ASD teams to concurrently conduct quality assessment and improvement during their projects, producing innovative metrics, adhering to the core principles of the agile manifesto. In our next research stage, this reference model will be tested and validated in practice

Information system development in a process management environment: the dynamics of improvisation and bricolage during embedded software design

The main objective of this thesis is to make a contribution to knowledge regarding the nature of improvisation and bricolage activities in the practice of embedded software design and how the tensional relationship between process management and improvisation and bricolage can be balanced. There is a lack of understanding embedded systems development in practice, and how the difficulties correspond to prescribed and emergent processes in this context. In order to address this knowledge gap I conducted an in‐depth case study of an embedded system development project in the German automobile context between December 2004 and November 2008. The research adopted an interpretive approach, which involved the collection and analysis of qualitative data. Empirical data that was derived through interviews and observation revealed new insights as to how embedded systems are developed in practice. I adopt the position that emergent processes occur not randomly, but as purposeful agents that navigate through a turbulent environment of ongoing need to improvise with the items at hand. The finding indicates that the success to achieve the aims is bound to the capabilities to be continuously reflexive and induce corrective actions as appropriate. A theoretical conceptualisation disclosed measures that may enhance the capacity to be reflexive. The findings implied that process management frameworks help as scaffolding in order to practice improvisation and bricolage as a coping strategy. Moreover, improving the capabilities to cope with challenges means enhancing reflexive capabilities. The original contribution of this research is founded on rich descriptions and interpretations as to how embedded systems are developed in practice, and the theoretical conceptualisation that can aid to balance the tension between process management and improvisation and bricolage