Human and social aspects of software development for complex organisations: an online ethnography of software developers

This thesis addresses the problem of human and social issues that affect software development. It is situated within the field of Information Systems and focuses on the processes of software production used within complex organisational processes: particularly decision-making, collaboration and workflow. Human and social issues are problems and situations caused by the members of the target organisations, software developers, and the dynamics of their working and social interactions.The objective of this thesis is to identify these human and social issues and see how they affect software developers' work. The methodological approach adopted here, is designed from the interpretive point of view. This study takes the perspective of software developers as they possess practical knowledge of complex business settings and current software development practices. Online ethnography is the chosen method that allows this investigation access to virtual communities in which software developers work and exchange experiences. The design of this thesis is as follows:1. Online data is collected which reflect software developers' beliefs about their work and their target organisations.2. Data categories are created which show a picture of the current state of affairs in software development.3. An interpretive theory building strategy is used to create a model of software development based on data categories.The final outcome of this thesis is developed as a complement to Orlikowski's (2000) structurational model of enactment of technologies-in-practice and takes the form of a descriptive, theory based model. This model contributes to the deeper understanding of software development issues. It presents human and social issues that affect the production of software within three different contexts: software development environment, software development practices and complex business organisations. The model generated in this thesis also suggests that software developers' perceptions of human and social issues in complex business organisations are influenced by the developers' background knowledge and experience

From Offshore Operation to Onshore Simulator: Using Visualized Ethnographic Outcomes to Work with Systems Developers

This paper focuses on the process of translating insights from a Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)-based study, conducted on a vessel at sea, into a model that can assist systems developers working with simulators, which are used by vessel operators for training purposes on land. That is, the empirical study at sea brought about rich insights into cooperation, which is important for systems developers to know about and consider in their designs. In the paper, we establish a model that primarily consists of a ‘computational artifact’. The model is designed to support researchers working with systems developers. Drawing on marine examples, we focus on the translation process and investigate how the model serves to visualize work activities; how it addresses relations between technical and computational artifacts, as well as between functions in technical systems and functionalities in cooperative systems. In turn, we link design back to fieldwork studies

Information Systems Development and the Participatory Ethos

Participatory--also called emancipatory--information systems development (ISD) approaches claim systematic and meaningful user involvement, workplace democratization, and reduced worker alienation. Grounded in a humanist view of information systems (IS) as social systems, participatory ISD advocates open and non-distorted communication, reasoned argumentation, cooperation and mutual understanding between IS users and developers. However, the critical theoretical foundation of participatory ISD was contested and its practical value called into question (Wilson, 1997). Moreover, participatory ISD was criticized as serving the interests of capital by co-opting workers and thereby weakening their resistance (Asaro, 2000). Given the controversy surrounding participatory ISD, its objectives, theoretical foundation, and application in practice, further studies are warranted. Drawing on a longitudinal field study, this paper provides insight into a company that successfully implemented participatory practices in organizational decision-making including ISD. By exploring ISD in a broader organizational context, this paper re-examines conditions for participatory ISD and sheds light on the subtle difference between ISD practices that liberate and empower, and those that colonize and disempower

Sensemaking Practices in the Everyday Work of AI/ML Software Engineering

This paper considers sensemaking as it relates to everyday software engineering (SE) work practices and draws on a multi-year ethnographic study of SE projects at a large, global technology company building digital services infused with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities. Our findings highlight the breadth of sensemaking practices in AI/ML projects, noting developers' efforts to make sense of AI/ML environments (e.g., algorithms/methods and libraries), of AI/ML model ecosystems (e.g., pre-trained models and "upstream"models), and of business-AI relations (e.g., how the AI/ML service relates to the domain context and business problem at hand). This paper builds on recent scholarship drawing attention to the integral role of sensemaking in everyday SE practices by empirically investigating how and in what ways AI/ML projects present software teams with emergent sensemaking requirements and opportunities

Entanglements of creative agency and digital technology : a sociomaterial study of computer game development

Digital technology, with its distinctive characteristics that result from the fundamental process of digitalization that underpins it, is seen as fundamentally altering processes of creativity. However, we currently have limited understanding of creativity in relation to the development of digital technology. Computer game development, with its combination of esthetic, affective and cultural use features and highly sophisticated digital technologies, is a valuable setting for investigating these issues. In this paper, we explore how computer games are shaped through the interplay between the creative intentions of developers and the digital technologies involved in their production and playing. Drawing on in-depth studies conducted at three leading computer game development studios and a leading producer of the software system used in game development, this paper shows how the game developers' creative ideas for imagined novel game-playing experiences relate to a) the development of relevant digital technologies, and b) the emergence of new game development practices. The article goes on to propose a view of creativity as an on-going flow that, following an initial ‘creative impulse’, ripples through the sociomaterial entanglements of a particular setting, reconfiguring them in the process and spreading out in time and space in often unexpected ways

High-Tech Urban Agriculture in Amsterdam : An Actor Network Analysis

The agriculture and horticulture sector in the Netherlands is one of the most productive in the world. Although the sector is one of the most advanced and intense agricultural production systems worldwide, it faces challenges, such as climate change and environmental and social unsustainability of industrial production. To overcome these challenges, alternative food production initiatives have emerged, especially in large cities such as Amsterdam. Some initiatives involve producing food in the urban environment, supported by new technologies and practices, so-called high-tech urban agriculture (HTUA). These initiatives make cultivation of plants inside and on top of buildings possible and increase green spaces in urban areas. The emerging agricultural technologies are creating new business environments that are shape d by technology developers (e.g., suppliers of horticultural light emitting diodes (LED) and control environment systems) and developers of alternative food production practices (e.g., HTUA start-ups). However, research shows that the uptake of these technological innovations in urban planning processes is problematic. Therefore, this research analyzes the barriers that local government planners and HTUA developers are facing in the embedding of HTUA in urban planning processes, using the city of Amsterdam as a case study. This study draws on actor-network theory (ANT) to analyze the interactions between planners, technologies, technology developers and developers of alternative food production practices. Several concepts of ANT are integrated into a multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions (MLP) to create a new theoretical framework that can explain how interactions between technologies and planning actors transform the incumbent social\u2013technical regime. The configuration of interactions between social and material entities in technology development and adoption processes in Amsterdam is analyzed through the lens of this theoretical framework. The data in this study were gathered by tracing actors and their connections by using ethnographic research methods. In the course of the integration of new technologies into urban planning practices, gaps between technologies, technology developers, and planning actors have been identified. The results of this study show a lacking connection between planning actors and technology developers, although planning actors do interact with developers of alternative food production practices. These interactions are influenced by agency of artefacts such as visualizations of the future projects. The paper concludes that for the utilization of emerging technologies for sustainability transition of cities, the existing gap between technology developers and planning actors needs to be bridged through the integration of technology development visions in urban agendas and planning processe

Using mixed methods to track the growth of the Web: tracing open government data initiatives

In recent years, there have been a rising number of Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives; a political, social and technical movement armed with a common goal of publishing government data in open, re-usable formats in order to improve citizen-to-government transparency, efficiency, and democracy. As a sign of commitment, the Open Government Partnership was formed, comprising of a collection of countries striving to achieve OGD. Since its initial launch, the number of countries committed to adopting an Open Government Data agenda has grown to more than 50; including countries from South America to the Far East.Current approaches to understanding Web initiatives such as OGD are still being developed. Methodologies grounded in multidisciplinarity are still yet to be achieved; typically research follows a social or technological approach underpinned by quantitative or qualitative methods, and rarely combining the two into a single analytical framework. In this paper, a mixed methods approach will be introduced, which uses qualitative data underpinned by sociological theory to complement a quantitative analysis using computer science techniques. This method aims to provide an alternative approach to understanding the socio-technical activities of the Web. To demonstrate this, the activities of the UK Open Government Data initiative will be explored using a range of quantitative and qualitative data, examining the activities of the community, to provide a rich analysis of the formation and development of the UK OGD community

TRUST IN CO-SOURCED SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Software development projects are increasingly geographical distributed with offshoring. Co-sourcing is a highly integrative and cohesive approach, seen successful, to software development offshoring. However, research of how dynamic aspects of trust are shaped in co-sourcing activities is limited. We present a case study of how the co-sourcing relationship between a certified CMMI-level 5 Danish software company and an offshoring supplier can be conceptualized as an Abstract System. An Abstract System is a dis-embedded social system (such as banking) that is trusted despite lack of detailed understanding or personal trust relations. The paper suggest how certain work practices among developers and managers can be explained using a dynamic trust lens based on Abstract Systems, especially dis- and re-embedding mechanisms