Process hierarchy for GSD based user-centric requirements elicitation frameworks

Abstract – The user-centric requirements elicitation frameworks facilitate the product users during the requirements elicitation process, which positively contributes in the improvement of whole requirements elicitation process. The applications of user-centric requirements elicitation frameworks in global software development projects have demonstrated the improvements in the quality of requirements elicitation process. This article presents a comprehensive hierarchical structure of internal processes running during the requirements elicitation process in user-centric frameworks in GSD contexts. The article presents a multi-layered hierarchy of different internal processes involved during the whole activity of requirements elicitation. The presented structure will help the software development industry to better optimize and manage the requirements elicitation process for globally distributed software development projects. The presented process hierarchy will also help the software engineers to perform the requirements elicitation process with more rigor and comprehensiveness

User research in product development in business to business software as a service

Customers are more empowered to make purchasing decisions than ever before, and customer experience has become a critical decision factor. Business to business (B2B) software as a service (SaaS) companies are changing their strategies and ways of working to become more customer-centric and stay competitive. To understand users, their needs, motivations and the problems that they are facing, companies do user research and involve users in product development. This thesis explores how B2B SaaS organizations utilize user research when developing products. It aims to answer some of the most fundamental questions: which user research methods companies use, how they involve internal stakeholders in user research and how they select the users and motivate them to take part in product development. A qualitative multiple case study approach was used in this thesis to answer the research questions. The literature review aims to provide a broad overview of the topic. Six B2B SaaS companies and two service design companies were interviewed to learn about user research in B2B SaaS field. The results of the thesis show that less customer-centric organizations do ad-hoc user research. More customer-centric companies incorporate user research into the development process. Both approaches are valuable for developing a product that fits customer needs but incorporated user involvement is necessary for achieving a better outcome. Customer-centric organizations include various stakeholders in user research to increase the transparency of findings and create empathy towards users. Furthermore, qualitative user research is essential for customer-centric product development. Regarding the users, while they are motivated to take part in product development, it was discovered that in the B2B field the process of approaching users can be challenging. This thesis compares how different B2B SaaS companies do user research. It reveals the best practices, challenges and opportunities of user involvement. This information can be useful for organizations that aim to become customer-centric. The findings contribute to the literature by providing insights into successful examples and the challenges of user involvement in product development in B2B SaaS organizations

The Influence of Citizen Involvement on the Intention to Use Smart Traffic Management Applications

Smart traffic management initiatives are a growing trend in many cities. While they have the potential to fundamentally improve traffic in urban areas, their success is determined by the citizens’ use of the applications developed in related projects. However, citizens are rarely involved in the requirements elicitation or development process encompassed within such initiatives, even despite research showing the high potential of user-centric software development. In a multiple-methods approach combining focus group discussions and a quantitative survey, we investigate how citizens can be integrated in the specification process of data-driven traffic management applications and whether their involvement can influence the intention to use those applications in the future. With our findings, we contribute to the field of user-centric software design in information systems research applied to smart cities and offer insights into citizen involvement in that context

Agile Requirements Engineering: A systematic literature review

Nowadays, Agile Software Development (ASD) is used to cope with increasing complexity in system development. Hybrid development models, with the integration of User-Centered Design (UCD), are applied with the aim to deliver competitive products with a suitable User Experience (UX). Therefore, stakeholder and user involvement during Requirements Engineering (RE) are essential in order to establish a collaborative environment with constant feedback loops. The aim of this study is to capture the current state of the art of the literature related to Agile RE with focus on stakeholder and user involvement. In particular, we investigate what approaches exist to involve stakeholder in the process, which methodologies are commonly used to present the user perspective and how requirements management is been carried out. We conduct a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) with an extensive quality assessment of the included studies. We identified 27 relevant papers. After analyzing them in detail, we derive deep insights to the following aspects of Agile RE: stakeholder and user involvement, data gathering, user perspective, integrated methodologies, shared understanding, artifacts, documentation and Non-Functional Requirements (NFR). Agile RE is a complex research field with cross-functional influences. This study will contribute to the software development body of knowledge by assessing the involvement of stakeholder and user in Agile RE, providing methodologies that make ASD more human-centric and giving an overview of requirements management in ASD.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3-3-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-71938-RED

Software certification modeling: from technical to user centric approach

One of the most essential issues in software products is to maintain it relevancy to the dynamics of the user's needs. Many researches and studies have been carried out in quality aspect of software products to overcome these problems. Several software quality assessment models and metrics have been introduced with strengths and limitations. The current quality models such as McCall, Boehm, ISO9126, Sistemic and PQF model are used as the benchmark for product assessment. In order to enhance the assurance and buoyancy of the software products, certification process and models have been introduced and developed. Previous fundamental and basic software certification models such as SCM-Prod and SPAC were developed to solve the uncertainties in software quality in two views which are the end product and the development process. However, the models are based on specific requirements and have certain limitations. SCM-Prod model focuses on the certification and quality requirements of software products in general. While SPAC model focuses on software certification based on development process approach. Our previous experiences in conducting certification exercises and case studies collaborating with several agencies in Malaysia, the requirements for user based software certification approach is needed and demanded. The emergence of social network applications and other varieties of software in the market has led to the domination of users over the software. As software become more accessible to the public through internet applications, users are becoming more critical in the quality of the services provided by the software. Users should be able to assess and certify their own products within their own environment at anytime and anywhere. The quality attributes for software assessment should be based on user's perspective and view. This new paradigm should the alternative focus in software product quality assessment and certification. This paper presents the evolution of software certification and assessment from technical view to user centric approach. It discusses the concept of user centric approach in software assessment and certification which also focuses on the design and development of the model (ucSoftC), the components and attributes embedded in this model. The development is believed to be beneficial and valuable to overcome the constraints and improve the application of software certification model in future

How Open Source Has Changed the Software Industry: Perspectives from Open Source Entrepreneurs

The emergence of F/LOSS (free/libre open source software) has triggered several changes in the software industry. F/LOSS has been cited as an archetypal form of open innovation; it consists of the convergence and collaboration of like-minded parties. An increasing number of software firms have taken upon this approach to link outsiders into their service development and product design. Also, software firms have been increasingly grounded their business models on user-centric and service-oriented operations. This article describes a study that investigates these changes from the perspective of F/LOSS entrepreneurs. The findings are summarized into four issues that are critical in managing an F/LOSS business: i) dealing with organizational changes in the innovation process; ii) mastering user involvement; iii) successfully using resources; and iv) designing revenue models

User-centric SDI: Addressing Users Requirements in Third- Generation SDI. The Example of Nature-SDIplus

Today, Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) play a key role in spatial information sharing. Since their beginning, SDIs undertook tremendous changes. Product-based (first-generation)models evolved to process-based (second-generation) SDI models. Now we face shift to user-centric, third-generation SDI. Compared to former SDI concepts, the development of third-generation SDI is increasingly driven by users. Within the framework of the EU project Nature-SDIplus, we proposed the application of the interdisciplinary and wide-ranging concept of usability relating to commonly known software development processes as solution to design a user-centric SDI. Based on the results of a Europe-wide user survey, the status quo on nature conservation’s spatial data use was described, user requirements were specified,target user groups of a domain specific SDI were identified, and recommendations made to contribute to user-centric Nature-SDI

User-centric SDI: Addressing Users Requirements in Third- Generation SDI. The Example of Nature-SDIplus

Today, Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) play a key role in spatial information sharing. Since their beginning, SDIs undertook tremendous changes. Product-based (first-generation)models evolved to process-based (second-generation) SDI models. Now we face shift to user-centric, third-generation SDI. Compared to former SDI concepts, the development of third-generation SDI is increasingly driven by users. Within the framework of the EU project Nature-SDIplus, we proposed the application of the interdisciplinary and wide-ranging concept of usability relating to commonly known software development processes as solution to design a user-centric SDI. Based on the results of a Europe-wide user survey, the status quo on nature conservation’s spatial data use was described, user requirements were specified,target user groups of a domain specific SDI were identified, and recommendations made to contribute to user-centric Nature-SDI

Concept-centric Software Development

Developers have long recognized the importance of the concepts underlying the systems they build, and the primary role concepts play in shaping user experience. To date, however, concepts have tended to be only implicit in software design with development being organized instead around more concrete artifacts (such as wireframes and code modules). Palantir, a software company whose data analytics products are widely used by major corporations, recently reworked its internal representation of its software development process to bring concepts to the fore, making explicit the concepts underlying its products, how they are clustered, used within and across applications, and governed by teams. With a centralized repository of concepts, Palantir engineers are able to align products more closely based on shared concepts, evolve concepts in response to user needs, and communicate more effectively with non-engineering groups within the company. This paper reports on Palantir's experiences to date, analyzing both successes and challenges, and offers advice to other organizations considering adopting a concept-centric approach to software developmen