An Autoethnographic Study of HCI Effort Estimation in Outsourced Software Development

Part 1: Research PapersInternational audienceA fair amount of literature has been published concerning the gaps between HCI and software engineering. However, most of it tends to look at the effects of these gaps rather than their causes. We argue that the use of autoethnographic methods would help us in identifying the root causes of these gaps and can bring us closer to finding potential solutions. In this paper, we focus on issues associated with effort estimation for HCI activities in three projects in three typical engagement models for outsourced software development projects in a mainstream IT company in India, namely Fixed Price model, Mixed model, and Time & Material model. We found that the HCI practitioner needs to negotiate her position with several members of the team, both within the vendor and client organisations. At times, a foot-in-the-door project turns out to be a foot-in-the-mouth project. At other times, it leads to inefficiencies and imbalance of work load. The autoethnographic approach led to reflexive thinking by the HCI practitioner, helping her to develop a deeper understanding of all aspects of a problem, and bringing her closer to potential solutions in some cases. The paper also brings to light several aspects of autoethnography as a method, which can influence effort estimation of HCI activities for future projects

The genuine scientist-practitioner in vocational psychology: an autoethnography

This paper explores the notion of the scientist-practitioner in vocational psychology. It is suggested that despite the visage of science and technology, the actual practice of vocational psychology and career counselling is a very personal endeavour. The paper uses autoethnography to elucidate the construction of the career assessment and counselling procedure My Career Chapter. It is argued that the genuine creator of the procedure was not the chimerical scientist-practitioner; rather it was a sensitive rural, working-class boy who had transcended strictures of economic class and culture. His transformation inherently effected his doing the science and practice of vocational psychology. The paper suggests that the lamented divide between theory and practice in vocational psychology may be reduced through autoethnographic inquiry, which proffers a personal bridge between the two without diminishing commitment to orthodox forms of psychological science