Requirements volatility in multicultural situational contexts

Requirements volatility refers to additions, deletions, and modifications of requirements during the system development life cycle. Different approaches in software development, including Agile and DevOps, have addressed requirements volatility by increasing user participation throughout the whole development process. In this paper, we analyse requirements volatility from a situational context angle with the aim to increase understanding of the role of culture and cultural diversity in a multicultural requirements elicitation process. Research on the situational context in Requirements Engineering (RE) is rather limited, despite the recognized importance of RE and requirements elicitation for improving the quality of the final system and software product. This paper builds on an extensive literature review demonstrating the importance of raising awareness and understanding of the role of culture and cultural diversity for requirements volatility, as one of the most significant situational factors in the requirements elicitation process, with the aim to improve the whole systems development process as well as the resulting products and services. The paper concludes with the presentation of the Requirements Cultural Volatility Framework which aims to reveal potential conflicts that may occur in requirements elicitation on a multiplicity of cultural dimensions, The framework proposes actions to be taken in order to address the conflicts and point out expected benefits on each dimension

Towards reducing communication gaps in multicultural and global requirements elicitation

This paper focuses on the collaborative aspects of requirements elicitation, in the context of software, systems and service development. The aim is to identify and understand challenges of requirements elicitation in general and in distributed environments. We focus on human, social, and cultural factors that have an impact on communication in the requirements elicitation process. More specifically we aim to i) unfold potential cultural impediments that hamper the requirements elicitation process; ii) highlight cultural factors that should be taken into account in the requirements elicitation process in order to avoid incomplete and inconsistent requirements; and iii) make recommendations for alleviating the problems. In this paper our first step is to report on the findings of a review of the literature regarding culture in RE. The results suggest that the cultural studies in the field of RE are insufficient and thus more empirical studies are required. Secondly, we look at current solutions that are being adopted to assist in improving the cultural aspect of the requirements elicitation process. In the following step we map the identified communication gaps to the SPI Manifesto Values revealing the manifestations of the problems and finally we prescribe a set of recommendations that could be exercised and fulfilled by actors in the requirements elicitation process in order for them to improve cultural considerations in the RE process. These recommendations address the shortcomings that were identified in the literature review and mapped the Values of the SPI Manifesto. The proposals regard technologies, platforms, methods, and frameworks that are readily available. A requirements elicitation process that adopts one or a number of these proposals can help alleviate the challenges invoked by stakeholders’ cultural diversity in the RE process, thus leading to systems development and deployment that much better reflects the requirements/needs of diverse stakeholders and users

KASL-II: a dynamic four-loop model for knowledge sharing and learning

Knowledge sharing is by far the most important component of a knowledge management programme. Organizations strive to gain competitive advantage through efficiencies. When organizations realize that organizational knowledge is by far the most valuable resource, they need to find ways for efficient and effective knowledge sharing. We explore the barriers to knowledge sharing especially in virtual and multicultural teams. In particular, we unfold the human and cultural challenges that can create added competitive value for virtual and networked organizations. We conclude that the ideal environment and working practices will be to change the mindset and behaviour of team members so that instead of perceiving knowledge sharing as an extra task for the team members, isolated from the knowledge of other team members, it (knowledge sharing) becomes the natural way to work for everyone. Finally, we propose the dynamic knowledge acquisition and sharing lifecycle (KASL-II) model for aiding the knowledge sharing process by showing the stages of translating an organization's mission and goals into objectives, and how decisions and actions operate for materialising these objectives

Social media adoption in higher education: a case study involving IT/IS students

This paper discusses the adoption and use of social media in Higher Education (HE). The aim of the research reported in this paper was to identify the main factors and problem areas in the adoption and use of social media in HE. Our study included a survey involving students of Information Technology and Information Systems in Greece and in Finland. In order to verify the findings from the survey, a follow-up survey was also undertaken. The unified technology adoption approach was identified to be a suitable underlying theory for this study. The analysis of viewpoints of students was needed in order to understand converging and diverging viewpoints. The results showed that infrastructure is the most important issue in the planning of learning/teaching activities based on social media, followed by the role of social influence. Based on the analysis, guidelines for planning social-media-based learning activities are proposed. Indications of further work complete the paper

The proposal of adding a society value to the software process improvement manifesto

The use of computers has become ubiquitous and spread out to every part of our personal lives and businesses. Computer Ethics focuses on the questions of right and wrong that arise from the development and deployment of computers. Thus, it urges that the social impact of computers must be analysed. In software engineering, the Software Process Improvement (SPI) Manifesto was developed by groups of experts in the field and aimed to improve the software produced, by improving the process, the attitudes of software engineers, and the organisational culture and practices. The manifesto is centred on three basic values: people, business focus and organisational change, underpinning the philosophy of software process improvement; and ten corresponding principles, which serve as foundations for action. In this paper, we argue that SPI professionals, need to, in addition to fulfilling duties to the Organisation, the Business, the Employees who participate in SPI, and the People who will be most affected, broaden their obligations to include wider society. The impact of developed and deployed software systems is often beyond the organisation and affects the daily lives and activities of citizens in society. This paper argues for the inclusion, in the SPI Manifesto, of a fourth value titled Society, along with six corresponding principles. These half-dozen principles are based on traditional moral and ethical concepts, sourced from the field of Computer Ethics. This proposed revision to the SPI manifesto would explicitly espouse the notion of serving the public interest. It will likely help SPI professionals to remember that working in the public interest is also important in Software Process Improvement, thus, making the duty to society clear and obvious or evident

Quality improvement through the identification of controllable and uncontrollable factors in software development

The software engineering community has moved from corrective methods to preventive methods shifting the emphasis from product quality improvement to process quality improvement. Inspections at the end of the production line have been replaced by design walkthroughs and built-in quality assurance techniques throughout the development lifecycle. Process models such as the Spiral, V, W and X-Models provide the principles and techniques for process improvement which, in turn, produces product improvement. Factors that affect the quality of software need to be identified and controlled to ensure predictable and measurable software. In this paper we identify controllable and uncontrollable factors and provide empirical results from a large industrial survey, as well as conclusions relating to the models and metamodels for the estimation, measurement and control of the totality of features and characteristics of software

Heuristics for ethical development and use of MOOCs

It is widely acknowledged that technology offers a chance to redefine, or at least change, learning and education for the better. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) can be defined as learning events that are conducted via the Web, which can accommodate large numbers of people, typically ranging from a few hundreds of participants to over a hundred thousand. A classification of MOOCs suggests that there are two general types: xMOOCs and cMOOCs. Different types of MOOCS require different levels of participatory literacy skills, motivation and self-determination. Although it is recognised that MOOCs embody a potentially exciting opportunity to use technology to realize many benefits of universal higher education there are also significant ethical concerns that arise in their development and deployment. In this paper we customize a theoretical framework developed by the US Content Subcommittee of the ImpactCS Steering Committee that specifies traditional moral and ethical concepts, which can be used to cater for the teaching and learning of the social, legal and ethical issues concerning MOOCs. An application of these conventional and generic ethical concepts can help flag issues, amongst others, such as: intellectual and pedagogical integrity; privacy, identity, and anonymity; intellectual property rights and plagiarism; and the digital divide. In the design and utilisation of MOOCs developers, content authors, tutors and participants must be aware of these ethical and moral concepts, as presented in this paper, in order to become more responsible professionals and citizens in general. We propose a set of heuristics for ethical development and deployment of MOOCs

Cultural impacts on knowledge sharing: empirical data from EU project collaboration.

Purpose – EU sponsored Lifelong Learning Projects involve a variety of experts of diverse cultural, organisational, and professional backgrounds connected together in one project with time and money constraints. The members of the consortium, often unknown to each other from the beginning, come together for a specific period of time to accomplish certain distinctive objectives. A special Knowledge Sharing strategy is needed in order to incorporate culturally diverse values, and to overcome the technical difficulties of dispersion and limited access to informal communication. This paper explores the way in which EU projects appreciate diverse cultural (national, organisational, and professional) influences on Knowledge Sharing in project-based collaboration. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on longitudinal studies, own multicultural experiences and earlier conceptually grounded arguments regarding cultural complexities to Knowledge Sharing in project environments. The key cultural issues highlighted here were empirically tested through a survey in the context of Knowledge Sharing in several EU Lifelong learning projects. Finally, the paper discusses the implications of dealing with cultural issues in fostering good Knowledge Sharing practices within dispersed projects. Findings – It is apparent that culture has a most significant influence on the Knowledge Sharing capability of time and money restricted dispersed project. Cultural awareness and the use of new Information and Communication (ICT) tools, such as WEB 2.0 are factors supporting Knowledge Sharing. Research limitations/implications – This paper puts forward experiences and opinions of a number of project partners from different EU lifelong learning projects regarding their general opinions about knowledge sharing and their experiences from knowledge sharing in EU projects they have participated in. The findings are not statistically tested due to the small sample, but highlight certain issues that will be further investigated in future work. Practical implications – At the project level, people and processes must be the first priority for project managers who wish to nurture a „Knowledge Sharing culture‟ in a dispersed context. At the team level, the project manager can help to create a team culture favourable to Knowledge Sharing by emphasising appropriate values and beliefs to the team members and by introducing suitable enablers for virtual communities. Originality/value – Previous studies have not examined knowledge sharing in EU projects. The paper aims to help practitioners and academics, who participate in EU projects to recognise that the different EU project team members usually are dispersed in terms of geography, expertise and working methods) and to understand that diverse cultural values (national, organisational and professional) can be a competitive advantage. As a result of gaining such understanding it is expected that EU project performance will improve if diversities are handled in a right manner and in addition Web 2.0 is used as a communication and sharing platform to enable increased knowledge sharing, interactive participation and digital democracy in practice

Towards developing a software process improvement strategy through the application of ethical concepts

Aligning Software Process Improvement with the business and strategic goals of an enterprise is a core factor for process improvement. Achieving success in Software Process Improvement (SPI) has shown to be a problematic challenge for countless organisations. SPI, as a discipline, can be described as a set of use cases, each use case describing the logically related activities that must be undertaken. In addition, each use case is a description of the interactions between itself and the participants, i.e. the Actors. The nature of these interactions more often than not may demand, from the participant, the recognition, and fulfilment, of ethical duties. In this paper we customise a theoretical framework developed by the US Content Subcommittee of the Impact CS Steering Committee that specifies traditional moral and ethical concepts, which can be used to identify the moral issues concerning the Software Process Improvement field. An application of these conventional and generic ethical concepts is made to use cases such as: Determining Business Needs; Conducting Process Improvement Assessment; the Tailoring and Creation of Processes; and Deployment. In doing so a number of ethical issues are highlighted. In the application and utilisation of SPI: business process engineers, software engineering teams, process improvement managers, and so on must be aware of these ethical duties, which have been identified by the application of the moral and ethical concepts, as presented in this paper, in order to become more responsible professionals in general. We propose a set of heuristics for ethical engagement with the SPI discipline proposing that an effective SPI strategy must be underpinned with ethical consideration

Developing effective teams in global multidiscipline engineering and manufacturing organisations

In today’s competitive business environment most activities in global relationships (subsidiaries, outsourcing, joint ventures) are carried out by multi-cultural and multidisciplinary teams which may be collocated or distributed. The members of these teams comprise a variety of experts of diverse cultural, organizational, and professional backgrounds. Within the project lifetime they are connected together with time and money constraints for a specific period of time to accomplish certain distinct objectives. The aims of this paper are to report on findings from an extensive literature review regarding multi-cultural and multidiscipline team work and to provide a basis for discussion and analysis of challenges such teams experience. A case study is carried out in a global multidiscipline engineering organization to identify empirical evidence of potential challenges in projects carried out by multicultural and multidisciplinary collaborative teamwork