Systems thinking and simulation to help IT/Software professionals to visualize knowledge assets evolution according to digital solutions implementation

Mención Internacional en el título de doctorThis doctoral thesis presents the SIPAC-framework, a methodological proposal created to systemically guide and help software engineers and information technology professionals in the process of proposing a customized technological solution, specifically oriented to propose software or IT solutions that provides business value supported on the status of intangible knowledge assets of organizations, and from this, drive the achievement of the strategic goals that define the organizational operation. To achieve this, the SIPAC-framework comprises three layers clearly differentiated but intimately interrelated and co-dependent on each other: a methodological layer, a mechanisms layer and a technological layer inclusive of the technological artifacts to be used. 1. The methodological layer comprises the SIPAC methodology itself, inspired by Peter Checkland's soft systems approach, but adapted to, from an engineering point of view, addressing the situation given by the underlying knowledge of an organization, which it is usually unstructured and disordered, and whose understanding fits to be addressed as a complex problem. The SIPAC-framework guides the professional in the process of identifying such knowledge, structuring it in knowledge assets, organizing such assets according to the identity of the organization, characterizing them according to their quality and the impact they have in achieving the strategic objectives, exploiting them to propose an appropriate technological solution and envisaging possible future scenarios based on what can happen to them as a consequence of the decision making about the technological solution to be implemented. 2. The mechanisms layer comprises the constructs necessary to be able to carry out the subjacent activities of the methodological layer, mainly a model of identification and valuation of intangible knowledge assets, a model of characterization of the assets according to their quality and impact, a Markovian model of prediction of the re-characterization of intangible knowledge assets, and an instance-based learning model implementation of decisions on the implementation of technological solutions. 3. The technological layer constitutes the artifacts to be used during the deployment of the methodology to support its methodological processes. In detail, this layer presents an instrument for collecting information on the knowledge of a company and its structuring into knowledge assets, a web application for the management of such information through a database, an agent-based model that implements both the automatic characterization of the knowledge assets from the information stored in the database, as well as the simulation and prediction of the behavior of said assets as a product of the decisions made regarding technological implementations. The SIPAC framework has been used in a total of 11 small and medium enterprises, by means of teams of 2-4 software engineers each, who have been in charge of doing the deployment in two different time stages: an initial audit carried out in the pre-project phase and prior to the decision of technological implementation; and an audit carried out after the implementation of the technological solution. The interaction of said professionals with the interested parties by the companies (stakeholders) has been discontinuous, limited to specific audits, interviews and validations on the information and models built. This work has derived in the methodological proposal that constitutes the SIPAC-framework, with its mechanisms and technological artefacts, and whose impact can be evidenced in several aspects: • The effective elicitation and characterization of organizational knowledge of the participating companies. • The success of the goals-aligned digital solution implementation proposals, which is evidenced by the improvement in organizational knowledge assets’ state. • The effective predictive power of the SIPAC-framework’s simulation module. • The satisfaction of software engineers and IT professionals by both the process of d • The improvement of the profession of software engineers and professionals of information and communication technologies, by providing them with an innovative approach that leads them to demonstrate to their clients the knowledge they have, in what state they are, how they can improve and what can happen if they decide to improve it. • The emergence of organizational information that is traditionally hidden and incomprehensible, usually reserved for its management by expensive consultants and the experience of a few; all at a minimum cost, maximizing the visualization of the information and minimizing the complexity of its interpretation. • This thesis is a starting point for the development of the body of knowledge on the valuation of knowledge assets in technological environments as a tool to achieve the strategic goal of an organization. In addition, this work leaves open the way for the future development of decision-making models based on value, as well as the evolution of the presented model, ideally in a single patentable technological device.eploying the methodology and the results obtained.Esta tesis doctoral presenta SIPAC-framework, una propuesta metodológica creada para sistémicamente guiar y ayudar a los ingenieros de software y profesionales de las tecnologías de la información en el proceso de proponer una solución tecnológica customizada, orientada a proporcionar valor a las organizaciones y soportada en los activos intangibles de conocimiento de las organizaciones, de manera que se pueda, a partir de esto, impulsar la consecución de los objetivos estratégicos que dirigen su funcionamiento. Para conseguir esto, el SIPAC-framework comprende tres capas claramente diferenciadas, pero íntimamente interrelacionadas y codependientes entre sí: una capa metodológica, una capa de mecanismos y una capa tecnológica o de artefactos tecnológicos de soporte a ser usados. 1. La capa metodológica comprende la metodología SIPAC en sí misma, inspirada en el enfoque de sistemas blandos de Peter Checkland, pero adaptada a, desde un punto de vista ingenieril, abordar la situación dada por el conocimiento subyacente en una organización, el cual usualmente está desestructurado y desordenado, y cuya comprensión debe ser abordada como un problema complejo. SIPAC-framework guía al profesional en el proceso de identificar tal conocimiento, estructurarlo en activos de conocimiento, organizarlos en función de la identidad de la organización, caracterizarlos en función de su calidad y el impacto que estos tienen en la consecución de los objetivos estratégicos, explotarlos para proponer una adecuada solución tecnológica y visualizar posibles escenarios futuros en función de lo que puede pasar con ellos como consecuencia de la toma de decisiones sobre la solución tecnológica a implementar. 2. La capa de mecanismos comprende los constructos conceptuales necesarios para poder llevar a cabo las actividades de la capa metodológica, principalmente un modelo de identificación y valoración de activos intangibles de conocimiento, un modelo de caracterización de los activos en función de su calidad e impacto, un modelo markoviano de predicción de la re-caracterización de activos intangibles de conocimiento, y una implementación del modelo basado en instancias (IBL-model) sobre las decisiones estratégicas con respecto a la implementación de soluciones tecnológicas. 3. La capa tecnológica se constituye por los artefactos utilizados durante el despliegue de la metodología para soportar sus procesos. En detalle, esta capa presenta un instrumento de recolección de información sobre el conocimiento de una empresa y su estructuración en activos de conocimiento, un aplicativo web para la gestión de dicha información por medio de una base de datos, un modelo basado en agentes que implementa tanto la caracterización automática de los activos de conocimiento a partir de la información almacenada en la base de datos, como la simulación y predicción del comportamiento de dichos activos como producto de las decisiones de implementación tecnológica tomadas. El SIPAC-framework se ha usado en un total de 11 pequeñas y medianas empresas, por medio de equipos de entre 2 y 4 profesionales de la ingeniería del software cada uno, que han estado a cargo de hacer el despliegue metodológico en dos estadios de tiempo diferentes: una auditoría inicial llevada a cabo en la fase de pre-proyecto y con anterioridad a la decisión de implementación tecnológica; y una auditoría llevada a cabo con posterioridad a la implementación de la solución tecnológica. La interacción de dichos profesionales con los interesados por parte de las empresas ha sido discontinua, limitándose a auditorías concretas, entrevistas y validaciones sobre la información y modelos construidos. Este trabajo ha derivado en la propuesta metodológica que constituye el SIPAC-framework, con sus mecanismos y artefactos tecnológicos, y cuyo impacto se puede ver en varios aspectos: • La elicitación y caracterización efectiva del conocimiento organizativo de las empresas participantes. • El éxito que han tenido las propuestas de implementación de solución tecnológica alineadas con los objetivos, lo que se evidencia por la mejora en el estado de los activos organizativos de conocimiento. • El efectivo poder predictivo del módulo de simulación del SIPAC-framework. • La satisfacción de los ingenieros de software y los profesionales de TI, tanto por el proceso de implementación de la metodología como por los resultados obtenidos. • La mejora de la profesión de los ingenieros de software y profesionales de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación, al dotarles de un enfoque innovador que les conduce a evidenciar ante sus clientes el conocimiento que tienen, en qué estado se encuentra, cómo lo pueden mejorar y lo que puede ocurrir si deciden mejorarlo. • La emergencia de información organizativa que tradicionalmente está oculta e incomprensible, usualmente reservada a costosas consultoras y a la experiencia de unos pocos; todo a un coste mínimo, maximizando la visualización de la información y minimizando la complejidad de su interpretación. Esta tesis es un punto de partida para el desarrollo de la base de conocimiento sobre la valoración de activos de conocimiento en entornos tecnológicos como herramienta para conseguir los objetivos estratégicos de una organización. Además, este trabajo deja abierto el camino para el futuro desarrollo de modelos de toma de decisiones basados en el valor, así como la evolución del modelo presentado, idealmente en un solo artefacto tecnológico patentable.Programa de Doctorado en Ciencia y Tecnología Informática por la Universidad Carlos III de MadridPresidente: Raúl Álvaro Espejo Ballivian.- Secretario: José María Álvarez Rodríguez.- Vocal: Stefano Armeni

Smart occupational health and safety for a digital era and its place in smart and sustainable cities

As innovative technologies emerge, there is a need to evolve the environments in which these technologies are used. The trend has shifted from considering technology as a support service towards making it the means for transforming all complex systems. Smart cities focus their development on the use of technology to transform every aspect of society and embrace the complexity of these transformations towards something leading to the well-being and safety of people inhabiting these cities. Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is an essential aspect to be considered in the design of a smart city and its digital ecosystems, however, it remains unconsidered in most smart city's frameworks, despite the need for a specific space for smart OHS. This paper summarizes a 9-month process of generation of a value proposition for evolving the sector of OHS based on a value-map in whose creation several stakeholders have participated. They focused on identifying the products, the methods, the organizational structures and the technologies required to develop an updated, dynamic and robust prevention model focused on workers in smart and complex contexts, and to improve the organizations' capability to guarantee safety even in the most changing, digital and disruptive settings. To assess the relevance and validity of this value-map, a study was carried out to match the set of its elements and its specific and conceptual products discovered, considering also the definition of the past needs and future trends of the sector that a set of renowned stakeholders and key opinion leaders (with mastery in OHS from several companies and industries) have recently defined for the decade of 2020. A prospective analysis of this match is presented, revealing that there is still an existing gap to be covered in the context of smart cities design: the explicit guarantee of safety for workers.This work has been supported by the Madrid Government (Comunidad de Madrid-Spain) under the Multiannual Agreement with UC3M in the line of Excellence of University Professors (EPUC3M17), and in the context of the V PRICIT (Regional Programme of Research and Technological Innovation)

Using system dynamics to teach about dependencies, correlation and systemic thinking on the software process workflows

It is important to count on tools to help software professionals to evaluate the software process and how it may be affected by factors related to its deployment. Simulation models are a valuable means to illustrate the behaviour of such a process since scenario generation supports the prediction of potential outcomes and the prevention of undesired scenarios which are harmful to the process and the company in charge of the project to be developed. This work explores the effectiveness of introducing system dynamics (SD) models in the software engineers' process of understanding, from a management perspective, the software process dynamics. The used SD simulation model of the software process emphasises the representation of an iterative process. The COCOMO II model drivers and their main attributes were used, providing a set of reference factors that affect the software process, the estimation of project cost and the effort required. A set of 59 junior software professionals with no previous knowledge about SD participated in a validation study. For simple predictive scenarios, there was no important improvement effect, while for more complex predictive scenarios SD helped them to guess better and provide a rationale for the expected behaviour of the software process performance.This work has beensupportedby the Madrid Government (Comunidad de Madrid‐Spain) under the Multiannual Agree-ment with UC3M in the line of Excellence of University Professors (EPUC3M17) and in the context of the V PRICIT (Regional Programme of Research and Technological Innovation

Agile Delphi methodology: A case study on how technology impacts burnout syndrome in the post-pandemic era

IntroductionIn the post-pandemic era, many habits in different areas of our lives have changed. The exponential growth in the use of technology to perform work activities is one of them. At the same time, there has been a marked increase in burnout syndrome. Is this a coincidence? Could they be two interconnected developments? What if they were? Can we use technology to mitigate this syndrome? This article presents the agile Delphi methodology (MAD), an evolved version of the Delphi method, adapted to the needs of modern-day society.MethodsTo drive Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) experts to reach a consensus on what technological and non-technological factors could be causing the burnout syndrome experienced by workers in the post-pandemic era, MAD has been used in a specific case study. This study formally presents MAD and describes the stages enacted to run Delphi experiments agilely.ResultsMAD is more efficient than the traditional Delphi methodology, reducing the time taken to reach a consensus and increasing the quality of the resulting products.DiscussionOHS experts identified factors that affect and cause an increase in burnout syndrome as well as mechanisms to mitigate their effects. The next step is to evaluate whether, as the experts predict, burnout syndrome decreases with the mechanisms identified in this case study

Simulation of the software development process: an approximation using System Dynamics and the Larman Method

The implementation of any software development process involves the consumption of critical resources. Software engineers cannot experiment with different development processes before starting them in real projects, due to the time that would entail and the number of elements that are involved, so it is vital to have tools that allow the pre-visualization of the results of executing the software development process and how the environmental variables affect it,thus being able to anticipate under what conditions the software development process will be deployed. This paper presents the modelling and simulation of a software development process using System Dynamics (SD),which allows the graphical representation of the elements intervening in the software process, and the incorporation of as many relevant elements as possible. As a software costs estimation reference, the COCOMO estimation model was used; which beyond being reliable has a theoretical-practical foundation. As an ideal, and real, software process system, the Craig Larman Software Process model was chosen, also known as the Larman Method. The simulation model developed here, allows one to make some initial estimation of the software process and its elements' behavior in the course of the simulation time. This is possible thanks to the observation and study of the system's state variables, empowering one to discern about the effect of changes in the parameters on the general process. This model becomes a tool for supporting Software Project Management teams and enterprises whose business care on Technological Projects Managemen