Software Engineers' Information Seeking Behavior in Change Impact Analysis - An Interview Study

Software engineers working in large projects must navigate complex information landscapes. Change Impact Analysis (CIA) is a task that relies on engineers' successful information seeking in databases storing, e.g., source code, requirements, design descriptions, and test case specifications. Several previous approaches to support information seeking are task-specific, thus understanding engineers' seeking behavior in specific tasks is fundamental. We present an industrial case study on how engineers seek information in CIA, with a particular focus on traceability and development artifacts that are not source code. We show that engineers have different information seeking behavior, and that some do not consider traceability particularly useful when conducting CIA. Furthermore, we observe a tendency for engineers to prefer less rigid types of support rather than formal approaches, i.e., engineers value support that allows flexibility in how to practically conduct CIA. Finally, due to diverse information seeking behavior, we argue that future CIA support should embrace individual preferences to identify change impact by empowering several seeking alternatives, including searching, browsing, and tracing.Comment: Accepted for publication in the proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Program Comprehensio

IR in Software Traceability: From a Bird's Eye View

Several researchers have proposed creating after-the-fact structure among software artifacts using trace recovery based on Information Retrieval (IR). Due to significant variation points in previous studies, results are not easily aggregated. Aim. We aim at an overview picture of the outcome of previous evaluations. Method. Based on a systematic mapping study, we perform a synthesis of published research. Results. Our synthesis shows that there are no empirical evidence that any IR model outperforms another model consistently. We also display a strong dependency between the Precision and Recall (P-R) values and the input datasets. Finally, our mapping of P-R values on the possible output space highlights the difficulty of recovering accurate trace links using naïve cut-off strategies. Conclusion. Based on our findings, we stress the need for empirical evaluations beyond the basic P-'race'

Tools and Ecosystems for Open Control Systems Data at ESS

We see a potential for ESS to benefit from sharing alarm data for machine learning applications, by establishing data ecosystem. To achieve these goal, ESS must make a strategic decision to pursue data sharing, establish a technical platform to share a digital twin, continue advancing the data ecosystem, and work towards a standardized reference model

Collaboration in Open Government Data Ecosystems: Open Cross-sector Sharing and Co-development of Data and Software

Background: Open innovation highlights the potential benefits of external collaboration and knowledge-sharing, often exemplified through Open Source Software (OSS). The public sector has thus far mainly focused on the sharing of Open Government Data (OGD), often with a supply-driven approach with limited feedback-loops. We hypothesize that public sector organizations can extend the open innovation benefits by also creating platforms, where OGD, related OSS, and open standards are collaboratively developed and shared. Objective: The objective of this study is to explore how public sector organizations in the role of platform providers facilitate such collaboration in the form of OGD ecosystems and how the ecosystem's governance may be structured to support the collaboration. Method: We conduct an exploratory multiple-case study of two such ecosystems, focused on OGD related to the Swedish labor market and public transport sector, respectively. Data is gathered through interviews, document studies, and prolonged engagement at one of the platform providers. Results: The study presents governance structure and collaboration practices of the two ecosystems and discusses how these contribute to the platform providers' goals. The case studies highlight the need for platform providers to take an active and multi-functional role in enabling the sharing of data and software from and between the members of the ecosystem. Conclusions: We conclude that OGD ecosystems offer public sector organizations a possibility to catalyze the potential innovation output of OGD, but that it requires investment and adoption of an open and collaborative mindset.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2208.0030

Software product line testing - a systematic mapping study

Context: Software product lines (SPL) are used in industry to achieve more efficient software development. However, the testing side of SPL is underdeveloped. Objective: This study aims at surveying existing research on SPL testing in order to identify useful approaches and needs for future research. Method: A systematic mapping study is launched to find as much literature as possible, and the 64 papers found are classified with respect to focus, research type and contribution type. Results: A majority of the papers are of proposal research types (64 %). System testing is the largest group with respect to research focus (40%), followed by management (23%). Method contributions are in majority. Conclusions: More validation and evaluation research is needed to provide a better foundation for SPL testing

V-GQM: a feed-back approach to validation of a GQM study

The Goal/Question/Metric paradigm is used for empirical studies on software projects. Support is given on how to define and execute a study. However, the support for running several subsequent studies is poor. V-GQM introduces a life-cycle perspective, creating a process, spanning several GQM studies. After the GQM study has been completed, an analysis step of the plan is initiated. The metrics are analysed to investigate if they comply with the plan or has extended it, and also to investigate if the metrics collected answer more questions than posed in the plan. The questions derived from metrics are then used to form the goal for the next GQM study, effectively introducing a feed-back loop. By introducing the bottom-up approach, a structured analysis of the GQM study is possible when constructing several consecutive GQM studies. A case study, using V-GQM, is performed in an industrial setting

Integrating agile software development into stage-gate managed product development

Agile methods have evolved as a bottom-up approach to software development. However, as the software in embedded products is only one part of development projects, agile methods must coexist with project management models typically of the stage-gate type. This paper presents a qualitative case study of two large independent software system projects that have used eXtreme Programming (XP) for software development within contexts of stage-gate project management models. The study is comprised of open ended interviews with managers as well as practitioners, followed by a structured, fully traceable, qualitative analysis. We conclude that it is possible to integrate XP in a gate model context. Key issues for success are the interfaces towards the agile subproject and management attitudes towards the agile approach