Comparing Decision Making in Agile and Non-agile Software Organizations

Zannier, Carmen; Maurer, Frank

doi:10.1007/978-3-540-73101-6_1

Cited by 16 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…For instance, Zannier et al examined factors involved in design decisions that software teams make, finding that tools that encourage conversation and do not force structure encourage a broader consideration of alternatives (Zannier and Maurer 2007). These kinds of tools allow software designs to generate several solutions concurrently and then choose the solution or mixture of solutions that leads to the optimal result.…”

Section: Sketching In Software Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1(a), the designers first drew the different kinds of databases for patients that they will need as circles on the left, then jumped to brainstorming a list of elements relevant to the database on the right, and then began drafting a high-level perspective of how those databases would interact with the rest of the system on the bottom. Such switching between contexts is an essential part of design, as designers must consider alternatives, explore different perspectives, and develop detail where and when necessary to create a satisfactory solution (Petre 2009;Myers et al 2008;Zannier and Maurer 2007).…”

Section: Shifts In Focusmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The design and evaluation of a tool to support software designers at the whiteboard

Mangano

Hoek

2012

Autom Softw Eng

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Despite the availability of advanced software design tools, software developers are known to frequently turn to the whiteboard when faced with a specific design problem. Free from any restrictions, they engage in an informal form of software design that relies heavily on sketching. However, whereas whiteboards afford flexibility and fluidity, they at the same time limit a designer in only being able to draw and erase content. This paper presents Calico, a novel software design tool that leverages electronic whiteboards to enhance the design experience with explicit support for the creative, exploratory aspects of design. Specifically, Calico offers a grid to partition the drawing space, scraps to organize and manipulate the content, and a reusable palette together with gesture-based input to address several natural behaviors exhibited by software designers, including frequent shifts in focus, use of low-detail models, use of a variety of notations, and a tendency to refine representations. To evaluate Calico, we performed a laboratory experiment involving the design of an educational traffic simulator. Through a three-pronged analysis examining the use of Calico's features, design behaviors exhibited by the participants, and the nature of the design conversations, we show how Calico benefits the design process as it takes place at the whiteboard.

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Section: Sketching In Software Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Shifts In Focusmentioning

confidence: 99%

The design and evaluation of a tool to support software designers at the whiteboard

Mangano

Hoek

2012

Autom Softw Eng

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…al. examined various factors involved in the design decisions that software teams make, and found that tools which encouraged conversation, but did not force structure, promoted decisions with a broader consideration of alternatives [12].…”

Section: Sketching In Software Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When working on a design problem, designers switch context continuously, for instance when switching from user interface design to internal data structure design, to architectural issues, and back to user interface design. This is an essential part of design, as designers must consider alternatives, explore different perspectives, and develop detail where and when necessary to create a satisfactory solution [4,12,26].  Software designers use low-detail models during exploration at the whiteboard.…”

Section: Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Software design sketching with calico

Mangano

Baker

Dempsey

et al. 2010

Proceedings of the IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering

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Despite the availability of a host of software design notations and associated tools, software developers are known to frequently turn to the whiteboard when faced with a specific design problem. There, they typically engage in an informal form of software design that relies heavily on sketching. However, whereas whiteboards afford flexibility and fluidity, they at the same time limit a designer in only being able to draw and erase content. This paper presents Calico, a novel software design tool that leverages electronic whiteboards to enhance the design experience with explicit support for the creative, exploratory aspects of design. Specifically, Calico offers a grid, scraps, and a palette together with gesturebased input to address several natural behaviors exhibited by software designers, including frequent shifts in focus, use of lowdetail models, and use of a mix of notations. To evaluate Calico, we performed a laboratory experiment involving eight pairs of graduate students and collected and analyzed six corporate design sessions that employed Calico. Results are promising and indicate the benefits of Calico, while they at the same time highlight several ways in which it can be enhanced.

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“…So, individual decision making in requirements engineering was focused from different research perspectives . How developers make design decision was examined, and developers' design decision in agile was compared with non‐agile project . Because developers in open‐source software projects are typically not co‐located and not everyone works in the same company, how they make unified architectural decisions has been discussed .…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grouping environmental factors influencing individual decision‐making behavior in software projects: A cluster analysis

Jia

Capretz

et al. 2017

J Software Evolu Process

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An individual's decision-making behavior is heavily influenced by and adapted to external environmental factors. Given that software development is a human-centered activity, individual decision-making behavior may affect the software project quality. Although environmental factors affecting decision-making behavior in software projects have been identified in prior literature, there is not yet an objective and a full taxonomy of these factors. Thus, it is not trivial to manage these complex and diverse factors. To address this deficiency, we first design a semantic similarity algorithm between words by utilizing the synonymy and hypernymy relationships in WordNet. Further, we propose a method to measure semantic similarity between phrases and apply it into k-means clustering algorithm to group these factors. Subsequently, we obtain a taxonomy of the environmental factors affecting individual decision-making behavior in software projects, which includes 11 broad categories, each containing 2 to 5 sub-categories. The taxonomy presented herein is obtained by an objective method, and quite comprehensive, with appropriate references provided. The taxonomy holds significant value for researchers and practitioners; it can help them to better understand the major aspects of environmental factors, also to predict and guide the behavior of individuals during decision making towards a successful completion of software projects. KEYWORDScluster analysis, decision-making behavior, environmental factor, semantic similarity, WordNet | INTRODUCTIONDuring software development and evolution, many decisions have to be made concerning people, processes, techniques, and tools.1 For example, facing conflicts, some developers choose a positive cooperative strategy, but others choose a negative avoidance strategy. What makes software engineers choose different decision-making behaviors? Different decision-making behaviors bring different outcomes, so the project's success depends on how individuals in a team deal with problems and make decisions. Although many tools and techniques (for example, checklists, and decision models) have been proposed to assist decision making in software projects, no one can explain how people make decisions in their contexts. 1 Individual decision-making behavior is still seldom focused on in software projects, although it is important for software development and evolution. Recently, Lenberg et al 2 proposed a concept of behavioral software engineering by taking cues from behavioral economics, which underpins the research that focuses on behavioral aspects of software engineers.According to social cognitive theory, overt behavior is influenced by intrinsic personal factors and extrinsic environmental factors. 3,4 Therefore, the factors influencing individual decision-making behavior include 2 aspects: personal and environmental factors. Personal factors, especially personality, have been explored a lot in the software engineering (SE) domain. Environmental factors are also known as situational or...

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Comparing Decision Making in Agile and Non-agile Software Organizations

Cited by 16 publications

References 8 publications

The design and evaluation of a tool to support software designers at the whiteboard

The design and evaluation of a tool to support software designers at the whiteboard

Software design sketching with calico

Grouping environmental factors influencing individual decision‐making behavior in software projects: A cluster analysis

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