Personalised continuous software engineering

Abstract

This work describes how human factors can influence continuous software engineering. The reasoning begins from the Agile Manifesto promoting individuals and interactions over processes and tools. The organisational need to continuously develop, release and learn from software development in rapid cycles requires empowered and self-organised agile teams. However, these teams are formed without necessarily considering the members' individual characteristics towards effective teamwork, from the personality and cognitive perspective. In this realm, this paper proposes a two level approach: first, form teams based on their collective personality traits and second, provide personalised tools and methods based on their individual differences in cognitive processing. The approach is motivated by a study conducted in a business environment focusing on task execution, satisfaction and effectiveness of team members in relation to their personalities and cognitive characteristics. Our preliminary results show that human factors provide a promising basis for increasing the capability of continuous software engineering.

Continuous deployment of software intensive products and services: A systematic mapping study

“…Partial [64] Two level approach of how human factors can influence continuous software engineering. Partial [74] Release readiness indicator to predict the time in weeks to release the product.…”

“…The study by Papatheocharous et al [64] highlights the importance of human factors as a basis for increasing the capabilities of continuous software engineering. In their study they identified that providing tools for developers to improve themselves, and designing and assigning work tasks based on personal qualities may lead to situations where team members are willing to accept more responsibility in managing themselves, and, thus, take responsibility for the project outcome.…”

“…Thus, human factors, including personality and cognitive aspects, plays a fundamental role in truly achieving continuous delivery. As acknowledged by Papatheocharous et al [64], in the context of continuous software engineering where organizations are required to develop, deliver and learn in fast and parallel cycles, it is profoundly important to establish an agile thinking culture from the individuals, to teams as well as upper management levels.…”

“…However, the individual should be also ready to take on that responsibility. Papatheocharous et al [64] argue, 'models considering the individuals personal traits to accommodate the objective of holistic continuous software engineering' are scarce. Models such as Stairway to Heaven [61] provide guidance on organizational levels, but how CD relates to personality and cognitive factors remains an unexplored research area.…”

Modeling Distributed Agile Software Development Utilizing Cloud Computing: A Holistic Framework

“…It facilitates in quick development and delivery of a product. To achieve this with distributed teams, several methods have been studied [6,7] and certain discussions [8] have been made, eventually leading to conditional results [9,10,11,12]. Common repositories were used to share the work progress so that efficiency is maximized during that development process.…”