Internet Software Development Research Articles

Managing the Web-based Software Product Development: Towards Feedback Loop Methodology

This paper comments on the challenges and constraints in the internet software development arena. Our study also reviews the methodologies currently adopted by various companies and based on the findings suggest an improved methodology for internet software development. We have adopted an exploratory study using qualitative method as studies in the Indian context are found to be scarce. Our findings indicate that in comparison to traditional software methodologies internet/web software development faces a different set of challenges. Based on a research conducted on IT professionals involved in internet/web software development, this paper finds out that current methodologies may lead in sub optimal internet software development due to lack of vision for serving the end users. Our findings, based on the qualitative data analysis suggest that the advantage of technological innovations has overshadowed the customer’s perspective and expectations. The importance of analyzing consumers’ requirements is not fully realized, thus not explicating the value proposition of the end product. In order to help a coherent, business-aligned software development, this paper proposes ‘feedback loop method’ which emphasizes the need for evolution among current methodologies in practice. The paper will be of interest to researchers, software practitioners and managers specifically involved in internet application and software development.

High-Speed Software Development Practices: What Works, What Doesn't

To gain a better understanding of the pros and cons of some of the more popular high-speed software development practices, an empirical study was conducted involving 10 US companies. Detailed case studies of Internet software development in the 10 companies were reviewed and knowledge was synthesized on best practices for quality and agility. The study identified six common problems these companies experience in high-speed development and the practices they use to address them. Together these practices address time-to-market, a changing environment, programmer and designer productivity, and fluid requirements. The study showed that in a high-speed development setting, cultural attitudes and values are also critical ingredients and are typically present in organizations that embrace the six practices

Managing the Sources of Uncertainty: Matching Process and Context in Software Development

There is increasing interest in the literature about the notion of a contingent approach to product development process design. This interest stems from the realization that different types of projects carried out in different environments are likely to require quite different development processes if they are to be successful. Stated more formally, a contingent view implies that the performance impact of different development practices is likely to be mediated by the context in which those practices operate. This article provides evidence to support such a view.Our work examines whether projects in which the development process matches the context achieve superior performance. We focus on two sources of uncertainty that generate challenges for project teams: platform uncertainty, reflecting the uncertainty generated by the amount of new design work that must be undertaken in a project; and market uncertainty, reflecting the uncertainty faced in determining customer requirements for the product under development. We develop hypotheses for how these sources of uncertainty are likely to influence the relationships between a number of specific development practices and performance. We then test these hypotheses using data from a sample of 29 Internet software development projects.Our results provide evidence to support a contingent view of development process design. We show that in projects facing greater uncertainty, investments in architectural design, early technical feedback, and early market feedback have a stronger association with performance. The latter relationships are influenced by the specific sources from which this uncertainty stems: platform uncertainty mediating the impact of early technical feedback and market uncertainty mediating the impact of early market feedback. Our results also indicate that while greater uncertainty is associated with making later changes to a product's design, this practice is not associated with performance.Our findings suggest that managers carefully must evaluate both the levels and sources of uncertainty facing a project before designing the most appropriate process for its execution. In particular, they should explore the use of specific development practices based upon their usefulness in resolving the specific types of uncertainty faced. Importantly, these decisions must be made at the start of a project, with purposeful investments to create a process that best matches the context. Reacting to uncertainty ex‐post, without such investments in place, is unlikely to prove a successful strategy.

Internet Software Engineering: A Different Class of Processes

This paper describes empirical research into Internet software development practices. The focus of our study is to develop an understanding of the features that characterize Internet software development. Based on a Grounded Theory analysis of data collected in nine US software development organizations, we identify three factors that influence Internet software development processes: demand for rush to market, operating in a different kind of market environment and the lack of experience developing such products. Though many of the characteristics of the development processes identified in our study may be observed in traditional software development, the intensity with which they apply and together distinguish Internet software development. The differences include a distinct collection of methods, tools, and management techniques for software engineering, and embody a unique development culture and negotiable software quality.

InterNetNews server: inside an open-source project

What do you get when you give your source code away and encourage programmers around the world to make changes to it? Some Internet software development engineers believe you get a robust system with a large market share and development that is highly responsive to user needs. The team behind the InterNetNews Usenet server package is one such group of believers. INN provides programs to exchange Usenet messages with other servers and to deliver those messages to end users. The Internet Software Consortium oversees the INN and has been supporting its development under an open model. INN is a moderate-sized software project with more than 430 files containing nearly 150,000 lines in the uncompiled distribution. Programs are written mainly in C, Bourne shell, and Perl. The CVS revision control system manages all changes to files. The paper describes the logistics of InterNetNews.