Software Process Innovation Research Articles

Contributions to Systems Software and Service Process Improvement and Innovation Based on Recent Advances

Contributions to Systems Software and Service Process Improvement and Innovation Based on Recent Advances

Advances in system, software and service process improvement and innovation

Advances in system, software and service process improvement and innovation

Succeeding in an increasingly Agile world

Purpose As Agile management thinking spreads to every part and every kind of organization, including their competitors, corporate leaders need to take steps to ensure they get and keep a good seat at the Agile table. Design/methodology/approach The author’s first hand research finds that firms are learning the hard way that software process and value innovation requires a different way of running the organization to be successful. The whole firm has to become nimble, adaptable and able to adjust on the fly to meet the shifting whims of a marketplace driven by dynamic changes in customer value. Findings The Agile way of working is provoking a revolution in business that affects almost everyone. Agile organizations are connecting everyone and everything, everywhere, all the time. They are capable of delivering instant, intimate, frictionless value on a large scale. Practical implications Examples of the new way of running organizations are everywhere apparent. It’s not just the five biggest firms by market capitalization: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft. It’s also firms like Airbnb, Etsy, Lyft, Menlo Innovations, Netflix, Saab, Samsung, Spotify, Tesla, Uber and Warby Parker. Social implications A new kind of management was needed to enable this new kind of worker -- a fundamentally different way of running organizations. Agile is economically more productive and a better fit with the new marketplace. And it had immense potential benefit for the human spirit. It could create workplaces that enabled human beings to contribute their full talents on something worthwhile and meaningful – creating value for other human beings. Originality/value Continuing the management practices and structures of the lumbering industrial giants of the 20th Century is no longer a viable option for today’s firms. To survive, let alone thrive, leaders today must recognize that Agile is not something happening in software alone.

Selected functional safety and cybersecurity concerns in system, software, and service process improvement and innovation

Selected functional safety and cybersecurity concerns in system, software, and service process improvement and innovation

グループ企業連携でのソフトウェア・プロセス改革( 成功するプロジェクトのための仕組みと組織活動)

グループ企業連携でのソフトウェア・プロセス改革( 成功するプロジェクトのための仕組みと組織活動)

2209 グループ企業連携でのソフトウェア・プロセス改革(一般セッション)

2209 グループ企業連携でのソフトウェア・プロセス改革(一般セッション)

Innovation Drivers and Outputs for Software Firms: Literature Review and Concept Development

Software innovation, the ability to produce novel and useful software systems, is an important capability for software development organizations and information system developers alike. However, the software development literature has traditionally focused on automation and efficiency while the innovation literature has given relatively little consideration to the software development context. As a result, there is a gap in our understanding of how software product and process innovation can be managed. Specifically, little attention has been directed toward synthesizing prior learning or providing an integrative perspective on the key concepts and focus of software innovation research. We therefore identify 93 journal articles and conference papers within the domain of software innovation and analyse repeating patterns in this literature using content analysis and causal mapping. We identify drivers and outputs for software innovation and develop an integrated theory-oriented concept map. We then discuss the implications of this map for future research.

European Systems and Software Process Improvement and Innovation (EuroSPI)

Software plays a crucial role in the world today. Since 1994, the EuroSPI initiative presents and discusses results from systems, software and services process improvement and innovation (SPI) projects in industry and research, focusing on the gained benefits and the criteria for success. EuroSPI is a community that supported the founding of the SPI Manifesto. This work presents a set of 4 values and 14 principles that gives expression to state-of-the-art knowledge on SPI. The aim of this Special Issue is to bring an overview of successful cases as well as methods to enable SPI through the lens of EuroSPI and the SPI Manifesto.

Is employee attitudes and perceptions at varying levels of software process maturity

Taking a control theory view of software process innovation, we tested prevalent beliefs regarding software process maturity and Information Systems employee attitudes and perceptions by surveying 736 IS professionals in 10 organizations at varying levels of the CMM (capability maturity model). Although anecdotal reports and the scant empirical studies to date suggest job attitudes and perceptions are more positive for employees in organizations at higher levels of software process maturity, we found evidence of a more complex picture. While our data supported expectations that role conflict and perceived work overload were lower for IS professionals in organizations at a level of maturity where software process behavioral controls are implemented, other results were not fully in line with prevalent beliefs. Most notably, IS workers reported significantly lower professional efficacy and lower job satisfaction in organizations at CMM Level 3, where behavioral controls are the dominant form of formal control, than in organizations at Level 1, which is relatively free of formal controls. Some anticipated positive attitudes and perceptions surfaced in organizations at the highest rungs of software process maturity (CMM Levels 4/5), where the established behavioral controls are supplemented by substantial outcome controls, as IS professionals reported lower role ambiguity and higher job satisfaction than did their counterparts in organizations at CMM Level 3.

IS Employee Attitudes and Perceptions at Varying Levels of Software Process Maturity

Taking a control theory view of software process innovation, we tested prevalent beliefs regarding software process maturity and Information Systems employee attitudes and perceptions by surveying 736 IS professionals in 10 organizations at varying levels of the CMM (capability maturity model). Although anecdotal reports and the scant empirical studies to date suggest job attitudes and perceptions are more positive for employees in organizations at higher levels of software process maturity, we found evidence of a more complex picture. While our data supported expectations that role conflict and perceived work overload were lower for IS professionals in organizations at a level of maturity where software process behavioral controls are implemented, other results were not fully in line with prevalent beliefs. Most notably, IS workers reported significantly lower professional efficacy and lower job satisfaction in organizations at CMM Level 3, where behavioral controls are the dominant form of formal control, than in organizations at Level 1, which is relatively free of formal controls. Some anticipated positive attitudes and perceptions surfaced in organizations at the highest rungs of software process maturity (CMM Levels 4/5), where the established behavioral controls are supplemented by substantial outcome controls, as IS professionals reported lower role ambiguity and higher job satisfaction than did their counterparts in organizations at CMM Level 3.

Acceptance of software process innovations – the case of extreme programming

Extreme programming (XP), arguably the most popular agile development methodology, is increasingly finding favor among software developers. Its adoption and acceptance require significant changes in work habits inculcated by traditional approaches that emphasize planning, prediction, and control. Given the growing interest in XP, it is surprising that there is a paucity of research articles that examine the factors that facilitate or hinder its adoption and eventual acceptance. This study aims to fill this void. Using a case study approach, we provide insights into individual, team, technological, task, and environmental factors that expedite or impede the organization-wide acceptance of XP. In particular, we study widely differing patterns of adherence to XP practices within an organization, and tease out the various issues and challenges posed by the adoption of XP. Based on our findings, we evolve factors and discuss their implications on the acceptance of XP practices.

A Paradox of Virtual Teams and Change

During a longitudinal participant observation study of a virtual software development team, a strange paradox was noted. A new software development methodology was introduced to the project and the developers were initially committed to its use. Over time, the commitment gradually decreased to the stage where aspects of the new methodology were practically ignored. As the team was a virtual team, with group members rarely congregating as a whole for any length of time, it was hard to explain why this diminishing of commitment occurred. The remoteness and part-time participation of group members meant that the team deciding themselves to ignore aspects of the methodology was not a likely possibility. A review of existing research suggested that the concepts behind the diffusion of innovations (specifically software process innovations) may have a bearing. Although pertinent to the area of introducing new software development methodologies, diffusion theories did not provide a complete explanation for the decrease in commitment that was observed. The theory of competing commitments was applied, and it was discovered that one cause of the decreased commitment among team members was groupthink. Groupthink should not be a problem with virtual teams as there should be less cohesion—the lack of contact between members dictating the low level of cohesion. Further analysis showed that traditional peer groupthink was not the issue, but hierarchical groupthink influenced by the project manager had a large influence. These findings are in contrast to most expectations regarding virtual teams, including the project management of virtual teams.

Managing Technology and Administration Innovations: Four Case Studies on Software Reuse

A software process innovation, such as software reuse, involves both technology and administration innovation. Following literature on organizational change, absorptive capacity, innovation assimilation stages, and software reuse, we develop a process model of the assimilation trajectory of an organization¡¯s innovation. The model postulates that actors at different organizational levels implement strategy, process, and culture changes in order for an organization to advance through the stages of innovation assimilation. The actions at these levels instill routines that establish the absorptive capacity for implementing future innovations. Case-study data collected from four software development sites ¨C two reporting failure in the reuse program, and two reporting success ¨C revealed that programs that implemented change at the strategy, process and culture levels scored higher on all paths in the model than non-successful programs. The right incentives help in the latter stages of innovation assimilation during which culture change by operational staff is important.

Perceived control and the diffusion of software process innovations

Emphasis on quality, productivity, and repeatable processes has led to the introduction of innovative software development tools and techniques. Evidence from use of these innovations shows significant gains in developer productivity and software quality. However, many potentially beneficial innovations are not widely diffused. We examine why this is so, focusing on how a software developer's perceived control over use of a software development innovation impacts the successful diffusion of the innovation. A proposed research model shows that a developer's perception of freedom in deciding whether to adopt an innovation and in deciding when and how to apply the innovation impacts IT diffusion success. Survey data were collected from practicing developers trained in the Personal Software Process SM (PSP SM) and are analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results suggest that creating a perception that IT adoption and application is an individual decision, while providing moderate controls governing use is important in impacting diffusion success.

The influence of software developers’ creative style on their attitudes to and assimilation of a software process innovation

This study examines outcomes associated with differences in software developers’ creative style, based on Kirton’s adaption–innovation theory. Propositions were developed and tested to identify the relationship between software developers’ creativity and their attitude to a technological innovation that altered the software development process in their organizations. Based on adaption–innovation theory, we expected that innovators (i.e. more innovative employees) would demonstrate higher levels of job satisfaction and performance than adaptors (i.e. less innovative employees), after approximately 4 months of using the innovation. We conducted a survey of 220 developers in two firms that had recently replaced mainframe-based software development with client/server development. Our results demonstrate a pattern of relationships among employees’ creative style, attitude to the innovation, job satisfaction, and performance which we believe have important implications for managers responsible for implementing other technological innovations.

Why software process innovations are not adopted

0 7 4 0 7 4 5 9 / 0 1 / $ 1 0 . 0 0 © 2 0 0 1 I E E E W hat do these modern, buzzword software methods have in common: eXtreme Programming, Crystal, lean programming, scrum, feature-driven development, adaptive software development, “good enough” software, personal software process/team software process, Rational Unified Process, rapid development, code complete, ...? They all offer something in exchange for a change in work habits, and sometimes in exchange for a “culture” change, too. An important reason organizations do not adopt such methods—that is, do not use them in daily software development—is that what the methods offer is not as important (read “cost-effective”) as staying with the status quo. This has nothing to do with inertia or resistance to change. Put more strongly, what these methods offer is irrelevant. Put more diplomatically, what they offer is not strategic for the enterprise. All the buzzword methods offer to reduce cost or effort, duration or time to market, or defects, and most offer to reduce all of these. How can we object? Don’t we all agree that those reductions are desirable, even necessary, especially considering our profession’s sorry state? My perspective comes from two disparate directions: I have read nearly everything on adopting process innovations, and I have seen adoption succeed and fail in many software development organizations. What explains the difference between success and failure? The standard answers are about upper-management commitment and sponsorship, the ability or persuasiveness of change agents, the divisibility of the innovation, how disruptive the innovation is, and whether the change is planned and managed. All those are important, but I have seen something that is more powerful and more dominant: alignment with strategy. When the method is aligned with the organization’s strategy, the adoption is much more often successful.

A field study of the adoption of software process innovations by information systems professionals

With spiraling demand for applications software, the adoption of software development process innovations by systems developers represents a problem of considerable magnitude confronting information systems managers. We report the results of a study focused on the issue of facilitating the movement of experienced COBOL programmers to become users of the C programming language. The study, conducted at a major financial services firm, is based upon a behavioral model of the acceptance of innovations that derives its foundations from research in social psychology, information technology acceptance, and innovation adoption. The model posits a relationship between beliefs about a target new technology and the subsequent adoption of the technology. Beliefs, in turn, are hypothesized to be influenced by a variety of external factors such as training and individual characteristics. Results suggest that certain beliefs do play a central role in determining acceptance behavior. Results also point to external factors such as organizational tenure, prior technical knowledge, training experiences, and perceived job insecurity that have significant effects on these beliefs. Theoretical and practical implications that follow are discussed.

The Assimilation of Software Process Innovations

The burden of organizational learning surrounding software process innovations SPIs-and complex organizational technologies in general-creates a knowledge barrier that inhibits diffusion. Attewel...

The Assimilation of Software Process Innovations: An Organizational Learning Perspective

The burden of organizational learning surrounding software process innovations (SPIs)—and complex organizational technologies in general—creates a “knowledge barrier” that inhibits diffusion. Attewell (Attewell, P. 1992. Technology diffusion and organizational learning the case of business computing. Organ. Sci. 3(1) 1–19.) has suggested that many organizations will defer adoption until knowledge barriers have been sufficiently lowered; however, this leaves open the question of which organizations should be more likely to innovate, even in face of high knowledge barriers. It is proposed here that organizations will innovate in the presence of knowledge barriers when the burden of organizational learning is effectively lower, either because much of the required know-how already exists within the organization, or because such knowledge can be acquired more easily or more economically. Specifically, it is hypothesized that organizations will have a greater propensity to initiate and sustain the assimilation of SPIs when they have a greater scale of activities over which learning costs can be spread (learning-related scale), more extensive existing knowledge related to the focal innovation (related knowledge), and a greater diversity of technical knowledge and activities (diversity). An empirical study using data on the assimilation of object-oriented programming languages (OOPLs) by 608 information technology organizations strongly confirmed the importance of the three hypothesized factors in explaining the assimilation of OOPLs.