Persuading developers to "buy into" software process improvement: A local opinion and empirical evidence

A. Rainer; T. Hall; N. Baddoo

doi:10.1109/ISESE.2003.1237993

Persuading developers to "buy into" software process improvement: A local opinion and empirical evidence

A. Rainer, T. Hall, N. Baddoo

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

40 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In order to investigate practitioners' opinions of software process and software process improvement, we have collected a large volume of qualitative evidence from 13 companies. At the same time, other researchers have reported investigations of practitioners, and we are interested in how their reports may relate to our evidence. Thus, other research publications can also be treated as a form of qualitative data. In this paper, we review advice on a method, content analysis, which is used to analyse qualitative data. We use content analysis to describe and analyse discussions on software process and software process improvement. We report preliminary findings from an analysis of both the focus group evidence and four publications. Our main finding is that there is an apparent contradiction between developers saying that they want evidence for software process improvement, and what developers will accept as evidence. This presents a serious problem for research: even if researchers could demonstrate a strong, reliable relationship between software process improvement and improved organisational performance, there would still be the problem of convincing practitioners that the evidence applies to their particular situation.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings - 2003 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering, ISESE 2003
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages	326-335
Number of pages	10
ISBN (Electronic)	0769520022, 9780769520025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/ISESE.2003.1237993
Publication status	Published - 01 Jan 2003
Externally published	Yes
Event	2003 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering, ISESE 2003 - Rome, Italy Duration: 30 Sep 2003 → 01 Oct 2003

Conference

Conference	2003 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering, ISESE 2003
Country/Territory	Italy
City	Rome
Period	30/09/2003 → 01/10/2003

Keywords

Computer science
Costs
Data analysis
Educational institutions
Productivity
Programming
Software engineering
Software performance
Software quality
Stability

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Software

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10.1109/ISESE.2003.1237993

Cite this

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title = "Persuading developers to {"}buy into{"} software process improvement: A local opinion and empirical evidence",

abstract = "In order to investigate practitioners' opinions of software process and software process improvement, we have collected a large volume of qualitative evidence from 13 companies. At the same time, other researchers have reported investigations of practitioners, and we are interested in how their reports may relate to our evidence. Thus, other research publications can also be treated as a form of qualitative data. In this paper, we review advice on a method, content analysis, which is used to analyse qualitative data. We use content analysis to describe and analyse discussions on software process and software process improvement. We report preliminary findings from an analysis of both the focus group evidence and four publications. Our main finding is that there is an apparent contradiction between developers saying that they want evidence for software process improvement, and what developers will accept as evidence. This presents a serious problem for research: even if researchers could demonstrate a strong, reliable relationship between software process improvement and improved organisational performance, there would still be the problem of convincing practitioners that the evidence applies to their particular situation.",

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author = "A. Rainer and T. Hall and N. Baddoo",

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doi = "10.1109/ISESE.2003.1237993",

language = "English",

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booktitle = "Proceedings - 2003 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering, ISESE 2003",

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Rainer, A, Hall, T & Baddoo, N 2003, Persuading developers to "buy into" software process improvement: A local opinion and empirical evidence. in Proceedings - 2003 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering, ISESE 2003., 1237993, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., pp. 326-335, 2003 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering, ISESE 2003, Rome, Italy, 30/09/2003. https://doi.org/10.1109/ISESE.2003.1237993

Persuading developers to "buy into" software process improvement : A local opinion and empirical evidence. / Rainer, A.; Hall, T.; Baddoo, N.

Proceedings - 2003 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering, ISESE 2003. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2003. p. 326-335 1237993.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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AB - In order to investigate practitioners' opinions of software process and software process improvement, we have collected a large volume of qualitative evidence from 13 companies. At the same time, other researchers have reported investigations of practitioners, and we are interested in how their reports may relate to our evidence. Thus, other research publications can also be treated as a form of qualitative data. In this paper, we review advice on a method, content analysis, which is used to analyse qualitative data. We use content analysis to describe and analyse discussions on software process and software process improvement. We report preliminary findings from an analysis of both the focus group evidence and four publications. Our main finding is that there is an apparent contradiction between developers saying that they want evidence for software process improvement, and what developers will accept as evidence. This presents a serious problem for research: even if researchers could demonstrate a strong, reliable relationship between software process improvement and improved organisational performance, there would still be the problem of convincing practitioners that the evidence applies to their particular situation.

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KW - Data analysis

KW - Educational institutions

KW - Productivity

KW - Programming

KW - Software engineering

KW - Software performance

KW - Software quality

KW - Stability

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Persuading developers to "buy into" software process improvement: A local opinion and empirical evidence

Abstract

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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