Software Processes
Competency Leader
Software process research within Lero focuses on the use of software process models such as the Capability Maturity Model, ISO15504 and Agile Methods within specific domains and environments. We focus particularly on two environments - Global Software Development and Medical Device Software Engineering – and these are listed as separate competencies.
Planned software process can be based on various models such as the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) (Paulk et al., 1993), more recently CMMI (CMMI Product Team, 2006) or process standards such as ISO 15504 (Agrawal and Chari, 2007) and ISO 9001 (Agrawal and Chari, 2007, Stelzer & Mellis, 1998) and it has been shown that organizations can reduce software development costs and time-to-market through the implementation of software process improvements (Agrawal and Chari, 2007, Stelzer & Mellis, 1998, Galin & Avrahami, 2006). In addition, agile approaches such as eXtreme Programming (Baker, 2006) and Scrum (Schwaber & Beedle, 2002) have been increasingly used in companies as a way of addressing key problems in software development (Herbsleb et al., 1994) such as cost, long development times and lack of quality (Holmstrom et al,, 2006). While no one software process model can provide a perfect development environment in all situations, our research focuses on the development of models for use in specific environments. These hybrid models are useful within the situation for which they are specifically developed.
Our research shows that an organisation’s choice of software process often depends on a number of factors, including the criticality, risk, and regulatory environment of the system. Less regimented processes are becoming more popular due to their speed and efficiency. Therefore it is important that software process models are available for specific environments. Apart from Global Software Development and Medical Device Software Engineering, we are interested in the development of planned, agile and inner source process models for use specifically in small to medium sized enterprises, services, e-health and financial services. We have published extensively about problems which have been experienced implementing software processes, solutions which have been implemented and the development of process models for specific environments (click here to view publication list).
Our current Software Process research includes:
- Development and evaluation of Software Processes for Services Development (funded by EU FP7 Project S-Cube – Software Services and Systems Network http://www.s-cube-network.eu/and Lero Graduate School in Software Engineering http://www.lero.ie/lgsse);
- Development and evaluation of Business Process Models for Services (funded by EU FP7 Project S-Cube – Software Services and Systems Network http://www.s-cube-network.eu/), collaborating with Tilburg University, The Netherlands;
- Development and evaluation of a Capability Model for e-Health (funded by EU FP7 Project Transform - Translational Medicine and Patient Safety in Europe http://159.92.106.240/Home.html);
- Development and evaluation of a Software Quality Model for e-Health within Hospitals in conjunction with the Health Service Executive, Ireland (funded by EU FP7 Project Transform - Translational Medicine and Patient Safety in Europe http://159.92.106.240/Home.html);
- Development and evaluation of a Return on Investment Software Process Model in conjunction with Citco Global Securities Services, Cork.
- Understanding software project failure and development of prevention strategies, collaboration with the University of Eastern Finland.
References:
Agrawal, M. & Chari, K. (2007). Software Effort, Quality and Life Cycle Time: A Study of CMM Level 5 Projects. IEEE Transaction on Software Engineering, 33, 145-155.
Baker. W, (2006). Formalizing Agility, Part 2: How an Agile Organization Embraced the CMMI," presented at Agile 2006, Minneapolis, Minnesota,.
CMMI Product Team, Capability Maturity Model® Integration for Development, Version 1.2 (2006), http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/06.reports/06tr008.html, Technical Report CMU/SEI-2006-TR-008
Galin, D. & Avrahami, M. (2006). Are CMMI program investment beneficial? Analysis Past Studies. IEEE Software, 81-87.
Herbsleb, J., Carleton, A., Rozum, J. & Siegel, D. (1994). Benefits of CMM-based software process improvement: initial results. Pittsburgh.
Holström, H., Fixgerald, B., Agerfalk, P. J. & O’Conchuir, E.(2006). Agile Practices Reduce Distance in Global Software Development, Information and Systems Management., 7-18.
Paulk, M., Curtis, B., Chrissis, M. B. & Weber, C. V. (1993). Capability Maturity Modell for Software, Version 1.1. Pennsylvania.
Schwaber, K. & Beedle M. (2002). Agile Software Development with Scrum. Prentice-Hall. Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Stelzer, D. & Mellis, W. (1998). Success Factors of Organizationsl Change in Software Process Improvement. Software Process Improvement and Practice., 4, 227-250.
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