Software Business Hyrynsalmi, Sami; Münch, Jürgen; Smolander, Kari ...
2024, Letnik:
500
eBook
Odprti dostop
This open access book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Software Business, ICSOB 2023, which was held in Lahti, Finland, during November 27–29, 2023. The ...special theme of ICSOB 2023 was Digital Agility: Mastering Change in Software Business and Digital Services. The 27 full papers and 8 short papers presented in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 79 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: Requirements; software procurement; platforms, ecosystems and data; artificial intelligence; software startups; software product management; software and business co-development; and emerging digital world.
Software engineering education is under constant pressure to provide students with industry-relevant knowledge and skills. Educators must address issues beyond exercises and theories that can be ...directly rehearsed in small settings. Industry training has similar requirements of relevance as companies seek to keep their workforce up to date with technological advances. Real-life software development often deals with large, software-intensive systems and is influenced by the complex effects of teamwork and distributed software development, which are hard to demonstrate in an educational environment. A way to experience such effects and to increase the relevance of software engineering education is to apply empirical studies in teaching. In this paper, we show how different types of empirical studies can be used for educational purposes in software engineering. We give examples illustrating how to utilize empirical studies, discuss challenges, and derive an initial guideline that supports teachers to include empirical studies in software engineering courses. Furthermore, we give examples that show how empirical studies contribute to high-quality learning outcomes, to student motivation, and to the awareness of the advantages of applying software engineering principles. Having awareness, experience, and understanding of the actions required, students are more likely to apply such principles under real-life constraints in their working life.
Context Controlled experiments are an important empirical method to generate and validate theories. Many software engineering experiments are conducted with students. It is often claimed that the use ...of students as participants in experiments comes at the cost of low external validity while using professionals does not. Objective We believe a deeper understanding is needed on the external validity of software engineering experiments conducted with students or with professionals. We aim to gain insight about the pros and cons of using students and professionals in experiments. Method We performed an unconventional, focus group approach and a follow-up survey. First, during a session at ISERN 2014, 65 empirical researchers, including the seven authors, argued and discussed the use of students in experiments with an open mind. Afterwards, we revisited the topic and elicited experts’ opinions to foster discussions. Then we derived 14 statements and asked the ISERN attendees excluding the authors, to provide their level of agreement with the statements. Finally, we analyzed the researchers’ opinions and used the findings to further discuss the statements. Results Our survey results showed that, in general, the respondents disagreed with us about the drawbacks of professionals. We, on the contrary, strongly believe that no population (students, professionals, or others) can be deemed better than another in absolute terms. Conclusion Using students as participants remains a valid simplification of reality needed in laboratory contexts. It is an effective way to advance software engineering theories and technologies but, like any other aspect of study settings, should be carefully considered during the design, execution, interpretation, and reporting of an experiment. The key is to understand which developer population portion is being represented by the participants in an experiment. Thus, a proposal for describing experimental participants is put forward.
Startups in the field of Industry 4.0 could be a huge driver of innovation for many industry sectors such as manufacturing. However, there is a lack of education programs to ensure a sufficient ...number of well-trained founders and thus a supply of such startups. Therefore, this study presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of a university course tailored to the characteristics of Industry 4.0 entrepreneurship. Educational design-based research was applied with a focus on content and teaching concept. The study program was first implemented in 2021 at a German university of applied sciences with 25 students, of which 22 participated in the evaluation. The evaluation of the study program was conducted with a pretest–posttest-design targeting three areas: (1) knowledge about the application domain, (2) entrepreneurial intention and (3) psychological characteristics. The entrepreneurial intention was measured based on the theory of planned behavior. For measuring psychological characteristics, personality traits associated with entrepreneurship were used. Considering the study context and the limited external validity of the study, the following can be identified in particular: The results show that a university course can improve participants' knowledge of this particular area. In addition, perceived behavioral control of starting an Industry 4.0 startup was enhanced. However, the results showed no significant effects on psychological characteristics.
Purpose
Competency models are widespread in entrepreneurship and help develop educational offerings. Although existing models cater to specific sub-disciplines, the field of Industry 4.0 startups ...still needs a tailored competency. Therefore, this study aims to bridge this gap by developing a specific competency model to address the unique challenges in Industry 4.0 entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
The research approach involved a content analysis and interview study in compiling and categorizing the necessary competencies to succeed in the Industry 4.0 domain. The developed model was subjected to different forms of validation using the Content Validity Index and inter-rater reliability incorporating expert feedback.
Findings
The described multi-methodological approach resulted in the proposed “CompEntre 4.0” model, which contains 23 crucial competencies for Industry 4.0 startups. The results of this model validation demonstrate that it meets the necessary threshold values, establishing its reliability and potential for future use and further improvement.
Practical implications
By providing a structured framework tailored to the specific demands of this domain, the competency model has the potential to guide and empower entrepreneurs, improving their prospects for success in the rapidly evolving landscape of Industry 4.0.
Originality/value
While there are specific competency models for the entrepreneurship field and for specific sub-disciplines of entrepreneurship, there is, despite numerous specifics, no competency model for Industry 4.0 entrepreneurship yet.
The RIGHT model for Continuous Experimentation Fagerholm, Fabian; Sanchez Guinea, Alejandro; Mäenpää, Hanna ...
Journal of systems and software/The Journal of systems and software,
January 2017, 2017-01-00, 20170101, Letnik:
123
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
•A systematic approach to experiment-driven, continuous software engineering.•Details a process model and infrastructure architecture model for experimentation.•Links business goals and strategies to ...software development activities.•Shows how to perform decision-making based on experiments.•Outlines roles, tasks, technical infrastructure, and information artefacts needed.
Context: Development of software-intensive products and services increasingly occurs by continuously deploying product or service increments, such as new features and enhancements, to customers. Product and service developers must continuously find out what customers want by direct customer feedback and usage behaviour observation. Objective: This paper examines the preconditions for setting up an experimentation system for continuous customer experiments. It describes the RIGHT model for Continuous Experimentation (Rapid Iterative value creation Gained through High-frequency Testing), illustrating the building blocks required for such a system. Method: An initial model for continuous experimentation is analytically derived from prior work. The model is matched against empirical case study findings from two startup companies and further developed. Results: Building blocks for a continuous experimentation system and infrastructure are presented. Conclusions: A suitable experimentation system requires at least the ability to release minimum viable products or features with suitable instrumentation, design and manage experiment plans, link experiment results with a product roadmap, and manage a flexible business strategy. The main challenges are proper, rapid design of experiments, advanced instrumentation of software to collect, analyse, and store relevant data, and the integration of experiment results in both the product development cycle and the software development process.
An experiment-driven approach to software product and service development is gaining increasing attention as a way to channel limited resources to the efficient creation of customer value. In this ...approach, software capabilities are developed incrementally and validated in continuous experiments with stakeholders such as customers and users. The experiments provide factual feedback for guiding subsequent development.
This paper explores the state of the practice of experimentation in the software industry. It also identifies the key challenges and success factors that practitioners associate with the approach.
A qualitative survey based on semi-structured interviews and thematic coding analysis was conducted. Ten Finnish software development companies, represented by thirteen interviewees, participated in the study.
The study found that although the principles of continuous experimentation resonated with industry practitioners, the state of the practice is not yet mature. In particular, experimentation is rarely systematic and continuous. Key challenges relate to changing the organizational culture, accelerating the development cycle speed, and finding the right measures for customer value and product success. Success factors include a supportive organizational culture, deep customer and domain knowledge, and the availability of the relevant skills and tools to conduct experiments.
It is concluded that the major issues in moving towards continuous experimentation are on an organizational level; most significant technical challenges have been solved. An evolutionary approach is proposed as a way to transition towards experiment-driven development.
•The developed discovery effort worthiness index offers an easy-to-use tool for companies and their product owners to determine how much effort they should spend on discovery methods to discover and ...validate features.•The approach of the DEW index is that the effort worth spending for discovery activities increases when a high value can be expected but the clarity about the user's needs is low.•The DEW approach allows transferability to different teams and situations since it does not use absolute ratings, nevertheless, it requires calibration when being used in a new environment.•The work presents requirements that need to be met for systematic integration of product discovery activities into product development and delivery.•Companies appreciate the approach presented in this article since it offers the ability to integrate product discovery and product development and delivery to systematically identify product risks at an early stage.
In a world of high dynamics and uncertainties, it is almost impossible to have a long-term prediction of which products, services, or features will satisfy the needs of the customer. To counter this situation, the conduction of Continuous Improvement or Design Thinking for product discovery are common approaches. A major constraint in conducting product discovery activities is the high effort to discover and validate features and requirements. In addition, companies struggle to integrate product discovery activities into their agile processes and iterations.
This paper aims at suggests a supportive tool, the “Discovery Effort Worthiness (DEW) Index”, for product owners and agile teams to determine a suitable amount of effort that should be spent on Design Thinking activities. To operationalize DEW, proposals for practitioners are presented that can be used to integrate product discovery into product development and delivery.
A case study was conducted for the development of the DEW index. In addition, we conducted an expert workshop to develop proposals for the integration of product discovery activities into the product development and delivery process.
First, we present the "Discovery Effort Worthiness Index" in form of a formula. Second, we identified requirements that must be fulfilled for systematic integration of product discovery activities into product development and delivery. Third, we derived from the requirements proposals for the integration of product discovery activities with a company's product development and delivery.
The developed "Discovery Effort Worthiness Index" provides a tool for companies and their product owners to determine how much effort they should spend on Design Thinking methods to discover and validate requirements. Integrating product discovery with product development and delivery should ensure that the results of product discovery are incorporated into product development. This aims to systematically analyze product risks to increase the chance of product success.
Aims: The diagnostic approach to idiopathic giant-cell myocarditis (IGCM) is based on identifying various patterns of inflammatory cell infiltration and multinucleated giant cells (GCs) in histologic ...sections taken from endomyocardial biopsies (EMBs). The sampling error for detecting focally located GCs by histopathology is high, however. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of gene profiling as a new diagnostic method in clinical practice, namely in a large cohort of patients suffering from acute cardiac decompensation. Methods and Results: In this retrospective multicenter study, EMBs taken from n = 427 patients with clinically acute cardiac decompensation and suspected acute myocarditis were screened (mean age: 47.03 ± 15.69 years). In each patient, the EMBs were analyzed on the basis of histology, immunohistology, molecular virology, and gene-expression profiling. Out of the total of n = 427 patient samples examined, GCs could be detected in 26 cases (6.1%) by histology. An established myocardial gene profile consisting of 27 genes was revealed; this was narrowed down to a specified profile of five genes (CPT1, CCL20, CCR5, CCR6, TLR8) which serve to identify histologically proven IGCM with high specificity in 25 of the 26 patients (96.2%). Once this newly established profiling approach was applied to the remaining patient samples, an additional n = 31 patients (7.3%) could be identified as having IGCM without any histologic proof of myocardial GCs. In a subgroup analysis, patients diagnosed with IGCM using this gene profiling respond in a similar fashion to immunosuppressive therapy as patients diagnosed with IGCM by conventional histology alone. Conclusions: Myocardial gene-expression profiling is a promising new method in clinical practice, one which can predict IGCM even in the absence of any direct histologic proof of GCs in EMB sections. Gene profiling is of great clinical relevance in terms of (a) overcoming the sampling error associated with purely histologic examinations and (b) monitoring the effectiveness of therapy.
PDF
