First step climbing the Stairway to Heaven Model - Results from a Case Study in Industry
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5753/jserd.2021.1992Keywords:
Stairway to Heaven, Agile, Systems Theory, GUT Matrix, OntologyAbstract
Context: Nowadays, software development organizations have adopted agile practices and data-driven software development aiming at a competitive advantage. Moving from traditional to agile and data-driven software development requires changes in the organization´s culture and structure, which may not be easy. The Stairway to Heaven Model (StH) describes this evolution path in five stages. Objective: We aimed to investigate how Systems Theory tools, GUT Matrix, and reference ontologies can help organizations in the first transition of StH, i.e., moving from traditional to agile development. Method: We performed a participative case study in a Brazilian organization that develops software in partnership with a European organization. We applied Systems Theory tools (systemic maps and archetypes) to understand the organization and identify undesirable behaviors and their causes. Thus, we used GUT Matrices to decide which ones should be addressed first and we defined strategies to change the undesirable behaviors by implementing agile practices. We also used the conceptualization provided by reference ontologies to share a common understanding of agile and help implement the strategies. Results: By understanding the organization, a decision was made to implement a combination of agile and traditional practices. The implemented strategies improved software quality and project time, and cost. Problems due to misunderstanding agile concepts were solved by using reference ontologies, process models, and other diagrams built based on the ontologies conceptualization, allowing the organization to experience agile culture and foresee changes in its business model. Conclusion: Systems Theory tools and GUT Matrix aid organizations to move from traditional to agile development by supporting better understanding the organization, finding leverage points of change, and enabling to define strategies aligned to the organization characteristics and priorities. Reference ontologies can be useful to establish a common understanding about agile, enabling teams to be aware of and, thus, more committed to agile practices and concepts. The use of process models and other diagrams can favor learning the conceptualization provided by the ontologies.
Downloads
References
Ali N, Lai R (2018) Requirements Engineering in Global Software Development: A Survey Study from the Perspectives of Stakeholders. J Softw 13:520–532. https://doi.org/10.17706/jsw.13.10.520-532
Baskerville R (1997) Distinguishing action research from participative case studies. J Syst Inf Technol 1:24–43. https://doi.org/10.1108/13287269780000733
Bastos EC, Barcellos MP, Falbo R (2018) Using semantic documentation to support software project management. J Data Semant 7:107–132. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13740-018-0089-z
Binamungu LP, Embury SM, Konstantinou N (2020) Characterising the Quality of Behaviour Driven Development Specifications. Springer International Publishing
Bosch J (2014) Continuous Software Engineering: An Introduction. In: Continuous Software Engineering. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 3–13
Bringuente AC, Falbo R, Guizzardi G (2011) Using a Foundational Ontology for Reengineering a Software Process Ontology.In: Journal of Information and Data Management (JIDM), vol. 2, pp. 511–526
De Sousa TL, Venson E, Figueiredo RMDC, et al (2016) Using scrum in outsourced government projects: An action research. In: 2016 49th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS). IEEE, pp 5447–5456
Duarte BB, Leal Castro AL, Falbo R, Guizzardi G, Guizzardi RSS, Souza VS (2018) Ontological foundations for software requirements with a focus on requirements at runtime. In: Applied Ontology, vol.13, pp. 73-105
Dybå T, Dingsøyr T (2008) Empirical studies of agile software development: A systematic review. Inf Softw Technol 50:833–859. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2008.01.006
Falbo R (2014) SABiO: Systematic approach for building ontologies. In: ONTO. COM/ODISE@ FOIS.
Falbo R, Ruy F, Guizzardi G, Barcellos MP, Almeida JPA (2014) Towards an Enterprise Ontology Pattern Language. In: Proceedings of the 29th ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (ACM SAC 2014)
Fonseca V, Barcellos MP, Falbo R (2017) An ontology-based approach for integrating tools supporting the software measurement process. Sci Comput Program 135:20–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scico.2016.10.004
Fitzgerald B and Stol K. (2017). Continuous software engineering: A roadmap and agenda. Journal of Systems and Software, Volume 123, pp 176-189, ISSN: 0164-1212, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2015.06.063
Guizzardi G (2007) On Ontology, Ontologies, Conceptualizations, Modeling Languages, and (Meta)Models. In: Proceedings of the 2007 Conference on Databases and Information Systems IV: Selected Papers from the Seventh International Baltic Conference DB&IS’2006. IOS Press, NLD, pp 18–39
Guizzardi G, Guarino N, Almeida JPA (2016) Ontological Considerations About the Representation of Events and Endurants in Business Models. In: 14th International Conference, BPM 2016. Rio de Janeiro, pp 20–36
Jim M, Piattini M, Vizca A (2009) Challenges and Improvements in Distributed Software Development : A Systematic Review. 2009:. https://doi.org/10.1155/2009/710971
Karvonen T, Lwakatare LE, Sauvola T, et al (2015) Hitting the Target: Practices for Moving Toward Innovation Experiment Systems. In: International Conference of Software Business (ICSOB 2015). Springer, pp 117–131
Kepner CH, Tregoe BB (1981) The new rational manager. Princeton research press Princeton, NJ
Kim DH (1994) Systems archetypes I. Diagnosing systemic issues and designing highleverage interventions.(Toolbox Reprint Series) Cambridge MA: Pegasus Communications
L’Erario A, Gonçalves JA, Fabri JA, et al (2020) CFDSD: a Communication Framework for Distributed Software Development. J Brazilian Comput Soc 26:. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13173-020-00101-7
Leffingwel D (2016) SAFe® 4.0 Reference Guide: Scaled Agile Framework® for Lean Software and Systems Engineering.
Lima T, Porto J (2019) Análise de Soft Skills na Visão de Profissionais da Engenharia de Software. In: Anais do IV Workshop sobre Aspectos Sociais, Humanos e Econômicos de Software. SBC, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil, pp 31–40
Meadows DH (2008) Thinking in systems: A primer. chelsea green publishing
Olsson HH, Alahyari H, Bosch J (2012) Climbing the Stairway to Heaven: A Mulitiple-Case Study Exploring Barriers in the Transition from Agile Development towards Continuous Deployment of Software. In: 2012 38th euromicro conference on software engineering and advanced applications. IEEE, pp 392–399
OMG (2013) Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). Version 2.0.2, Object Management Group (Technical report, Object Management Group)
Prikladnicki R, Audy JLN (2010) Process models in the practice of distributed software development: A systematic review of the literature. Inf Softw Technol 52:779–791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2010.03.009
Rodriguez P, Markkula J, Oivo M, Turula K (2012) Survey on Agile and Lean Usage in Finnish Software Industry. In: Proceedings of the ACM-IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, pp 139–148
Runeson P, Host M, Rainer A, Regnell B (2012) Case Study Research in Software Engineering: Guidelines and Examples, 1st edn. Wiley Publishing
Ruy F, Souza E, Falbo R, Barcellos M (2017) Software Testing Processes in ISO Standards: How to Harmonize Them? In: In Proceedings of the 16th Brazilian Symposium on Software Quality (SBQS). pp 296–310
Ruy FB, Falbo R, Barcellos MP, et al (2016) SEON: A software engineering ontology network. In: Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics). pp 527–542
Santos LA, Barcelos MP, Falbo R, Reginaldo CC, Campos PMC (2019) Measurement Task Ontology. In 12nd Seminar on Ontology Research in Brazil (Ontobras 2019).
Santos Jr PS, Barcellos MP, Calhau RF (2020) Am I going to Heaven? In: Proceedings of the 34th Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering. ACM, Natal, Brazil, pp 309–318
Santos Jr PS, Barcellos MP, Falbo R de A, Almeida JPA (2021a) From a Scrum Reference Ontology to the Integration of Applications for Data-Driven Software Development. Inf Softw Technol 136:106570. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2021.106570
Santos Jr PS, Barcellos MP, Ruy FB (2021b) Tell me: Am I going to Heaven? A Diagnosis Instrument ofContinuous Software Engineering Practices Adoption. In: Evaluation andAssessment in Software Engineering (EASE 2021). ACM, Trond-heim
Satpathy T (ed) (2013) A Guide to the Scrum Body of Knowledge : SBOK Guide. Scrumstudy a brand of VMEdu, Inc
Schwaber, Ken; Sutherland J (2013) The scrum guide-the definitive guide to scrum: The rules of the game
Smith PJ, Beatty R, Hayes CC, et al (2012) Human-Centered Design of Decision-Support Systems. In: Jacko JA (ed) The Human Computer Interaction Handbook, 3rd edn. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, pp 589–622
Sterman J (2010) Business dynamics. Irwin/McGraw-Hill c2000..
Sterman JD (1994) Learning in and about complex systems. Syst Dyn Rev 10:291–330
Studer R, Benjamins VR, Fensel D (1998) Knowledge engineering: principles and methods. Data Knowl Eng 25:161–197. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-023X(97)00056-6
Williams L, Cockburn A (2003) Agile software development: it’s about feedback and change. IEEE Comput 36:39–43
Wynne M, Hellesoy A, Tooke S (2017) The cucumber book: behaviour-driven development for testers and developers. Pragmatic Bookshelf
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Paulo Sérgio dos Santos Júnior, Monalessa Perini Barcellos, Rodrigo Fernandes Calhau
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
