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Alignment Practices Affect Distances in Software Development: A Theory and a Model

Bjarnason, Elizabeth LU orcid ; Smolander, Kari ; Engström, Emelie LU orcid and Runeson, Per LU orcid (2014) 3rd Semat Workshop on General Theories of Software Engineering (GTSE14) p.21-31
Abstract
Coordinating a software project across distances is challenging. Even without geographical and time zone distances, other distances within a project can cause communication gaps. For example, organisational and cognitive distances between product owners and development-near roles such as developers and testers can lead to weak alignment of the software and the business requirements. Applying good software development practices, known to enhance alignment, can alleviate these challenges. We present a theoretical model called the Gap Model of how alignment practices affect different types of distances. This model has been inductively generated from empirical data. We also present an initial version of a theory based on this model that... (More)
Coordinating a software project across distances is challenging. Even without geographical and time zone distances, other distances within a project can cause communication gaps. For example, organisational and cognitive distances between product owners and development-near roles such as developers and testers can lead to weak alignment of the software and the business requirements. Applying good software development practices, known to enhance alignment, can alleviate these challenges. We present a theoretical model called the Gap Model of how alignment practices affect different types of distances. This model has been inductively generated from empirical data. We also present an initial version of a theory based on this model that explains, at a general level, how practices affect communication within a project by impacting distances between people, activities and artefacts. The presented results provide a basis for further research and can be used by software organisations to improve on software practice. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Management, Requirements/Specifications, Software/Program Verification, Theory, Human factors, Documentation, empirical, software engineering, development, distance
host publication
GTSE 2014 Proceedings of the 3rd SEMAT Workshop on General Theories of Software Engineering
pages
11 pages
publisher
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
conference name
3rd Semat Workshop on General Theories of Software Engineering (GTSE14)
conference location
Hyderabad, India
conference dates
2014-06-02
external identifiers
  • scopus:84908612177
ISBN
978-1-4503-2850-0
DOI
10.1145/2593752.2593757
project
Embedded Applications Software Engineering
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
2df30a9a-6cb1-47f9-be29-a7f00ff8d291 (old id 4359502)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 12:23:47
date last changed
2023-09-06 14:05:35
@inproceedings{2df30a9a-6cb1-47f9-be29-a7f00ff8d291,
  abstract     = {{Coordinating a software project across distances is challenging. Even without geographical and time zone distances, other distances within a project can cause communication gaps. For example, organisational and cognitive distances between product owners and development-near roles such as developers and testers can lead to weak alignment of the software and the business requirements. Applying good software development practices, known to enhance alignment, can alleviate these challenges. We present a theoretical model called the Gap Model of how alignment practices affect different types of distances. This model has been inductively generated from empirical data. We also present an initial version of a theory based on this model that explains, at a general level, how practices affect communication within a project by impacting distances between people, activities and artefacts. The presented results provide a basis for further research and can be used by software organisations to improve on software practice.}},
  author       = {{Bjarnason, Elizabeth and Smolander, Kari and Engström, Emelie and Runeson, Per}},
  booktitle    = {{GTSE 2014 Proceedings of the 3rd SEMAT Workshop on General Theories of Software Engineering}},
  isbn         = {{978-1-4503-2850-0}},
  keywords     = {{Management; Requirements/Specifications; Software/Program Verification; Theory; Human factors; Documentation; empirical; software engineering; development; distance}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{21--31}},
  publisher    = {{Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)}},
  title        = {{Alignment Practices Affect Distances in Software Development: A Theory and a Model}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/5995251/4359507.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1145/2593752.2593757}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}