1 / 89

Challenges in Software Engineering for Collaborative Development

Challenges in Software Engineering for Collaborative Development. Thomas Marlowe (Seton Hall) Vassilka Kirova (Alcatel-Lucent) Mojgan Mohtashami (Advanced Infrastructure Design). Outline . Why cooperative development? Motivation, properties, forms

archer
Download Presentation

Challenges in Software Engineering for Collaborative Development

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Challenges in Software Engineering for Collaborative Development Thomas Marlowe (Seton Hall) VassilkaKirova (Alcatel-Lucent) MojganMohtashami (Advanced Infrastructure Design)

  2. Outline • Why cooperative development? • Motivation, properties, forms • A long list of challenges – many open questions • Process • Information • System organization • Technology • Management and legal • A short list of mitigations • Endless opportunities for innovation and research Seton Hall University

  3. Software Engineering Disciplines • Requirements Elicitation • Specification and Analysis • Design • Implementation • Testing and Validation • Maintenance and Evolution • Process Evolution Seton Hall University

  4. Traditional Software Engineering • Disciplines are phases • Limited feedback • “Requirements complete at start of project” • “Testing can wait until after implementation” Seton Hall University

  5. Agile OO Software Engineering • Disciplines are work areas • Disciplines exercised concurrently during development • Obviously, more requirements at start; more evolution at end; and so on • Testing must start early • Requirements never complete or completely understood but change • Development must follow changes • Evolution is critical Seton Hall University

  6. Some Prior Findings • Iterative, continuous communication improves collaboration and decision making • Large, complex, long-lived, or high uncertainty projects benefit from dynamic management and good quality communication • Emphasis on information and knowledge exchange is the key to collaborative success • Traditional software development practices negatively affect collaboration Mojgan Mohtashami - AID, INC. IRMA May 22

  7. THE challenge Seton Hall University

  8. Software Industry Challenges Market Expectations Up Costs Up Intervals Shrinking Complexity Up Revenues Down Stockholders : ROI Customers: Value Users : Functionality & Quality Need solutions that are flexible, expansible, survivable, sustainable, affordable and secure  Seton Hall University

  9. Four Styles of Development • Traditional • Single organization, few teams, coordinated • Open Source • High parallelism, low coordination & control • Contractual • Vendors, subcontractors, services, … • Collaborative • Multiple organizations, negotiated partition Seton Hall University

  10. MotivationSoftware Development is Risky • 75% of standalone software development projects fail • Full collaboration increases resources • But also increases complexity and risk • Without attention to collaborative process, failure rate is almost certainly higher Seton Hall University

  11. Models • Traditional, single-organizational • Dominant style for small and medium projects • Problems for large and complex projects • Expertise, staffing, resources, economy, … Seton Hall University

  12. Models • Open source • Important source for low-security projects, components and tools • Management and intellectual property issues • Contractual model • Uses expertise, resources, … of others • Limited flexibility after early decisions • Fits traditional software engineering model Seton Hall University

  13. Models • Collaborative model • Highly flexible, both for resources & design • Better fit to modern software engineering • Distributed, collaborative risk management • Success in restricted domains/environments • Lots of open questions Seton Hall University

  14. What to do? • Iterative incremental development • Management contingency policies • Distributed development • Across teams, sites, and organizations • Distributed risk management • Collaborative development • International collaboration Seton Hall University

  15. Cooperative-Collaborative Development • Development • Large and complex systems • Ultra-large Scale Systems (DoD, SEI) • Requiring multiple specialties • Mix of skills, knowledge and expertise • Multiple communities of experts • Specialized components, tools & libraries • Diversity of development models and participating organizations • Software production as a socio-technical ecosystem Seton Hall University

  16. Cooperative Development • Cooperative development • Multiple teams working toward a common product • Often at multiple sites • Frequently in different organizations • Domain and application experts and specialists—and reusable code base—also widely distributed Seton Hall University

  17. International Collaboration • New Benefits • Multiple perspectives and skill sets—both managerial & technical • Time zones extend collaborative work day • New Challenges • Conflicts in perspectives and skill sets • Time differences inhibit communication • Language and cultural differences matter Seton Hall University

  18. Collaborative DevelopmentOur Goal • Provide a documented, standardized structure • A foundation for collaborative process definition & alignment • A bridge to management buy-in • A basis for SQA for collaborative systems • A plan for ongoing involvement • A checklist for possible risks and hazards Seton Hall University

  19. Modes of Collaborative Software Development

  20. Cooperative Development • Inter-organizational Collaborative Software Development (ICSD) • Often international • Management-inspired — outsourcing/offshoring • Technically inspired — expertise matching • Less collaboration  less satisfactory • Important business, process, and project characteristics Seton Hall University

  21. ICSD • Business Characteristics • Long or short-term alliances • Ventures with loosely defined relationships with parent company • Distributed decentralized development and management model Seton Hall University

  22. ICSD • Process Characteristics • Full-fledged integrated development, with dynamic requirements and flexible design • Flexible component development • Development of modifiable, configurable tools and libraries Seton Hall University

  23. ICSD • Project Characteristics • Long-lived projects or high innovation • Components with specific roles, but significant dependences and interaction • Evolvable specification, not completely fixed Seton Hall University

  24. Requirements for Collaborative Software Development

  25. Overview • ICSD requires • High bandwidth and high diversity communication • Ongoing coordination • Emphasis on information and communication • Collaboration-aware risk management • Collaboration-aware management policies Seton Hall University

  26. Examining the Challengesand Requirements • Processes and methods • Technology and infrastructure • Risk Management • Corporate Management • Customer Interaction • Legal • Metrics • Reflection—process flexibility & evolution Seton Hall University

  27. Process Challenges • Need to develop a modified process for software development • Start with less common knowledge • Require more information sharing • Constrained by lower information bandwidth • Both data volume and conceptual communication • Face-to-face or even virtual face-to-face interaction necessarily more limited • Constrained by cultural differences Seton Hall University

  28. Process ChallengesInformation • Sharing information • Relax need-to-know, information hiding relative to requirements • Share high-level process and design views • Provide support for design decisions • Interacts with management and legal concerns • Be sensitive to cultural differences—what is the role of personal information? Seton Hall University

  29. Process ChallengesSystem Organization & Design • Architectures • Adaptable, open architectures, aspects, services • Component structure • Component boundaries and interaction mechanisms • Identify integration and end-to-end constraints • Support flexible interfaces • Levels of abstraction • Use higher-levels of abstraction in system definition and design (e.g., model-driven development, domain specific modeling languages) Seton Hall University

  30. Technology Challenges • Integrated (possibly virtual) development environment or views • Coordinated tool support and development • Common tools where appropriate • Identify and extend existing tools and techniques • “Not invented here” is also cultural Seton Hall University

  31. Technology ChallengesCommunication • Both synchronous and asynchronous channels • Improved multi-media communication • Live Meeting support including (e.g. LiveMeeting) • Collaborative Environments • Co-authoring (e.g., ColabNet) Seton Hall University

  32. Technology ChallengesKnowledge base • Support for lore—a viable group memory • Shared project repositories • Documents, code, specification and design artifacts, … • Multi-layer, distributed risk management archive • With language differences • Establish governing versions of text documents • Create usable translations where feasible Seton Hall University

  33. Special Technical Challenges • Handling innovation • Security • Real-time applications • Active applications with multiple active components • Process control, voting, robotics, … • Extensive multi-lingual interfaces • Configurability over multiple components Seton Hall University

  34. Risk Management • Uncertainty + loss • Steps in risk management • Identify and analyze • Plan how to recognize, handle and recover • Try to avoid or prevent • Mitigate occurrences • Recover software process • Need communication and reflection Seton Hall University

  35. Risk Management ChallengesNew and Modified Risk Factors • Communication • Increased bandwidth increases vulnerability • New modes and artifacts require infrastructure and understanding • Linguistic and cultural differences complicate specification and documentation Seton Hall University

  36. Risk Management ChallengesNew and Modified Risk Factors • Cultural differences • Not just social and language • Institutional, site, and team culture • Work norms and at-work interactions • Interactions with outside contacts Seton Hall University

  37. Risk Management ChallengesNew and Modified Risk Factors • Differences in processes and practices • Incompatible views of design, code, and data • Leads to difficulties in integration • Leads to misunderstandings • Impact of process and practices on mental map, and conversely • Sapir-Whorf — also language Seton Hall University

  38. Risk Management ChallengesNew and Modified Risk Factors • Collaborative impact of problem • Increased risk (of course) at component interfaces • Risk confinement and contagion • Scope limited to single component or organization • Effects primarily on interfaces or agreements • Many components or partners affected Seton Hall University

  39. Risk Management ChallengesNew and Modified Risk Factors • Collaborative impact of problem • Trust—Problems can affect ongoing relationships • Current project • Future collaboration • Reputation and ability to form new collaborations • Language and cultural differences exacerbate • May be redressable or recoverable Seton Hall University

  40. Risk Management ChallengesWhy is this a new challenge? • Cultural differences • Lots of work on social and management practices • For example, American vs Japanese customs • Little attention to differences in technical or technical management worldviews • Little attention to differences in work norms or importance of work for technical staff Seton Hall University

  41. Risk Management ChallengesNew Criteria for Effective Collaboration • Level of trust established • Cultural sensitivity • Collaborative communication • Effective interaction • Focus on quality of relationships • Technical support for communication Seton Hall University

  42. Risk Management ChallengesNew Criteria for Effective Collaboration • Aligned management support • Responsibility for risk management • Responsibility for customer interaction • Responsibility for maintenance • Process for product evolution • Process for process evolution, including updating RMMM plan Seton Hall University

  43. Risk Management ChallengesSome specific issues • Glossary must account for regional or cultural differences in definitions of words • At least three facets of communication • Culture-neutral or culture-exempt technical communication • Culture-sensitive personal communication at both management and technical levels • Culture-aware documentation—both for development and for customers + users Seton Hall University

  44. Management Challenges • Management • Management buy-in is important and often tricky • Need a process for resolving disputes • Arbitration—by whom? Where? • Need a way to judge technical merit in addition to legal rights • Needs to be seen as forging alliances, not as weakness or revealing secrets Seton Hall University

  45. Management Challenges • Management metrics • Evaluation of cooperative projects and staff • Cost-benefit needs to include • Immediate benefits from collaboration • Benefits from long-term relationships (encourage!) • Multiple alliances and conflicting loyalties Seton Hall University

  46. Management ChallengesManagement Contingency Policies • Management planning ahead • Three major aspects • Response to external stimuli • Management of organizational behavior • Management of processes Seton Hall University

  47. Management ChallengesManagement Contingency Policies • Tensions in collaborative development  Need more clearly defined policies and practices   Need more flexible policies and practices  Need to detect changes and problems quickly and robustly   Need to coordinate responses, possibly delaying action  Need to promote information sharing   Need to protect intellectual property, privacy, security, & resources Seton Hall University

  48. Management ChallengesCustomer Interaction • Customer interaction with multiple partners • Likely to blur responsibilities • Likely to confuse customer • Customer may provide conflicting information • Partners may have conflicting interpretations • Most importantly, likely to weary customer • Interact in customer’s language & idiom • Need a policy for customer interaction Seton Hall University

  49. Legal challenges • Intellectual property rights—general • Application and tools • Can you reuse your component? • Can you use it in a competitor’s application? • Proprietary confidential information • Library source code, proprietary tools, data, … • Test suites and case studies • Performance of partner applications or process • Overlapping alliances and conflicts Seton Hall University

  50. Legal Challenges • Intellectual property rights • Right to publish and disseminate • Revealing experimental results • Indirect intellectual property • Insights developed in collaborative process • Process and practices • Whose law governs what? Seton Hall University

More Related