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Should I Stay or Should I Go? On Forces that Drive and Prevent MBSE Adoption in the Embedded Systems Industry

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Product-Focused Software Process Improvement (PROFES 2017)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 10611))

Abstract

[Context] Model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE) comprises a set of models and techniques that is often suggested as solution to cope with the challenges of engineering complex systems. Although many practitioners agree with the arguments on the potential benefits of the techniques, companies struggle with the adoption of MBSE. [Goal] In this paper, we investigate the forces that prevent or impede the adoption of MBSE in companies that develop embedded software systems. We contrast the hindering forces with issues and challenges that drive these companies towards introducing MBSE. [Method] Our results are based on 20 interviews with experts from 10 companies. Through exploratory research, we analyze the results by means of thematic coding. [Results] Forces that prevent MBSE adoption mainly relate to immature tooling, uncertainty about the return-on-investment, and fears on migrating existing data and processes. On the other hand, MBSE adoption also has strong drivers and participants have high expectations mainly with respect to managing complexity, adhering to new regulations, and reducing costs. [Conclusions] We conclude that bad experiences and frustration about MBSE adoption originate from false or too high expectations. Nevertheless, companies should not underestimate the necessary efforts for convincing employees and addressing their anxiety.

The original version of this chapter has been revised. The title of the paper was incorrect and has been modified. The ORCIDs of the authors Andreas Vogelsang and Tiago Amorim have also been added. For detailed information please see the Erratum. The erratum to this chapter is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69926-4_57

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://spedit.in.tum.de/.

  2. 2.

    http://atlasti.com.

  3. 3.

    https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5368453.

  4. 4.

    https://de.mathworks.com/products/simulink.html.

  5. 5.

    https://leanstack.com/science-of-how-customers-buy/.

  6. 6.

    http://jobstobedone.org.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partly funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), grant “SPEDiT, 01IS15058”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Andreas Vogelsang, Tiago Amorim & Florian Pudlitz

  2. GPP Communication GmbH & Co. KG, Munich, Germany

    Peter Gersing

  3. foqee GmbH, Munich, Germany

    Jan Philipps

Authors
  1. Andreas Vogelsang
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  2. Tiago Amorim
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  3. Florian Pudlitz
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  4. Peter Gersing
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  5. Jan Philipps
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andreas Vogelsang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Michael Felderer

  2. Technical University Munich, Garching, Germany

    Daniel Méndez Fernández

  3. Brunel University London, Uxbridge, United Kingdom

    Burak Turhan

  4. Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Marcos Kalinowski

  5. University College London, London, United Kingdom

    Federica Sarro

  6. Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria

    Dietmar Winkler

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Vogelsang, A., Amorim, T., Pudlitz, F., Gersing, P., Philipps, J. (2017). Should I Stay or Should I Go? On Forces that Drive and Prevent MBSE Adoption in the Embedded Systems Industry. In: Felderer, M., Méndez Fernández, D., Turhan, B., Kalinowski, M., Sarro, F., Winkler, D. (eds) Product-Focused Software Process Improvement. PROFES 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10611. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69926-4_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69926-4_14

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69925-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69926-4

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