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European Conference on Software Process Improvement

EuroSPI 2015: Systems, Software and Services Process Improvement pp 100–111Cite as

Changing Situational Contexts Present a Constant Challenge to Software Developers

Part of the Communications in Computer and Information Science book series (CCIS,volume 543)

Abstract

A software process can take many forms and its optimality demands that it should be harmonised with the needs of the given software development situational context. This theoretical proposition is reasonably clear. However, the finer details of the interaction between the software process and the factors of the situational context are much less obvious. In previously published research, the authors have elaborated a reference framework that identifies the factors of a situational context that affect the software process. In this paper, we report on the application of our reference framework in an examination of the changing nature of software development situational contexts. Our corresponding study of fifteen software development companies indicates that certain factors appear more subject to change than others. This finding is a potentially important insight that can help us with the recurring challenge of adapting the software process to changing circumstances.

Keywords

  • Software engineering
  • Situational context
  • Software development process
  • Software process adaptation

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland

    Paul Clarke & Rory V. O’Connor

  2. Lero, the Irish Software Engineering Research Centre, Dublin, Ireland

    Paul Clarke & Rory V. O’Connor

Authors
  1. Paul Clarke
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  2. Rory V. O’Connor
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rory V. O’Connor .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland

    Rory V. O’Connor

  2. Turkish Standards Institution, Ankara, Turkey

    Mariye Umay Akkaya

  3. Turkish Standards Institution, Ankara, Turkey

    Kerem Kemaneci

  4. Çankaya University, Ankara, Turkey

    Murat Yilmaz

  5. Volkswagen AG, Wolfsburg, Germany

    Alexander Poth

  6. I.S.C.N. GesmbH, Graz, Austria

    Richard Messnarz

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© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Clarke, P., O’Connor, R.V. (2015). Changing Situational Contexts Present a Constant Challenge to Software Developers. In: O’Connor, R., Umay Akkaya, M., Kemaneci, K., Yilmaz, M., Poth, A., Messnarz, R. (eds) Systems, Software and Services Process Improvement. EuroSPI 2015. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 543. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24647-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24647-5_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-24646-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-24647-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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