Software engineering for 'social good': integrating action research, participatory design, and agile development

Abstract The integration of user-centered design (UCD) activities into agile information systems development has become more popular recently. Despite the fact that there are many ways the merging of UCD activities into agile development can be carried out, it has been widely recognized that coordinating design activities with development activities is one of the most common problems, especially in distributed environments where designers, developers and users are spread over several sites. The main approach to coordinate UCD activities with distributed agile development is the use of informal methods (e.g. communication through using video conference tools). In addition to the temporal, geographical and socio-cultural barriers associated with this type of methods, a major limitation is a lack of awareness of how UCD activities and development activities affect each other. Furthermore, some agile project management tools are integrated with design platforms but fail to provide the necessary coordination that helps team members understand how the design and development activities affect their daily work. This research aims to support the effective management of integrating UCD activities into distributed agile development by (i) identifying the key activity dependencies between UX design teams and development teams during distributed UCD/agile development and (ii) designing a computer-based system to provide coordination support through managing these activity dependencies. In order to achieve these objectives, two case studies are carried out. Our findings revealed 10 main dependencies between UCD design teams and development teams as shown by six types of activity. In addition, the participatory design approach shows that developing a computer-based system to manage seven of these selected dependencies is achievable.

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Factors Affecting Team Motivation

International Journal of Information System Modeling and Design ◽

10.4018/ijismd.2015070101 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 1-26

Author(s):

Ayse Tosun Misirli ◽

June Verner ◽

Jouni Markkula ◽

Markku Oivo

Keyword(s):

Software Engineering ◽

Active Role ◽

Project Manager ◽

Motivational Factors ◽

Agile Development ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Modern Development ◽

Project Outcome ◽

Team Motivation ◽

Software Engineers

Motivation in software engineering is a complex topic. Cultural background is reported to be one of the factors moderating software engineers' motivation and project outcome. The authors conducted a survey with 36 software engineers from Finland to explore 1) the relationship between team motivation and project outcome, 2) factors that motivate Finnish engineers, and 3) how these motivational factors are related. The authors compare Finnish motivational factors with those identified in prior research. In addition they build a prediction model to identify the best indicators of team motivation for Finnish software engineers. Their results show that teamwork is the only culturally independent motivational factor. Having 1) a project manager with a clear vision (project manager vision) and 2) a project manager given full authority to manage the project (project manager authority) are also significant motivational factors among Finnish engineers. There are significant associations between some factors, e.g., customer involvement and staff appreciation. While these factors partially explain motivation in software engineering, cultural differences also play an active role in explaining team motivation. Their questionnaire needs to be updated to enable measurement of motivation for modern development practices such as agile development.

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Rancang Bangun Aplikasi Pendataan Alumni SMA Negeri 6 Palembang Menggunakan CodeIgniter

JATISI (Jurnal Teknik Informatika dan Sistem Informasi) ◽

10.35957/jatisi.v8i4.1642 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 2131-2143

Author(s):

Ahmad Farisi

Keyword(s):

Software Engineering ◽

Agile Development ◽

Core System ◽

Research Perspective ◽

Development Cycle

Dalam perjalanan 40 tahun berdirinya SMA Negeri 6 Palembang sejak tahun 1981, dibutuhkan sebuah media yang dapat menginventarisir data-data alumni yang telah tersebar sejak angkatan pertama hingga sekarang. Oleh karena itu, studi ini merancang bangun sebuah aplikasi pendataan alumni di SMA Negeri 6 Palembang. Studi ini dilakukan dengan menggunakan metodologi penelitian practism dengan research heuristics pada bidang software engineering yang menjawab rumusan masalah dengan mengembangkan perangkat lunak berdasarkan research perspective yang dilakukan pada tahap pra-penelitian. Sementara itu, pengembangan sistem dilakukan dengan menggunakan metode Kanban pada pendekatan Agile Development Cycle. Pada tahap pra-penelitian, studi ini mengumpulkan data dengan melakukan wawancara kepada pihak SMA Negeri 6 Palembang terkait kebutuhan pengembangan apllikasi. Aplikasi ini dikembangkan pada platform web dengan framework CodeIgniter dan custom core system class yang dibangun secara custom. Aplikasi ini memiliki 2 aktor yang terdiri dari alumni dan admin. Fitur-fitur aplikasi ini adalah pengelolaan alumni yang meliputi data identitas, pendidikan, dan pekerjaan alumni. Studi ini melakukan evaluasi aplikasi dengan menggunakan webuse method. Hasilnya menunjukkan nilai usability 0,79 untuk responden alumni dan nilai usability 0,76 untuk responden admin. Setelah diinterpretasikan, kedua nilai usability tersebut menunjukkan predikat baik.

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Church Involvement in Education for Sustainability: Using Participatory Action Research to Design a Faith-Based Education for Sustainability Programme in a Christian Community, New Zealand

10.26686/wgtn.16926325.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Xiaoming Gong

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

New Zealand ◽

Action Research ◽

Participatory Action Research ◽

Participatory Design ◽

Education For Sustainability ◽

Critical Approach ◽

Participatory Action ◽

Christian Community ◽

Faith Based

<p>This study develops and analyses a faith-based education for sustainability (EFS) programme as a means of addressing the issue of climate change in an urban Christian community â St Johnâ s in the City, Presbyterian Church, Wellington, New Zealand. It also, explores a participatory design and practice process for an adult-focused community EFS programme within a Christian context. The outcome of the study may serve as a model of adult-focused community of EFS which can be used by other faith-based communities in New Zealand. The critical approach, which is considered as an important approach to EFS, aims to achieve social change by fostering critical thinking in relation to sustainable issues. However, the so-called rhetoric-reality gap of critical approach causes difficulty for practicing the approach. As such, it was hoped that this study, informed by Freirian critical pedagogy, bridges the â rhetoric-realityâ gap of the critical approach in EFS practice. The methodology of this research â participatory action research (PAR) â aims to empower participants by involving them as co-researchers in the research process. Combined with group discussion and in-depth individual interview, participatory method â diagramming was used as the main research method. The PAR methodology was proved effective for the faith-based EFS programme design and it was also represented a democratic EFS process in itself. Therefore, it informed the subsequent practice of the St Johnâ s programme that was designed by this research as an action research (AR) project and also functioned as a dialogical education programme. In the St Johnâ s programme, the participants as discursive subjects would gain freedom to critically enquire their relationships with Godâ s world and with each other and would be facilitated to take realistic actions on sustainable issues associated with climate change through the critical enquiry.</p>

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The Socio-Pragmatics of IT Artefacts

Issues and Trends in Technology and Human Interaction ◽

10.4018/978-1-59904-268-8.ch009 ◽

2007 ◽

pp. 194-212

Author(s):

Göran Goldkuhl ◽

Par J. Agerfalk

Keyword(s):

Information System ◽

Information Systems ◽

Action Research ◽

Participatory Design ◽

Research Study ◽

Design Approach ◽

Theoretical Concepts ◽

Alternative Approach ◽

The Social ◽

Action Research Study

There are many attempts to explain success and failure in information systems. Many of these refer to a purported socio-technical gap. In this paper we develop an alternative approach that does not impose such a strong dichotomy, but regards social and technical rather as dimensions along which to study workpractices. The developed theory involves not only the “social” and “technical” constructs but also other generic ones, namely “instrumental”, “semiotic” and “pragmatic”. We call this theory socio-instrumental pragmatism. To illustrate the theoretical concepts introduced, we use an example brought from an extensive action research study including the development of an information system in eldercare, developed through a participatory design approach.

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Applying Software Engineering Design Principles to Agile Architecture

10.4018/978-1-6684-3702-5.ch016 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 330-355

Author(s):

Chung-Yeung Pang

Keyword(s):

Software Engineering ◽

Development Process ◽

Design Principles ◽

Design Concept ◽

Agile Development ◽

Model Driven ◽

It Architecture ◽

It Systems ◽

Architectural Patterns ◽

Java Programs

Most enterprise IT systems are very complex with a combination of COBOL and Java programs running on multiple platforms. What is needed is a solid IT architecture that supports the operation and growth of a cross-platform IT system. It must enable the iterative and incremental development of applications that are foreseen in an agile development process. The design concept of such an architecture with its infrastructure and development tool is presented in this chapter. This design concept is based on the design principles and architectural patterns of software engineering. The architecture is a combination of layered, component-based, and service-oriented architectural patterns. The agile development process is based on a model-driven approach. The architecture and development approaches were first introduced in 2004. Since then, many applications have been developed on time and within budget.

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