Testing accounts for the major percentage of technical contribution in the software development p... more Testing accounts for the major percentage of technical contribution in the software development process. Typically, it consumes more than 50 percent of the total cost of developing a piece of software. The selection of software tests is a very important activity within this process to ensure the software reliability requirements are met. Generally tests are run to achieve maximum coverage of the software code and very little attention is given to the achieved reliability of the software. Using an existing methodology, this paper describes how to use Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs) to select unit tests based on their contribution to the reliability of the module under consideration. In particular the work examines how the approach can enhance test-first development by assessing the quality of test suites resulting from this development methodology and providing insight into additional tests that can significantly reduce the achieved reliability. In this way the method can produce an ...
Software developed for a specific customer under contract typically undergoes a period of testing... more Software developed for a specific customer under contract typically undergoes a period of testing by the customer before acceptance. This is known as user acceptance testing and the process can reveal both defects in the system and requests for changes to the product. This paper uses nonhomogeneous Poisson processes to model a real user acceptance data set from a recently developed system. In particular a split Poisson process is shown to provide an excellent fit to the data. The paper explains how this model can be used to aid the allocation of resources through the accurate prediction of occurrences both during the acceptance testing phase and before this activity begins.
International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 2021
Analysis of 3926 shots from the 2019 Senior inter-county football championship aims to establish ... more Analysis of 3926 shots from the 2019 Senior inter-county football championship aims to establish the impact of distance, angle, shot type, method and pressure on shot success. Findings demonstrate that shots from free kicks contribute 20.5% of the total attempts in Gaelic football, with a success rate of 75%, in contrast to 50% success of shots from open play. Moreover, the range from which free kick success is >57.6% accuracy extends to 40 m, while from open play this is passed at a range of 28 m. There were almost twice as many right foot shots (64.4%) compared with the left foot (32.4%), with right foot attempts marginally more accurate. Shots under low pressure were most successful, while those under medium pressure were less successful than those under high pressure, albeit taken from an average distance of 7.5 m closer to the target. A logistic regression model to explore the impact of all variables on shot outcome demonstrates the significance of shot distance, angle and p...
Summary of Findings Spreadsheet technology has traditionally been limited to a single user operat... more Summary of Findings Spreadsheet technology has traditionally been limited to a single user operating in a desktop environment and working in an isolated environment. With the advent of Cloud Computing, a paradigm shift has occurred in the way users utilise the collaborative sharing and communication of their work in both an educational and business environment. The opportunities for people to cooperate on multiple spreadsheets at the same time and in real time have grown significantly. However, the behaviour and performance of users working in this new paradigm has not been explored to a great extent in scientific. In comparison to desktop spreadsheet technologies such as Excel, Cloud based spreadsheet technologies have only started to be investigated in relation to user behaviour and performance.
Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Software and Data Technologies Special Session on Applications in Banking and Finance, 2008
When determining the functionality to complete in upcoming software releases, decisions are typic... more When determining the functionality to complete in upcoming software releases, decisions are typically based upon uncertain information. Both the business value and cost to develop chosen functionality are highly susceptible to uncertainty. This paper proposes a relatively simple statistical methodology that allows for uncertainty in both business value and cost. In so doing it provides key stakeholders the ability to determine the probability of completing a release on time and to budget. The technique is lightweight in nature and consistent with existing agile planning practices. A case study is provided to demonstrate how the method may be used.
Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Software and Database Technologies, 2011
The use of range names to improve spreadsheet development is advocated by both academics and prac... more The use of range names to improve spreadsheet development is advocated by both academics and practitioners, however there is a clear absence of supporting scientific evidence. This paper describes the latest in a series of experiments that examine the impact of range name structures on spreadsheet reliability, and formula development time. The aim of this paper is to compare the reliability of simple spreadsheet formulas developed by intermediate users through both cell references and range names. The results are consistent with the findings of previous experiments that, contrary to widespread opinion, the use of range names does not improve the quality of spreadsheets.
Spreadsheet technology is a cornerstone of IT systems in most organisations. It is often the glue... more Spreadsheet technology is a cornerstone of IT systems in most organisations. It is often the glue that binds more structured transaction-based systems together. Financial operations are a case in point where spreadsheets fill the gaps left by dedicated accounting systems, particularly covering reporting and business process operations. However, little is understood as to the nature of spreadsheet usage in organisations and the contents and structure of these spreadsheets as they relate to key business functions with few, if any, comprehensive analyses of spreadsheet repositories in real organisations. As such this paper represents an important attempt at profiling real and substantial spreadsheet repositories. Using the Luminous technology an analysis of 65,000 spreadsheets for the financial departments of both a government and a private commercial organisation was conducted. This provides an important insight into the nature and structure of these spreadsheets, the links between them, the existence and nature of macros and the level of repetitive processes performed through the spreadsheets. Furthermore it highlights the organisational dependence on spreadsheets and the range and number of spreadsheets dealt with by individuals on a daily basis. In so doing, this paper prompts important questions that can frame future research in the domain.
2012 38th Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications, 2012
Traceability of software artifacts, from requirements to design and through implementation and qu... more Traceability of software artifacts, from requirements to design and through implementation and quality assurance, has long been promoted by the research and expert practitioner communities. However, evidence indicates that, with the exception of those operating in the safety critical domain, few software companies choose to implement traceability processes, often due to associated cost and complexity issues. This paper presents a review of traceability literature including the implementation of traceability in real organizations. Through both analyzing case studies and research published by leading traceability researchers, this paper synthesizes the barriers faced by organizations while implementing traceability, along with proposed solutions to the barriers. Additionally, given the importance of traceability in the regulated domain of safety critical software, the paper compares the barriers for organizations operating inside and outside of this domain.
Proceedings of the ICTs for improving Patients Rehabilitation Research Techniques, 2013
Sleep problems have been shown to have significant negative impact on health. As such it is impor... more Sleep problems have been shown to have significant negative impact on health. As such it is important to examine night time behaviour to objectively determine when sleep disturbances arise. Due to the large night-tonight variability in sleep quality for older adults, it is important to objectively measure behaviour over a significant period to establish trends or changes in patterns of sleep. In this paper we present a means of ambiently monitoring sleep through the use of sensors installed in each of sixteen independent living apartments. We investigate the effect of time outside the home and movement within the home on sleep. These measures are validated against comparative measures from two actigraph datasets. The first consisting of five adults, two of whom are healthy subjects and the other three adults have previously fallen, gathered over a period of between two and four nights. The second consisting of three older adults recorded over seven nights in their own homes. Results relating time outside the home and movement within the home to sleep are presented for three individuals spanning a period of between 630 and 650 days.
Proceedings of the 2010 ACM-IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement, 2010
It is well established that a very large proportion of the total cost of developing software syst... more It is well established that a very large proportion of the total cost of developing software systems is attributed to maintenance and evolution. Various design patterns have become known for increasing the adaptability of software to reduce this cost. In this study the focus was placed on performance with the research question "How does the use of popular design patterns impact performance?" To answer this, an experiment was designed were a number of music players were developed using popular patterns, and the performance compared to a functionally identical player developed avoiding the patterns under investigation. The results show that in all cases the design patterns had an impact on performance, but except in the case of severe hardware constraints this impact is expected to be so minimal that any performance downside is outweighed by the advantages of using the pattern.
The adoption of agile software development methodologies may appear to be a rather straightforwar... more The adoption of agile software development methodologies may appear to be a rather straightforward process yielding instantly improved software in less time and increasingly satisfied customers. This paper will show that such a notion is a misunderstanding and can be harmful to small software development organisations. A more reasonable approach involves a careful risk assessment and framework for introducing agile practices to address specific risks. A case study with a small software development organisation is provided to show the assessment in practice and the resulting risk mitigation strategies for process improvement.
Proceedings of the 2006 international workshop on Global software development for the practitioner, 2006
Agile software development has steadily gained momentum and acceptability as a viable approach to... more Agile software development has steadily gained momentum and acceptability as a viable approach to software development. As software development continues to take advantage of the global market, agile methods are also being attempted in geographically distributed settings. In this paper, the authors discuss the usefulness of published research on agile global software development for the practitioner. It is contended that such published work is of minimal value to the practitioner and does not add anything to the guidance available before the existence of current agile methods. A survey of agile GSD related publications, from XP/Agile conferences between 2001 and 2005, is used to support this claim. The paper ends with a number of proposals which aim to improve the usefulness of future agile GSD research and experience.
Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare, 2012
As the population lives longer, the number of people beyond the age of retirement is rising. Addi... more As the population lives longer, the number of people beyond the age of retirement is rising. Additional support is required to monitor the health of this aging population to ensure early detection of age related illnesses and accordingly to maintain wellbeing. Ambient sensors, such as those used in Great Northern Haven (GNH) residences, allow for continuous monitoring in an unobtrusive manner. In this paper we present visualisations of sensor data drawn from passive infra red (PIR) sensors located in three areas, i.e. the living room, hallway and main bedroom, in each of twelve independent living apartments. This representation of residents' movement can be used to infer changes in movement patterns over time.
It is widely accepted that the absence of a structured approach to spreadsheet engineering is a k... more It is widely accepted that the absence of a structured approach to spreadsheet engineering is a key factor in the high level of spreadsheet errors. In this paper we propose and investigate the application of Test-Driven Development to the creation of spreadsheets. Through a pair of case studies we demonstrate that Test-Driven Development can be applied to the development of
Communications in Computer and Information Science, 2014
Traceability of requirements through the software development lifecycle (including supporting pro... more Traceability of requirements through the software development lifecycle (including supporting processes such as risk management and change management) is a difficult and expensive task. The implementation of effective traceability allows organizations to leverage its many advantages, such as impact analysis, product verification and validation, and facilitation of code maintenance. Traceability is conducive to producing quality software. Within the medical device domain, as in other safety critical domains, software must provide reliability, safety and security because failure to do so can lead to injury or death. However, despite its criticality most software systems don't employ explicit traceability between artefacts. Numerous barriers hamper the effective implementation of traceability such as cost, complexity of relationship between artefacts, calculating a return on investment, different stakeholder viewpoints, lack of awareness of traceability and a lack of guidance as to how to implement traceability. To assist medical device organisations in addressing the lack of guidance on how to implement effective traceability, this paper aims to present the development of a traceability process assessment model and how traceability process assessment and maintenance could be fully automated using the Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC) initiative. The process assessment model will allow organisations to identify strengths and weaknesses in their existing traceability process and pinpoint areas for improvement.
In the creation of a release plan developers must attempt to maximise business value while mainta... more In the creation of a release plan developers must attempt to maximise business value while maintaining a high degree of certainty that the product will be completed on time and to budget. As a result of these constraints management is often forced to make the difficult decision as to which stories to complete and which to ignore. The difficulty of this decision is compounded by a high degree of uncertainty within the business value of each story, the story size and also the resources available. This paper proposes a relatively simple statistical methodology that allows for uncertainty in these areas. In so doing it provides key stakeholders with the opportunity to manage uncertainty in the planning of what functionality to include in upcoming releases. The technique is lightweight in nature and consistent with existing agile planning practices. A case study is provided to demonstrate how the method may be used.
... Sarah Powell Computing Dept. Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland 00353429393759 sarahpow... more ... Sarah Powell Computing Dept. Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland 00353429393759 sarahpowell7@gmail. com Gerry Coleman Computing Dept. Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland 00353429393731 [email protected] Kevin McDaid Computing Dept. ...
Abstract Developing software systems is predominantly a team endeavour. The importance of the tea... more Abstract Developing software systems is predominantly a team endeavour. The importance of the team is heightened when using an agile development approach that relies on open and frequent communication between team members. It is im-portant for software companies to assess ...
There is often a misconception that adopting and tailoring agile methods is straightforward resul... more There is often a misconception that adopting and tailoring agile methods is straightforward resulting in improved products and increasingly satisfied customers. However, the empirical nature of agile methods means that potential practitioners need to carefully assess whether they are exposed to the risks that can make agile method adoption problematic. This is particularly the case with small software companies who are less able to absorb the impact of failed experimentation. This study describes a minimally intrusive assessment approach for small software companies preparing for agile method adoption and tailoring in the light of key risks. The approach has been conducted with six small software companies, three of which are presented to show the evolution of the approach, describe the resource commitment that companies have to make, and highlight the type of information generated from an assessment. The contribution of this study is that small software companies have an alternative to 'mere experimentation' with agile methods and can take reasoned steps towards their adoption and tailoring.
Although experts diverge on how best to improve spreadsheet quality, it is generally agreed that ... more Although experts diverge on how best to improve spreadsheet quality, it is generally agreed that more time needs to be spent testing spreadsheets. Ideally, experienced and trained spreadsheet engineers would carry this out, but quite often this is neither practical nor possible. Many spreadsheets are a legacy, developed by staff that have since moved on, or indeed modified by many staff no longer employed by the organisation. When such spreadsheets fall into the hands of inexperienced, non-experts, any features that reduce error visibility may become a risk. Range names are one such feature, and this paper, building on previous research, investigates in a more structured and controlled manner the effect they have on the debugging performance of novice spreadsheet users.
Testing accounts for the major percentage of technical contribution in the software development p... more Testing accounts for the major percentage of technical contribution in the software development process. Typically, it consumes more than 50 percent of the total cost of developing a piece of software. The selection of software tests is a very important activity within this process to ensure the software reliability requirements are met. Generally tests are run to achieve maximum coverage of the software code and very little attention is given to the achieved reliability of the software. Using an existing methodology, this paper describes how to use Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs) to select unit tests based on their contribution to the reliability of the module under consideration. In particular the work examines how the approach can enhance test-first development by assessing the quality of test suites resulting from this development methodology and providing insight into additional tests that can significantly reduce the achieved reliability. In this way the method can produce an ...
Software developed for a specific customer under contract typically undergoes a period of testing... more Software developed for a specific customer under contract typically undergoes a period of testing by the customer before acceptance. This is known as user acceptance testing and the process can reveal both defects in the system and requests for changes to the product. This paper uses nonhomogeneous Poisson processes to model a real user acceptance data set from a recently developed system. In particular a split Poisson process is shown to provide an excellent fit to the data. The paper explains how this model can be used to aid the allocation of resources through the accurate prediction of occurrences both during the acceptance testing phase and before this activity begins.
International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 2021
Analysis of 3926 shots from the 2019 Senior inter-county football championship aims to establish ... more Analysis of 3926 shots from the 2019 Senior inter-county football championship aims to establish the impact of distance, angle, shot type, method and pressure on shot success. Findings demonstrate that shots from free kicks contribute 20.5% of the total attempts in Gaelic football, with a success rate of 75%, in contrast to 50% success of shots from open play. Moreover, the range from which free kick success is >57.6% accuracy extends to 40 m, while from open play this is passed at a range of 28 m. There were almost twice as many right foot shots (64.4%) compared with the left foot (32.4%), with right foot attempts marginally more accurate. Shots under low pressure were most successful, while those under medium pressure were less successful than those under high pressure, albeit taken from an average distance of 7.5 m closer to the target. A logistic regression model to explore the impact of all variables on shot outcome demonstrates the significance of shot distance, angle and p...
Summary of Findings Spreadsheet technology has traditionally been limited to a single user operat... more Summary of Findings Spreadsheet technology has traditionally been limited to a single user operating in a desktop environment and working in an isolated environment. With the advent of Cloud Computing, a paradigm shift has occurred in the way users utilise the collaborative sharing and communication of their work in both an educational and business environment. The opportunities for people to cooperate on multiple spreadsheets at the same time and in real time have grown significantly. However, the behaviour and performance of users working in this new paradigm has not been explored to a great extent in scientific. In comparison to desktop spreadsheet technologies such as Excel, Cloud based spreadsheet technologies have only started to be investigated in relation to user behaviour and performance.
Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Software and Data Technologies Special Session on Applications in Banking and Finance, 2008
When determining the functionality to complete in upcoming software releases, decisions are typic... more When determining the functionality to complete in upcoming software releases, decisions are typically based upon uncertain information. Both the business value and cost to develop chosen functionality are highly susceptible to uncertainty. This paper proposes a relatively simple statistical methodology that allows for uncertainty in both business value and cost. In so doing it provides key stakeholders the ability to determine the probability of completing a release on time and to budget. The technique is lightweight in nature and consistent with existing agile planning practices. A case study is provided to demonstrate how the method may be used.
Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Software and Database Technologies, 2011
The use of range names to improve spreadsheet development is advocated by both academics and prac... more The use of range names to improve spreadsheet development is advocated by both academics and practitioners, however there is a clear absence of supporting scientific evidence. This paper describes the latest in a series of experiments that examine the impact of range name structures on spreadsheet reliability, and formula development time. The aim of this paper is to compare the reliability of simple spreadsheet formulas developed by intermediate users through both cell references and range names. The results are consistent with the findings of previous experiments that, contrary to widespread opinion, the use of range names does not improve the quality of spreadsheets.
Spreadsheet technology is a cornerstone of IT systems in most organisations. It is often the glue... more Spreadsheet technology is a cornerstone of IT systems in most organisations. It is often the glue that binds more structured transaction-based systems together. Financial operations are a case in point where spreadsheets fill the gaps left by dedicated accounting systems, particularly covering reporting and business process operations. However, little is understood as to the nature of spreadsheet usage in organisations and the contents and structure of these spreadsheets as they relate to key business functions with few, if any, comprehensive analyses of spreadsheet repositories in real organisations. As such this paper represents an important attempt at profiling real and substantial spreadsheet repositories. Using the Luminous technology an analysis of 65,000 spreadsheets for the financial departments of both a government and a private commercial organisation was conducted. This provides an important insight into the nature and structure of these spreadsheets, the links between them, the existence and nature of macros and the level of repetitive processes performed through the spreadsheets. Furthermore it highlights the organisational dependence on spreadsheets and the range and number of spreadsheets dealt with by individuals on a daily basis. In so doing, this paper prompts important questions that can frame future research in the domain.
2012 38th Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications, 2012
Traceability of software artifacts, from requirements to design and through implementation and qu... more Traceability of software artifacts, from requirements to design and through implementation and quality assurance, has long been promoted by the research and expert practitioner communities. However, evidence indicates that, with the exception of those operating in the safety critical domain, few software companies choose to implement traceability processes, often due to associated cost and complexity issues. This paper presents a review of traceability literature including the implementation of traceability in real organizations. Through both analyzing case studies and research published by leading traceability researchers, this paper synthesizes the barriers faced by organizations while implementing traceability, along with proposed solutions to the barriers. Additionally, given the importance of traceability in the regulated domain of safety critical software, the paper compares the barriers for organizations operating inside and outside of this domain.
Proceedings of the ICTs for improving Patients Rehabilitation Research Techniques, 2013
Sleep problems have been shown to have significant negative impact on health. As such it is impor... more Sleep problems have been shown to have significant negative impact on health. As such it is important to examine night time behaviour to objectively determine when sleep disturbances arise. Due to the large night-tonight variability in sleep quality for older adults, it is important to objectively measure behaviour over a significant period to establish trends or changes in patterns of sleep. In this paper we present a means of ambiently monitoring sleep through the use of sensors installed in each of sixteen independent living apartments. We investigate the effect of time outside the home and movement within the home on sleep. These measures are validated against comparative measures from two actigraph datasets. The first consisting of five adults, two of whom are healthy subjects and the other three adults have previously fallen, gathered over a period of between two and four nights. The second consisting of three older adults recorded over seven nights in their own homes. Results relating time outside the home and movement within the home to sleep are presented for three individuals spanning a period of between 630 and 650 days.
Proceedings of the 2010 ACM-IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement, 2010
It is well established that a very large proportion of the total cost of developing software syst... more It is well established that a very large proportion of the total cost of developing software systems is attributed to maintenance and evolution. Various design patterns have become known for increasing the adaptability of software to reduce this cost. In this study the focus was placed on performance with the research question "How does the use of popular design patterns impact performance?" To answer this, an experiment was designed were a number of music players were developed using popular patterns, and the performance compared to a functionally identical player developed avoiding the patterns under investigation. The results show that in all cases the design patterns had an impact on performance, but except in the case of severe hardware constraints this impact is expected to be so minimal that any performance downside is outweighed by the advantages of using the pattern.
The adoption of agile software development methodologies may appear to be a rather straightforwar... more The adoption of agile software development methodologies may appear to be a rather straightforward process yielding instantly improved software in less time and increasingly satisfied customers. This paper will show that such a notion is a misunderstanding and can be harmful to small software development organisations. A more reasonable approach involves a careful risk assessment and framework for introducing agile practices to address specific risks. A case study with a small software development organisation is provided to show the assessment in practice and the resulting risk mitigation strategies for process improvement.
Proceedings of the 2006 international workshop on Global software development for the practitioner, 2006
Agile software development has steadily gained momentum and acceptability as a viable approach to... more Agile software development has steadily gained momentum and acceptability as a viable approach to software development. As software development continues to take advantage of the global market, agile methods are also being attempted in geographically distributed settings. In this paper, the authors discuss the usefulness of published research on agile global software development for the practitioner. It is contended that such published work is of minimal value to the practitioner and does not add anything to the guidance available before the existence of current agile methods. A survey of agile GSD related publications, from XP/Agile conferences between 2001 and 2005, is used to support this claim. The paper ends with a number of proposals which aim to improve the usefulness of future agile GSD research and experience.
Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare, 2012
As the population lives longer, the number of people beyond the age of retirement is rising. Addi... more As the population lives longer, the number of people beyond the age of retirement is rising. Additional support is required to monitor the health of this aging population to ensure early detection of age related illnesses and accordingly to maintain wellbeing. Ambient sensors, such as those used in Great Northern Haven (GNH) residences, allow for continuous monitoring in an unobtrusive manner. In this paper we present visualisations of sensor data drawn from passive infra red (PIR) sensors located in three areas, i.e. the living room, hallway and main bedroom, in each of twelve independent living apartments. This representation of residents' movement can be used to infer changes in movement patterns over time.
It is widely accepted that the absence of a structured approach to spreadsheet engineering is a k... more It is widely accepted that the absence of a structured approach to spreadsheet engineering is a key factor in the high level of spreadsheet errors. In this paper we propose and investigate the application of Test-Driven Development to the creation of spreadsheets. Through a pair of case studies we demonstrate that Test-Driven Development can be applied to the development of
Communications in Computer and Information Science, 2014
Traceability of requirements through the software development lifecycle (including supporting pro... more Traceability of requirements through the software development lifecycle (including supporting processes such as risk management and change management) is a difficult and expensive task. The implementation of effective traceability allows organizations to leverage its many advantages, such as impact analysis, product verification and validation, and facilitation of code maintenance. Traceability is conducive to producing quality software. Within the medical device domain, as in other safety critical domains, software must provide reliability, safety and security because failure to do so can lead to injury or death. However, despite its criticality most software systems don't employ explicit traceability between artefacts. Numerous barriers hamper the effective implementation of traceability such as cost, complexity of relationship between artefacts, calculating a return on investment, different stakeholder viewpoints, lack of awareness of traceability and a lack of guidance as to how to implement traceability. To assist medical device organisations in addressing the lack of guidance on how to implement effective traceability, this paper aims to present the development of a traceability process assessment model and how traceability process assessment and maintenance could be fully automated using the Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC) initiative. The process assessment model will allow organisations to identify strengths and weaknesses in their existing traceability process and pinpoint areas for improvement.
In the creation of a release plan developers must attempt to maximise business value while mainta... more In the creation of a release plan developers must attempt to maximise business value while maintaining a high degree of certainty that the product will be completed on time and to budget. As a result of these constraints management is often forced to make the difficult decision as to which stories to complete and which to ignore. The difficulty of this decision is compounded by a high degree of uncertainty within the business value of each story, the story size and also the resources available. This paper proposes a relatively simple statistical methodology that allows for uncertainty in these areas. In so doing it provides key stakeholders with the opportunity to manage uncertainty in the planning of what functionality to include in upcoming releases. The technique is lightweight in nature and consistent with existing agile planning practices. A case study is provided to demonstrate how the method may be used.
... Sarah Powell Computing Dept. Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland 00353429393759 sarahpow... more ... Sarah Powell Computing Dept. Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland 00353429393759 sarahpowell7@gmail. com Gerry Coleman Computing Dept. Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland 00353429393731 [email protected] Kevin McDaid Computing Dept. ...
Abstract Developing software systems is predominantly a team endeavour. The importance of the tea... more Abstract Developing software systems is predominantly a team endeavour. The importance of the team is heightened when using an agile development approach that relies on open and frequent communication between team members. It is im-portant for software companies to assess ...
There is often a misconception that adopting and tailoring agile methods is straightforward resul... more There is often a misconception that adopting and tailoring agile methods is straightforward resulting in improved products and increasingly satisfied customers. However, the empirical nature of agile methods means that potential practitioners need to carefully assess whether they are exposed to the risks that can make agile method adoption problematic. This is particularly the case with small software companies who are less able to absorb the impact of failed experimentation. This study describes a minimally intrusive assessment approach for small software companies preparing for agile method adoption and tailoring in the light of key risks. The approach has been conducted with six small software companies, three of which are presented to show the evolution of the approach, describe the resource commitment that companies have to make, and highlight the type of information generated from an assessment. The contribution of this study is that small software companies have an alternative to 'mere experimentation' with agile methods and can take reasoned steps towards their adoption and tailoring.
Although experts diverge on how best to improve spreadsheet quality, it is generally agreed that ... more Although experts diverge on how best to improve spreadsheet quality, it is generally agreed that more time needs to be spent testing spreadsheets. Ideally, experienced and trained spreadsheet engineers would carry this out, but quite often this is neither practical nor possible. Many spreadsheets are a legacy, developed by staff that have since moved on, or indeed modified by many staff no longer employed by the organisation. When such spreadsheets fall into the hands of inexperienced, non-experts, any features that reduce error visibility may become a risk. Range names are one such feature, and this paper, building on previous research, investigates in a more structured and controlled manner the effect they have on the debugging performance of novice spreadsheet users.
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Papers by Kevin McDaid