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Managing software process evolution : traditional, agile and beyond--how to handle process change
Kuhrmann M., Münch J., Richardson I., Rausch A., Zhang H., Springer International Publishing, New York, NY, 2016. 332 pp. Type: Book (978-3-319315-43-0)
Date Reviewed: Apr 19 2017

Building a software artifact necessarily involves a methodology, commonly referred to as a software development process. Evolving this process is necessary to cope with new requirements and new technologies. User expectations are evolving, as software providers must evolve the way software is built. This book focuses on the evolution of software processes and presents different aspects of it, including design, development, management, governance, and application.

Managing software process evolution consists of 15 chapters, written by 32 contributors. Roughly half of the contributors are industrialists (that is, not directly affiliated with a university). The chapters are self-sufficient and share a similar structure, including an abstract, introduction, background, and context. Each chapter ends with a conclusion, a further reading section, and a bibliography. The whole set of chapters makes a nice and cohesive story without any apparent contradiction or redundancy. The book is organized in three parts, namely “Software Business -- Transformation and Challenges,” “Software Process Modeling,” and “Approaches and Experiences.”

I enjoyed reading this book. It is well structured and well balanced around applicability to industry, industrial experience, and academic rigor. The reading brought up gems stemming from practical experience and industrial relevance. What follows is a list of highlights I particularly appreciated during my reading.

Chapter 1 begins with the notion of “ceremony,” referring to management overhead. I was not familiar with this notion, although I do recurrently feel the effects of such ceremony. What a powerful metaphor! Chapter 1 also details contexts in which evolving software processes is relevant (for example, a startup growing to a large business).

Chapter 2 accurately contrasts the revolutionary approach (moving to agile software development) versus the evolutionary approach (incrementally integrating agile technique). Several examples in large companies (SAP, Yahoo) are provided to illustrate the process transition.

Chapter 5 illustrates the notion of “readiness for disruption” using design thinking, a method for innovation that bridges creative and analytical human ability. The chapter relates the experience gained at the Hasso Plattner Institute, in Germany.

Chapter 7 presents the results of a systematic literature review on the field of software process improvement. I believe it is important to dedicate a chapter to this methodology, often perceived as too academic, unfortunately. Practitioners are naturally biased in the context in which they operate, leading to missing essential elements to the complete picture. Describing (even briefly) and using a methodology to build a solid overview from the state of the art is a strong contribution of the book.

Chapter 8 (“Managing Software Process Evolution for Spacecraft from a Customer’s Perspective”) describes the naming schema of requirements in the European Cooperation for Space Standardization. This schema is sophisticated and clearly illustrates the need for this field to maintain a complete traceability of requirements in the development process. This chapter presents a fascinating case study.

Chapter 9 gives a gentle introduction to the business process model and notation (BPMN). Using BPMN is often considered the first step in formalizing processes.

Chapter 14 uses the development of open-source software systems to illustrate the benefits of the cross-project analysis for selection of release readiness method.

Chapter 15 discusses “the effects of software process evolution to technical debt.” It reveals that software process evolution has a clear effect on technical debt, and such evolution results from the management to increase productivity and become cost-efficient.

Chapters 3, 4, 6, 8, and 13 present industrial experiences using relevant situations in corporations. Such experiences are essential to let the reader position personal background against other situations.

Each chapter presents a tremendous personal experience in a few pages. As a result, the content of the book is rich and dense. One aspect I enjoyed very much is the importance given to the connection between industry and academia. Improving the field of software process evolution management necessarily comes from a strong interaction from practitioners and academics. In particular, chapter 12 investigates the relation between industry and academia.

The book’s audience is large. A practitioner will enjoy the range of presented topics. The book is filled with multiple personal and industrial experiences. A practitioner will surely enjoy the rigor brought by academic contributors.

Premium academic conferences in software engineering include a track on software evolution. Software process evolution is a highly relevant field. Academics will find the book attractive due to its fresh industrial perspective of software process evolution.

I truly enjoyed reading the book. The editors have obviously put a significant amount of work in revising and editing the content.

Reviewer:  Alexandre Bergel Review #: CR145204 (1707-0442)
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