ABSTRACT
Context: Hutchinson et al. conducted an interview-based study of how model-driven engineering, MDE, is practiced in 17 companies. Their results include that successful MDE companies develop domain-specific languages; are motivated by a clear business case; and are committed at all levels of the organization. Goal: Whilst the results are useful, the study is a very broad one, with one or two interviewees per company. This paper supplements Hutchinson's study by focusing on three large companies that are applying MDE and undergoing a parallel transition to agile methods. Method: Formal data collection strategies -- 25 semi-structured interviews, observations and progress meetings -- were combined with informal interaction. The data was analysed both inductively for new insights and deductively for comparison with the results of Hutchinson et al. Results: Our findings show how MDE can include domain experts in software development and how agile development and MDE can coexist. In general our results validate the findings of Hutchinson et al. There are two areas where our results differ -- the engineers' sense of control and the appropriateness of their skills and training. Conclusions: Using a combination of data collection strategies and analysis techniques our study casts new light on earlier research as well as contributes with novel insights regarding the adoption of MDE.
- J. Aranda, D. Damian, and A. Borici. Transition to Model-Driven Engineering - What Is Revolutionary, What Remains the Same? In MODELS 2012, 15th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, pages 692--708. Springer, October 2012. Google ScholarDigital Library
- P. Baker, S. Loh, and F. Weil. Model-Driven Engineering in a Large Industrial Context -- Motorola Case Study. In Proceedings of the 8th international conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MoDELS'05, pages 476--491, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2005. Springer-Verlag. Google ScholarDigital Library
- C. M. Christensen. The innovator's dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 1997. Google ScholarDigital Library
- K. Davis. Methods for studying informal communication. Journal of Communication, 28(1):112--116, 1978.Google ScholarCross Ref
- K. DeWalt and B. DeWalt. Participant Observation: A Guide for Fieldworkers. Anthropology/Ethnography. Rowman & Littlefield Pub Incorporated, 2002.Google Scholar
- J. Hutchinson, M. Rouncefield, and J. Whittle. Model-driven Engineering Practices in Industry. In Proceedings of the 33rd International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE '11, pages 633--642, New York, NY, USA, 2011. ACM. Google ScholarDigital Library
- J. Hutchinson, J. Whittle, and M. Rouncefield. Model-driven engineering practices in industry: Social, organizational and managerial factors that lead to success or failure. Science of Computer Programming, 2013. Accepted for publication.Google Scholar
- J. Hutchinson, J. Whittle, M. Rouncefield, and S. Kristoffersen. Empirical assessment of MDE in industry. In Proceedings of the 33rd International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE '11, pages 471--480, New York, NY, USA, 2011. ACM. Google ScholarDigital Library
- A. Kleppe, J. Warmer, and W. Bast. MDA Explained: The Model Driven Architecture#8482;: Practice and Promise. Addison-Wesley Professional, 2005. Google ScholarDigital Library
- A. Kuhn, G. C. Murphy, and C. A. Thompson. An exploratory study of forces and frictions affecting large-scale model-driven development. In Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MODELS'12, pages 352--367, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2012. Springer-Verlag. Google ScholarDigital Library
- G. Michelson and V. S. Mouly. 'You Didn't Hear it From Us But...': Towards an Understanding of Rumour and Gossip in Organisations. Australian Journal of Management, 27(1 suppl):57--65, 2002.Google Scholar
- L. Pareto, P. Eriksson, and S. Ehnebom. Concern coverage in base station development: an empirical investigation. Software and Systems Modeling, 11(3):409--429, 2012. Google ScholarDigital Library
- C. Robson. Real World Research: A Resource for Social Scientists and Practitioner-Researchers. Regional Surveys of the World Series. Blackwell Publishers, 2002.Google Scholar
- P. Runeson and M. Höst. Guidelines for conducting and reporting case study research in software engineering. Empirical Software Engineering, 14(2):131--164, 2009. Google ScholarDigital Library
- P. Runeson, M. Höst, A. Rainer, and B. Regnell. Case Study Research in Software Engineering: Guidelines and Examples. John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Google ScholarDigital Library
- K. Schwaber and M. Beedle. Agile Software Development with Scrum. Prentice Hall PTR, Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA, 1st edition, 2001. Google ScholarDigital Library
- C. Seaman. Qualitative methods in empirical studies of software engineering. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 25(4):557--572, 1999. Google ScholarDigital Library
- J. Whittle, J. Hutchinson, M. Rouncefield, H. Burden, and R. Heldal. Industrial Adoption of Model-Driven Engineering: Are the Tools Really the Problem? In MODELS 2013, 16th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, Miami, USA, October 2013.Google ScholarDigital Library
- J. Whittle, M. Rouncefield, and J. Hutchinson. The state of practice in model-driven engineering. IEEE Software, 2013.Google Scholar
Index Terms
- Comparing and contrasting model-driven engineering at three large companies
Recommendations
Adopting to Agile Software Development
Abstract Agile software development can be made successful, but there is no well-defined way how to achieve this. The problem is that the successful adoption of agile methods and practices is a complex process and this process should be customizable for ...
An Agile transition starting with user stories, DoD & DoR
ICSSP '18: Proceedings of the 2018 International Conference on Software and System ProcessContext: Many smaller companies do not have time and effort to change their development processes at a time. In some cases, companies are not aware of the fact that many aspects of agile development are already in place. Objective: For this reason, only ...
The impact of agile principles on market-driven software product development
Agile development methods such as extreme programming (XP), SCRUM, Lean Software Development (Lean SD) and others have gained much popularity during the last years. Agile methodologies promise faster time-to-market, satisfied customers and high quality ...
Comments