Contextual Factors Affecting Software Development Practice Efficacy: A Practitioners’ Perspective

Diana Kirk, Kelly Blincoe

2022

Abstract

Practitioners tailor software development methodologies to suit project contexts. Tailoring is often at the level of the project, where individual practices are adapted, often according to tacit knowledge. As the research community does not yet have a good understanding of which contextual factors contribute most to project and practice outcomes, we are not in a position to provide advice and support to practitioners. In this paper, we present the findings from an investigation into the contextual factors that affect practice efficacy. We took a practitioner-centric approach because it is recognised that a person’s beliefs and viewpoints affect the way they approach tasks and so are likely to contribute to outcomes. We interviewed twelve participants from three software organisations using the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT). We found that participants varied in the richness of the data provided. Categories ‘Task’ and ‘Team Efficacy’ were the most represented, with opposing viewpoints stated for some aspects. The research contribution is that we have exposed a personal element in the way practitioners view context and this has implications for research into practice efficacy.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Kirk D. and Blincoe K. (2022). Contextual Factors Affecting Software Development Practice Efficacy: A Practitioners’ Perspective. In Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering - Volume 1: ENASE, ISBN 978-989-758-568-5, pages 461-468. DOI: 10.5220/0011076200003176

in Bibtex Style

@conference{enase22,
author={Diana Kirk and Kelly Blincoe},
title={Contextual Factors Affecting Software Development Practice Efficacy: A Practitioners’ Perspective},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering - Volume 1: ENASE,},
year={2022},
pages={461-468},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0011076200003176},
isbn={978-989-758-568-5},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering - Volume 1: ENASE,
TI - Contextual Factors Affecting Software Development Practice Efficacy: A Practitioners’ Perspective
SN - 978-989-758-568-5
AU - Kirk D.
AU - Blincoe K.
PY - 2022
SP - 461
EP - 468
DO - 10.5220/0011076200003176