Leonor Barroca - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Leonor Barroca
Empirical Software Engineering
Empirical research on software development practices in startups is growing. However, little has ... more Empirical research on software development practices in startups is growing. However, little has been investigated about how User eXperience (UX) work has been carried out in software startups. The primary objective of this paper is to investigate what software startups need from UX work. To achieve this goal, we conducted open-ended interviews and retrospective meetings with 16 software professionals from two software startups in Brazil. We analysed the data qualitatively using different coding approaches: initial coding, focused coding, and theoretical coding. We found 14 UX work-related needs which emerged from the daily practices used for software development in the two startups studied. Based on our findings, we propose an initial theoretical framework that highlights two theoretical themes and four groups underlying the needs identified. Our study reveals several relationships between UX work-related needs which are helpful to understand in order to identify what startups need from UX work in practice and to focus startup teams' efforts on the most urgent needs. As future work, we plan to explore ways in which these needs may be addressed so that UX work may be put into practice in software startups.
A tecnologia de componentes é discutida amplamente, sob vários aspectos, assim como o processo de... more A tecnologia de componentes é discutida amplamente, sob vários aspectos, assim como o processo de seu desenvolvimento, o qual é conceituado à luz da literatura e das tecnologias atuais pelo livro. Desenvolvimento Baseado em Componentes é adequado para servir de referência para cursos relacionados à Engenharia de Software, uma vez que discute tudo o que já foi anteriormente citado e a "re-engenharia" de software, a confiabilidade de todo o processo no contexto da nova tecnologia; as relações entre componentes e padrões de projeto e frameworks
IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management
Transforming into an agile organisation is challenging because it involves complex changes across... more Transforming into an agile organisation is challenging because it involves complex changes across the organisation including changes to strategy, structure, culture, operations, and technology. Although much has been written about organisational agility, practitioners still call for authentic accounts and concrete experiences to help them understand how to transform. This article is based on three case studies of diverse organisations transforming to agility and provides an account of each transformation. Each organisation chose a different focus for their transformation: culture change, strategic change, and operational change. Each organisation faced challenges that resulted in tensions. We present 13 tensions from three cases, which illustrate the kinds of tension that organisations face in agile transformations. We consider these 13 tensions through the lens of paradox theory and thereby produce both practical guidance and theoretical contributions. We show how questions generated from this perspective may be used to guide transformation leaders and managers in addressing the tensions they will meet. Our findings provide empirical evidence for the tension categories in paradox theory and show that tensions occur during transformations to agility and not just in fully agile organisations.
We defend the need of a dual approach for specifying reactive systems and reasoning about their t... more We defend the need of a dual approach for specifying reactive systems and reasoning about their timing properties; this dual approach uses a notation for the specification of behaviour, preferably a graphical one, and a temporal logic to express formally, and reason about, this behaviour. The combination of two representation schemes forms the basis of a generic framework that can be instantiated for different choices of notations. Two instantiations of the framework, illustrating its use, are discussed. To describe in detail one of the instantiations, the ArchSM method, we use the pattern form. 1
Evolving business needs call for customizable choreographed interactions. However, choreography d... more Evolving business needs call for customizable choreographed interactions. However, choreography descriptions do not capture the problem-domain knowledge required to perform the customization effectively. Hence, we propose performing the customization to models of organizational requirements motivating the interaction. To facilitate the derivation of the resulting choreography description, we propose an alignment between conversations and organizational dependencies. We employ the domain knowledge and formal semantics of requirements models to find customization alternatives and reason about them. Using the alignment, we derive constraints on conversations systematically from customized requirements models.
Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, 2020
Although a stable team is deemed optimal for agile project success, new team members need to join... more Although a stable team is deemed optimal for agile project success, new team members need to join ongoing agile projects. Newcomers must rapidly assimilate into the organisational and project environment while learning how to contribute effectively to the project and integrate into the team without seriously interrupting project progress. This paper addresses how newcomers integrate into an established agile project team and the challenges newcomers and the team face during this process. This paper is a single case study of a co-located agile project team in a large IT department who regularly onboard inexperienced newcomers. We found a mixture of traditional onboarding practices and specific agile practices contribute to the onboarding process. Onboarding challenges include empowerment and mindset change, accommodating part-timers, conveying agile principles, and adjusting to changes in team composition.
Information and Software Technology, 2021
Context: A stable team is deemed optimal for agile software development project success; however,... more Context: A stable team is deemed optimal for agile software development project success; however, all teams change membership over time. Newcomers joining an agile project team must rapidly assimilate into the organisational and project environment. They must do this while learning how to contribute effectively and without seriously interrupting project progress. Objective: This paper addresses how newcomers integrate into an established agile project team and how agile practices assist with onboarding. Method: A single, qualitative case study approach was used, investigating a co-located agile project team in a large IT department who regularly onboard inexperienced newcomers. Analysis was abductive, consisting of inductive coding and theming using categories from an existing onboarding theory. Results: We describe the team’s onboarding practices and adjustments and present an agile onboarding model that encompasses onboarding activities, individual adjustments, and workplace adjustments. Conclusions: A mixture of general and specific agile onboarding practices contribute to successful onboarding in an agile team. We provide practical guidelines to improve onboarding practice in agile teams. Our major new contribution is an extended model of onboarding for agile teams
Anais do XXVII Simpósio Brasileiro de Informática na Educação (SBIE 2016), 2016
One of the current challenges related to Open Educational Resources (OERs) is how to produce qual... more One of the current challenges related to Open Educational Resources (OERs) is how to produce quality and relevant materials to be reused and adapted to different contexts and learning situations. In this paper we present a flexible and systematic method for OERs, called AM-OER, that allows the development of OERs to evolve incrementally, and be modified and improved as needed. Practices of Learning Design are incorporated into the OERs development, making the design more understandable and shareable, and facilitating the reuse and adaptation. We applied AM-OER through a case study involving the development of a course in the software engineering domain. The results obtained suggest the applicability and usefulness of the AM-OER in the development of OERs. Recently, research on Learning Design (LD) has increased due to its potential to support in the definition and creation of a more effective pedagogical design of learning materials [Conole 2013]. An example is the Open University Learning Design Initiative (OULDI) project proposed by the UK Open University to derive a more "practice-focused approach for Learning Design" [Brasher et al. 2012]. It includes a set of practices and artifacts to represent design: (1) Course Map View: shows the main components for the course, enabling educators to think about the design of a course; (2) Learning Outcomes View: maps learning activities and assessment with the learning outcomes of the course; (3) Pedagogy Profile: articulates type of activities in which learners undertaken during the course; (4) Course Dimensions: provides more information on the nature of the course; and (5) Task Swimlane View: maps tasks that learners undertake to the contents and tools they use during the course.
Proceedings of the 2015 British HCI Conference, 2015
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International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, 2015
There is wide acceptance in the software engineering field that industry and research can gain si... more There is wide acceptance in the software engineering field that industry and research can gain significantly from each other and there have been several initiatives to encourage collaboration between the two. However there are some often-quoted challenges in this kind of collaboration. For example, that the timescales of research and practice are incompatible, that research is not seen as relevant for practice, and that research demands a different kind of rigour than practice supports. These are complex challenges that are not always easy to overcome. Since the beginning of 2013 we have been using an approach designed to address some of these challenges and to bridge the gap between research and practice, specifically in the agile software development arena. So far we have collaborated successfully with three partners and have investigated three practitioner-driven challenges with agile. The model of collaboration that we adopted has evolved with the lessons learned in the first two collaborations and been modified for the third. In this paper we introduce the collaboration model, discuss how it addresses the collaboration challenges between research and practice and how it has evolved, and describe the lessons learned from our experience.
computer.org
The articles appearing in IEEE Software are the result of hard work by many people. We deeply app... more The articles appearing in IEEE Software are the result of hard work by many people. We deeply appreciate the efforts of everyone who participated in our peer review process last year. Authors often tell us how much they value the reviewers' comments and suggestions. Their expertise, care, and attention help maintain Software's quality. All of us in the software development community owe them a heartfelt ���thank you.��� Readers who would like to contribute to our community by reviewing papers next year can visit www. computer. org/ ...
2018 44th Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications (SEAA)
For guidance on citations see FAQs.
Software components and architectures are gaining considerable support as the way
... by Andrew Coombes , Leonor Barroca , John Fitzgerald , John McDermid ,Lynn Spencer , Amer Sae... more ... by Andrew Coombes , Leonor Barroca , John Fitzgerald , John McDermid ,Lynn Spencer , Amer Saeed. In [35. Add To MetaCart. ...
Service-Oriented Computing (SOC) is an emerging computing paradigm that supports loosely-coupled ... more Service-Oriented Computing (SOC) is an emerging computing paradigm that supports loosely-coupled inter-enterprise interactions. SOC interactions are predominantly specified in a procedural manner that defines message sequences intermixing implementation with business requirements. In this paper we present a set of patterns concerning requirements of information exchange between participants engaging in service-oriented interactions. The patterns aim at explicating and elaborating the business requirements driving the interaction and separating them from implementation concerns. 1.
This paper presents an ongoing research on the development of a component-based product line arch... more This paper presents an ongoing research on the development of a component-based product line architecture for workflow management systems. The research includes a process to design the proposed product line, the population of the product with components, the product member production process, architecture evaluation mechanisms using architecture description languages and support tools, a variability management process and the development of case studies to evaluate each proposed technique.
and other research outputs Towards the development of open educational resources: challenges and ... more and other research outputs Towards the development of open educational resources: challenges and issues
The IT business value concept is central to information systems. Understanding the range of meani... more The IT business value concept is central to information systems. Understanding the range of meanings of IT business value in specific situations would contribute, in part, to a better knowledge of the boundaries of this concept. Current definitions for IT business value are ambig-uous and considerations of IT business value tend to disregard stakeholder perceptions and other fundamental aspects of value realisation such as the value context and timeframe, and the nature of the IT artefact generating the value. This paper presents a 4-dimensional model of the sources of IT business value and elaborates the stakeholder perception dimension by analysing IT busi-ness value as perceived by stakeholders in a single case study of an IT digitalisation project in a public sector organisation in the UK. We performed stakeholder and stakeholder salience analysis and found the following IT business values emerged: enabling organisational transformation, customer experience, cost saving, digital...
The ‘Using OpenStudio in STEM learning’ project was established to evaluate the use of online stu... more The ‘Using OpenStudio in STEM learning’ project was established to evaluate the use of online studio-based learning in the Open University. Studio-based learning provides a model that can be adapted for online learning. In conventional teaching settings, studio-based learning follows an apprenticeship model where students work independently or in groups, under the guidance of a tutor, using real-world activities. The project consisted of two main phases: a workshop for module team chairs followed by an in- depth study of the use of OpenStudio on two Computing & IT modules. Educators representing distance learning modules from a range of STEM disciplines including Computing and IT, Design, Engineering and Environmental Technology participated in a workshop to share information about the use of OpenStudio on their modules. A simple model of OpenStudio activities was derived from the workshop to illustrate the process of 'showing and sharing', viewing and reviewing', commen...
Agile software development has become, in the last twenty years, a popular approach to software d... more Agile software development has become, in the last twenty years, a popular approach to software development. It puts people and working software at the forefront of the development process. The emphasis on people stresses development carried out by teams of developers and stakeholders working together for the regular delivery of solutions. There is long experience of teaching software development at a distance at the Open University, UK; however, teaching agile software development at a distance creates new challenges due to its heavy reliance on face-to-face communication. Developing these skills with students who are at a distance, studying online, and mostly part-time adds significant difficulties. This paper reports a case study of the use of an online communication tool to help students develop agile communication practices, and to help tutors assess these skills. The tool is based on a studio-based approach to learning, where students work independently and in groups, learning...
Empirical Software Engineering
Empirical research on software development practices in startups is growing. However, little has ... more Empirical research on software development practices in startups is growing. However, little has been investigated about how User eXperience (UX) work has been carried out in software startups. The primary objective of this paper is to investigate what software startups need from UX work. To achieve this goal, we conducted open-ended interviews and retrospective meetings with 16 software professionals from two software startups in Brazil. We analysed the data qualitatively using different coding approaches: initial coding, focused coding, and theoretical coding. We found 14 UX work-related needs which emerged from the daily practices used for software development in the two startups studied. Based on our findings, we propose an initial theoretical framework that highlights two theoretical themes and four groups underlying the needs identified. Our study reveals several relationships between UX work-related needs which are helpful to understand in order to identify what startups need from UX work in practice and to focus startup teams' efforts on the most urgent needs. As future work, we plan to explore ways in which these needs may be addressed so that UX work may be put into practice in software startups.
A tecnologia de componentes é discutida amplamente, sob vários aspectos, assim como o processo de... more A tecnologia de componentes é discutida amplamente, sob vários aspectos, assim como o processo de seu desenvolvimento, o qual é conceituado à luz da literatura e das tecnologias atuais pelo livro. Desenvolvimento Baseado em Componentes é adequado para servir de referência para cursos relacionados à Engenharia de Software, uma vez que discute tudo o que já foi anteriormente citado e a "re-engenharia" de software, a confiabilidade de todo o processo no contexto da nova tecnologia; as relações entre componentes e padrões de projeto e frameworks
IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management
Transforming into an agile organisation is challenging because it involves complex changes across... more Transforming into an agile organisation is challenging because it involves complex changes across the organisation including changes to strategy, structure, culture, operations, and technology. Although much has been written about organisational agility, practitioners still call for authentic accounts and concrete experiences to help them understand how to transform. This article is based on three case studies of diverse organisations transforming to agility and provides an account of each transformation. Each organisation chose a different focus for their transformation: culture change, strategic change, and operational change. Each organisation faced challenges that resulted in tensions. We present 13 tensions from three cases, which illustrate the kinds of tension that organisations face in agile transformations. We consider these 13 tensions through the lens of paradox theory and thereby produce both practical guidance and theoretical contributions. We show how questions generated from this perspective may be used to guide transformation leaders and managers in addressing the tensions they will meet. Our findings provide empirical evidence for the tension categories in paradox theory and show that tensions occur during transformations to agility and not just in fully agile organisations.
We defend the need of a dual approach for specifying reactive systems and reasoning about their t... more We defend the need of a dual approach for specifying reactive systems and reasoning about their timing properties; this dual approach uses a notation for the specification of behaviour, preferably a graphical one, and a temporal logic to express formally, and reason about, this behaviour. The combination of two representation schemes forms the basis of a generic framework that can be instantiated for different choices of notations. Two instantiations of the framework, illustrating its use, are discussed. To describe in detail one of the instantiations, the ArchSM method, we use the pattern form. 1
Evolving business needs call for customizable choreographed interactions. However, choreography d... more Evolving business needs call for customizable choreographed interactions. However, choreography descriptions do not capture the problem-domain knowledge required to perform the customization effectively. Hence, we propose performing the customization to models of organizational requirements motivating the interaction. To facilitate the derivation of the resulting choreography description, we propose an alignment between conversations and organizational dependencies. We employ the domain knowledge and formal semantics of requirements models to find customization alternatives and reason about them. Using the alignment, we derive constraints on conversations systematically from customized requirements models.
Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, 2020
Although a stable team is deemed optimal for agile project success, new team members need to join... more Although a stable team is deemed optimal for agile project success, new team members need to join ongoing agile projects. Newcomers must rapidly assimilate into the organisational and project environment while learning how to contribute effectively to the project and integrate into the team without seriously interrupting project progress. This paper addresses how newcomers integrate into an established agile project team and the challenges newcomers and the team face during this process. This paper is a single case study of a co-located agile project team in a large IT department who regularly onboard inexperienced newcomers. We found a mixture of traditional onboarding practices and specific agile practices contribute to the onboarding process. Onboarding challenges include empowerment and mindset change, accommodating part-timers, conveying agile principles, and adjusting to changes in team composition.
Information and Software Technology, 2021
Context: A stable team is deemed optimal for agile software development project success; however,... more Context: A stable team is deemed optimal for agile software development project success; however, all teams change membership over time. Newcomers joining an agile project team must rapidly assimilate into the organisational and project environment. They must do this while learning how to contribute effectively and without seriously interrupting project progress. Objective: This paper addresses how newcomers integrate into an established agile project team and how agile practices assist with onboarding. Method: A single, qualitative case study approach was used, investigating a co-located agile project team in a large IT department who regularly onboard inexperienced newcomers. Analysis was abductive, consisting of inductive coding and theming using categories from an existing onboarding theory. Results: We describe the team’s onboarding practices and adjustments and present an agile onboarding model that encompasses onboarding activities, individual adjustments, and workplace adjustments. Conclusions: A mixture of general and specific agile onboarding practices contribute to successful onboarding in an agile team. We provide practical guidelines to improve onboarding practice in agile teams. Our major new contribution is an extended model of onboarding for agile teams
Anais do XXVII Simpósio Brasileiro de Informática na Educação (SBIE 2016), 2016
One of the current challenges related to Open Educational Resources (OERs) is how to produce qual... more One of the current challenges related to Open Educational Resources (OERs) is how to produce quality and relevant materials to be reused and adapted to different contexts and learning situations. In this paper we present a flexible and systematic method for OERs, called AM-OER, that allows the development of OERs to evolve incrementally, and be modified and improved as needed. Practices of Learning Design are incorporated into the OERs development, making the design more understandable and shareable, and facilitating the reuse and adaptation. We applied AM-OER through a case study involving the development of a course in the software engineering domain. The results obtained suggest the applicability and usefulness of the AM-OER in the development of OERs. Recently, research on Learning Design (LD) has increased due to its potential to support in the definition and creation of a more effective pedagogical design of learning materials [Conole 2013]. An example is the Open University Learning Design Initiative (OULDI) project proposed by the UK Open University to derive a more "practice-focused approach for Learning Design" [Brasher et al. 2012]. It includes a set of practices and artifacts to represent design: (1) Course Map View: shows the main components for the course, enabling educators to think about the design of a course; (2) Learning Outcomes View: maps learning activities and assessment with the learning outcomes of the course; (3) Pedagogy Profile: articulates type of activities in which learners undertaken during the course; (4) Course Dimensions: provides more information on the nature of the course; and (5) Task Swimlane View: maps tasks that learners undertake to the contents and tools they use during the course.
Proceedings of the 2015 British HCI Conference, 2015
For guidance on citations see FAQs.
International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, 2015
There is wide acceptance in the software engineering field that industry and research can gain si... more There is wide acceptance in the software engineering field that industry and research can gain significantly from each other and there have been several initiatives to encourage collaboration between the two. However there are some often-quoted challenges in this kind of collaboration. For example, that the timescales of research and practice are incompatible, that research is not seen as relevant for practice, and that research demands a different kind of rigour than practice supports. These are complex challenges that are not always easy to overcome. Since the beginning of 2013 we have been using an approach designed to address some of these challenges and to bridge the gap between research and practice, specifically in the agile software development arena. So far we have collaborated successfully with three partners and have investigated three practitioner-driven challenges with agile. The model of collaboration that we adopted has evolved with the lessons learned in the first two collaborations and been modified for the third. In this paper we introduce the collaboration model, discuss how it addresses the collaboration challenges between research and practice and how it has evolved, and describe the lessons learned from our experience.
computer.org
The articles appearing in IEEE Software are the result of hard work by many people. We deeply app... more The articles appearing in IEEE Software are the result of hard work by many people. We deeply appreciate the efforts of everyone who participated in our peer review process last year. Authors often tell us how much they value the reviewers' comments and suggestions. Their expertise, care, and attention help maintain Software's quality. All of us in the software development community owe them a heartfelt ���thank you.��� Readers who would like to contribute to our community by reviewing papers next year can visit www. computer. org/ ...
2018 44th Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications (SEAA)
For guidance on citations see FAQs.
Software components and architectures are gaining considerable support as the way
... by Andrew Coombes , Leonor Barroca , John Fitzgerald , John McDermid ,Lynn Spencer , Amer Sae... more ... by Andrew Coombes , Leonor Barroca , John Fitzgerald , John McDermid ,Lynn Spencer , Amer Saeed. In [35. Add To MetaCart. ...
Service-Oriented Computing (SOC) is an emerging computing paradigm that supports loosely-coupled ... more Service-Oriented Computing (SOC) is an emerging computing paradigm that supports loosely-coupled inter-enterprise interactions. SOC interactions are predominantly specified in a procedural manner that defines message sequences intermixing implementation with business requirements. In this paper we present a set of patterns concerning requirements of information exchange between participants engaging in service-oriented interactions. The patterns aim at explicating and elaborating the business requirements driving the interaction and separating them from implementation concerns. 1.
This paper presents an ongoing research on the development of a component-based product line arch... more This paper presents an ongoing research on the development of a component-based product line architecture for workflow management systems. The research includes a process to design the proposed product line, the population of the product with components, the product member production process, architecture evaluation mechanisms using architecture description languages and support tools, a variability management process and the development of case studies to evaluate each proposed technique.
and other research outputs Towards the development of open educational resources: challenges and ... more and other research outputs Towards the development of open educational resources: challenges and issues
The IT business value concept is central to information systems. Understanding the range of meani... more The IT business value concept is central to information systems. Understanding the range of meanings of IT business value in specific situations would contribute, in part, to a better knowledge of the boundaries of this concept. Current definitions for IT business value are ambig-uous and considerations of IT business value tend to disregard stakeholder perceptions and other fundamental aspects of value realisation such as the value context and timeframe, and the nature of the IT artefact generating the value. This paper presents a 4-dimensional model of the sources of IT business value and elaborates the stakeholder perception dimension by analysing IT busi-ness value as perceived by stakeholders in a single case study of an IT digitalisation project in a public sector organisation in the UK. We performed stakeholder and stakeholder salience analysis and found the following IT business values emerged: enabling organisational transformation, customer experience, cost saving, digital...
The ‘Using OpenStudio in STEM learning’ project was established to evaluate the use of online stu... more The ‘Using OpenStudio in STEM learning’ project was established to evaluate the use of online studio-based learning in the Open University. Studio-based learning provides a model that can be adapted for online learning. In conventional teaching settings, studio-based learning follows an apprenticeship model where students work independently or in groups, under the guidance of a tutor, using real-world activities. The project consisted of two main phases: a workshop for module team chairs followed by an in- depth study of the use of OpenStudio on two Computing & IT modules. Educators representing distance learning modules from a range of STEM disciplines including Computing and IT, Design, Engineering and Environmental Technology participated in a workshop to share information about the use of OpenStudio on their modules. A simple model of OpenStudio activities was derived from the workshop to illustrate the process of 'showing and sharing', viewing and reviewing', commen...
Agile software development has become, in the last twenty years, a popular approach to software d... more Agile software development has become, in the last twenty years, a popular approach to software development. It puts people and working software at the forefront of the development process. The emphasis on people stresses development carried out by teams of developers and stakeholders working together for the regular delivery of solutions. There is long experience of teaching software development at a distance at the Open University, UK; however, teaching agile software development at a distance creates new challenges due to its heavy reliance on face-to-face communication. Developing these skills with students who are at a distance, studying online, and mostly part-time adds significant difficulties. This paper reports a case study of the use of an online communication tool to help students develop agile communication practices, and to help tutors assess these skills. The tool is based on a studio-based approach to learning, where students work independently and in groups, learning...