Mahmood Niazi | King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (original) (raw)

Papers by Mahmood Niazi

Because requirements engineering (RE) problems are widely acknowledged as having a major impact o... more Because requirements engineering (RE) problems are widely acknowledged as having a major impact on the effectiveness of the software development process, Sommerville et al. have developed a requirements maturity model. However, research has shown that the measurement process within Sommerville's model is ambiguous, and implementation of his requirements maturity model leads to confusion. Hence, the objective of our research is to propose a new RE maturity measurement framework (REMMF) based on Sommerville's model and to provide initial validation of REMMF. The main purpose of proposing REMMF is to allow us to more effectively measure the maturity of the RE processes being used within organisations and to assist practitioners in measuring the maturity of their RE processes. In order to evaluate REMMF, two organisations implemented the measurement framework within their IT divisions, provided us with an assessment of their requirements process and gave feedback on the REMMF measurement process. The results show that our measurement framework is clear, easy to use and provides an entry point through which the practitioners can effectively judge the strengths and weakness of their RE processes. When an organisation knows where it is, it can more effectively plan for improvement.

OBJECTIVE -In this paper we present findings from an empirical study that was aimed at determinin... more OBJECTIVE -In this paper we present findings from an empirical study that was aimed at determining the software process improvement (SPI) motivators. The main objective of this study is to provide SPI practitioners with some insight into designing appropriate SPI implementation strategies and to maximize practitioner support for SPI. METHOD -We used face-to-face questionnaire based survey sessions as our main approach to collect data from twenty-three software development practitioners of eight Vietnamese software development companies. We asked practitioners to choose and rank various SPI motivators against the five types of assessments (high, medium, low, zero, or do not know). From this, we propose the notion of 'perceived value' associated with each SPI motivator. RESULTS -We have identified 6 'high' perceived value SPI motivators that are generally considered critical for successfully implementing SPI initiatives. These motivators are: cost beneficial, job satisfaction, knowledgeable team leaders, maintainable/easy processes, shared best practices, and top-down commitment. Our results show that developers are highly motivated by: career prospects, communication, cost beneficial, empowerment, knowledgeable team leaders, maintainable/easy processes, resources, shared best practices, top-down commitment, and visible success; Managers are motivated by: job satisfaction, knowledgeable team leaders, maintainable/easy processes, meeting targets, shared best practices, and top-down commitment. Our results also show that practitioners of small and medium sized companies are highly motivated by: cost beneficial, job satisfaction, knowledgeable team leaders, and maintainable/easy processes; practitioners of large companies are highly motivated by: cost beneficial, reward schemes, shared best practices and top-down commitment.

Systematic Literature Reviews (SLRs) have been gaining significant attention from software engine... more Systematic Literature Reviews (SLRs) have been gaining significant attention from software engineering researchers since 2004. Several researchers have reported their experiences of and lessons learned from applying systematic reviews to different subject matters in software engineering. However, there has been no attempt at independently exploring experiences and perceptions of the practitioners of systematic reviews in order to gain an in-depth understanding of various aspects of systemic reviews as a new research methodology in software engineering. We assert that there is a need of evidence-based body of knowledge about the application of systematic reviews in software engineering.

Global Software Development (GSD) has been embraced by organizations due to the availability of h... more Global Software Development (GSD) has been embraced by organizations due to the availability of highly trained software engineers at a relatively low cost. GSD is not a risk free activity as several GSD failures have been reported. It is anticipated that the appropriate use of available software tools can play an important role in overcoming some of the risks associated with management of GSD projects. However, there are many challenges in adopting the existing tools in globally distributed projects. The objective of this paper is to identify challenges of existing tools used in GSD projects. We have used a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach by applying customized search string derived from our research questions. We have identified 105 papers that discuss the challenges of the existing GSD tools. We have identified key challenges for adopting existing tools in GSD projects, such as: "difficulties in adopting and learning existing tools", "inappropriate use of tools", "lack of coverage of GSD processes" and "lack of security and privacy". Based on our SLR results, we suggest that GSD organizations should address these challenges in order to compete in the GSD business.

Risk is a potential event that leads to loss or harm in software projects. Risks may be classifie... more Risk is a potential event that leads to loss or harm in software projects. Risks may be classified into negative or positive; where negative risks specifically lead to loss or harm, while positive risks represent a new opportunity in the project. To handle these kinds of risks, risk assessment models and techniques have been introduced. In this paper, we review the most popular and applicable risk assessment models available in the literature. We come up with a taxonomy in which those models can be categorized as: (1) Artificial Intelligence (AI) based, (2) Classical (or Non-AI based), and (3) other Hybrid models. We propose evaluation criteria which have been used to compare these models. After analyzing evaluation results, we recommend suitable models which can be used to avoid project risks.

The focus of Service Oriented Software Development (SOSD) is to develop software by integrating r... more The focus of Service Oriented Software Development (SOSD) is to develop software by integrating reusable services to lower the required cost, time and effort of development and increase reusability, agility, quality and customer satisfaction. It has been recognised in the literature that SOSD faces various challenges especially in requirements engineering (RE). The objective of this study is to investigate these challenges of Service Oriented RE (SORE) from practitioners' perspectives in order to gain a deeper understanding of the related issues and to reveal potential gaps between research and practice in SORE. They present a qualitative study of the challenges and issues in SORE. The data were collected by conducting interviews with practitioners working in IT companies in Sydney, who have had substantial experience with service oriented software projects. The authors findings reveal that most of the challenges of SORE are similar to those that are faced during RE in traditional or component-based software development. According to the practitioners, the research and practice has made some advances in the technical direction but the human related issues in SORE have not been addressed adequately.

Over the last decade, many firms in the world have started adopting Global Software Development (... more Over the last decade, many firms in the world have started adopting Global Software Development (GSD) in order to reduce software development cost. GSD helps companies to leverage the benefits of multi-site development with respect to time, cost and access to skillful resource. Recent research suggests that half of the companies that have tried global software development have failed to realize the anticipated outcomes. One of the major issues is that many clients endorse global contracts with their vendors prior to testing their project management readiness for the global activity. The objective of this research is to identify challenges associated with project management in GSD. We have performed a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) by applying customized search strings derived from our research question. We have identified challenges such as lack of cultural understanding in teams, lack of communication, time zone problem, lack of co-ordination and lack of knowledge management and transfer among teams as key project management challenges in GSD. Our ultimate aim is to develop a model in order to measure organizations' project management readiness for GSD activities.

Objective: In this paper, we present findings from an empirical study that was aimed at identifyi... more Objective: In this paper, we present findings from an empirical study that was aimed at identifying the relative ''perceived value" of CMMI level 2 specific practices based on the perceptions and experiences of practitioners of small and medium size companies. The objective of this study is to identify the extent to which a particular CMMI practice is used in order to develop a finer-grained framework, which encompasses the notion of perceived value within specific practices. Method: We used face-to-face questionnaire based survey sessions as the main approach to collecting data from 46 software development practitioners from Malaysia and Vietnam. We asked practitioners to choose and rank CMMI level 2 practices against the five types of assessments (high, medium, low, zero or do not know). From this, we have proposed the notion of 'perceived value' associated with each practice. Results: We have identified three 'requirements management' practices as having a 'high perceived value'. The results also reveal the similarities and differences in the perceptions of Malaysian and Vietnamese practitioners with regard to the relative values of different practices of CMMI level 2 process areas. Conclusions: Small and medium size companies should not be seen as being ''at fault" for not adopting CMMI -instead the Software Process Improvement (SPI) implementation approaches and its transition mechanisms should be improved. We argue that research into ''tailoring" existing process capability maturity models may address some of the issues of small and medium size companies. (M. Niazi), malibaba@lero.ie (M.A. Babar). Information and Software Technology xxx (2009) xxx-xxx 2 M. Niazi, M.A. Babar / Information and Software Technology xxx (2009) xxx-xxx ARTICLE IN PRESS Please cite this article in press as: M. Niazi, M.A. Babar, Identifying high perceived value practices of CMMI level 2: An empirical study, Inform. Softw.

CONTEXT -Software development outsourcing has been growing steadily. However significant outsourc... more CONTEXT -Software development outsourcing has been growing steadily. However significant outsourcing failure rates have also been reported. One of the major issues in outsourcing business is that many organisations undertake software outsourcing initiatives without knowing whether or not they are ready to undertake them.

OBJECTIVE – The objective of this research is to implement CMMI Level 2 specific practice – SP 1.... more OBJECTIVE – The objective of this research is to implement CMMI Level 2 specific practice – SP 1.3-1 manage requirements changes. In this paper we have proposed a model for requirements change management and also discussed initial validation of this model. This model is based on both an empirical study that we have carried out and our extensive literature review

This study aims to compare the use of targeted manual searches with broad automated searches, and... more This study aims to compare the use of targeted manual searches with broad automated searches, and to assess the importance of grey literature and breadth of search on the outcomes of SLRs. We used a participant-observer multi-case embedded case study. Our two cases were a tertiary study of systematic literature reviews published between January 2004 and June 2007 based on a manual search of selected journals and conferences and a replication of that study based on a broad automated search. Broad searches find more papers than restricted searches, but the papers may be of poor quality. Researchers undertaking SLRs may be justified in using targeted manual searches if they intend to omit low quality papers; if publication bias is not an issue; or if they are assessing research trends in research methodologies.

Offshore software development outsourcing is a recent and widely used business strategy for the d... more Offshore software development outsourcing is a recent and widely used business strategy for the development of high quality products at low cost. The objective of the research presented in this study is to find critical success factors (CSFs) for contract management to assist vendor organisations for successful outcomes of the offshore software outsourcing contract. A systematic literature review (SLR) process was performed for the identification of factors that can assist vendor organisations in successful management of the various activities at different stages of the outsourcing contract. that is, pre-contract, during contract and post-contract. Our findings reveal that 'contract flexibility, 'trustworthy relationship management', 'competitive bidding', 'consultation and negotiation' and 'quality management' are considered as the CSFs for outsourcing vendor organisations in planning, management and execution of outsourcing contract.

Software development outsourcing is a contract-based relationship between client and vendor organ... more Software development outsourcing is a contract-based relationship between client and vendor organisations in which a client(s) contracts out all or part of its software development activities to a vendor(s), who provides agreed services for remuneration. The objective of this paper is to identify various barriers that have a negative impact on software outsourcing clients in the selection process of offshore software development outsourcing vendors. We have performed a Systematic Literature Review process for the identification of barriers. We have identified barriers 'language and cultural barriers', 'country instability', 'lack of project management', 'lack of protection for intellectual property rights' and 'lack of technical capability' that are generally have a negative impact on outsourcing clients. The results also reveal the similarities and differences in the barriers identified in different continents. We suggest vendors have to address different barriers in order to compete in the offshore outsourcing business.

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) has become the new reference architecture for distributed com... more Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) has become the new reference architecture for distributed computing. For the last few years the number of services on the web has increased exponentially. Among available services locating the best service that fulfills the user requirement is a challenging task for researchers especially when they are emphasizing on the need of automating the process of web service discovery. There is still no standard Requirement Engineering Process defined for service centric systems, as the traditional processes and those used for COTS selection cannot be used due to the architectural differences of service oriented software development to the other domains. The aim of this thesis proposal is to highlight the issues and challenges for service oriented software development paradigms and then to create a framework based on the solutions to the issues and then validating this proposal with the help of experiments.

CONTEXT: Software Process Improvement initiatives have been around for many years with the growin... more CONTEXT: Software Process Improvement initiatives have been around for many years with the growing globalisation of software development is making them increasingly important. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this exploratory research is to gain an in-depth understanding of barriers that can undermine SPI, in the context of Global Software Development, from the perspective of software development practitioners; this will enable SPI managers to better manage SPI initiatives. We intend to discover if the barriers to SPI initiatives in a ...