What Counts as Software Process? Negotiating the Boundary of Software Work Through Artifacts and Conversation

  • Authors:

  • Marisa Leavitt Cohn;Susan Elliott Sim;Charlotte P. Lee

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Informatics, University of California, Irvine, USA 92697-3440;Department of Informatics, University of California, Irvine, USA 92697-3440;Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, USA 98195

  • Venue:
  • Computer Supported Cooperative Work
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

In software development, there is an interplay between Software Process models and Software Process enactments. The former tends to be abstract descriptions or plans. The latter tends to be specific instantiations of some ideal procedure. In this paper, we examine the role of work artifacts and conversations in negotiating between prescriptions from a model and the contingencies that arise in an enactment. A qualitative field study at two Agile software development companies was conducted to investigate the role of artifacts in the software development work and the relationship between these artifacts and the Software Process. Documentation of software requirements is a major concern among software developers and software researchers. Agile software development denotes a different relationship to documentation, one that warrants investigation. Empirical findings are presented which suggest a new understanding of the relationship between artifacts and Software Process. The paper argues that Software Process is a generative system, which participants called "The Conversation," that emerges out of the interplay between Software Process models and Software Process enactments.