Presented at UMKC

1. A New Software
Engineering
GUPTA ARUNIT
CHRYSLER BENJAMIN
MURAKONDA SRAVANI

2. Paradigm shifts in Software
Engineering
 Software Engineering - Set of practices adopted from other disciplines of
Engineering like project management, design and blue printing.
 Essence of software engineering has disparage coders, who actually make
the software work.
 There is a paradigm shift from traditional methods towards agile
methodology.

3. Analogy
 Basic Analogy was to treat software as manufactured product.
 Other engineering disciples have up-front work which is based on strong
foundational understanding where results can be relied on.
 Software engineering doesn't have any such basis.

4. Software - Art or Science ?
 Software Engineering is craft supported by theory.
 Current software artistry has direct reaction to engineering approach.
 Conventional methods believes that code has to be run to make a software
work, which doesn't focus on crafting quality code.
 Agile practices has made possible to create high- quality scalable software
systems.

5. Engineering
 Skilled Artisans from Ancient times created marvelous structures which
were incredibly expensive and time consuming, also having risk of getting
collapsed in a disastrous way.
 Structures like skyscrapers were possible only with true engineering
approach having strong foundation in material science and theory of
structures.
 Engineering = Craftsmanship + Theoretical foundation.

6. SEMAT
 Software Engineering Method and Theory (SEMAT) focuses both on
supporting the craft (methods) and building foundational understanding
(theory).
 Method is a process for developing software from experience, which is
filtered into rules --> guidelines
-->consensus-->standards.
 In older times master work was closely guarded and given to trusted
apprentices. As a craft develops into engineering discipline, it’s important
to find common functionality of various methods based on shared
experiences.

7. Development of Theory
 These Methods, or processes, are the basis of the common understanding
known as Theory.
 Theoretical foundations allow for disciplined analysis.
 Theory is used to develop engineering disciplines.
 Engineering disciplines go through cycles.
 Practice
 Theory
 Analysis
 Theory in software engineering is relatively new.

8. Development of Theory
 Computer Science is often separated from Software Engineering.
 Computer Science mostly only academic, not concerned with industry
methods.
 Methods in current software engineering often lack support theory.
 Theory is not typically useful for those in industry.
 To address this:
 Start with methods used in practice
 Combine techniques
 Avoid competition

9. Growth of Agility
 Currently, the trend is to compliment Craftsmanship.
 Make development changeable and flexible, done by small installments.
 Increment and adjust based on feedback.
 Adapt to the task at hand.
 Each team and each member must be agile enough to improve the
software through the development of the software.

10. Growth of Agility
 The nature of software is also adaptable.
 As software gets more complex, it becomes less flexible.
 Two tasks help overcome this:
 Process control
 Project management
 The Agile Methods, handle things differently:
 quick feedback cycles
 continuous integrated testing

11. From Practice to Method
 Practices are repeatable approaches to specific purpose.
 Methods are built from a collection of practices.
 Examples of this are Extreme Programming and Scrums
 Extreme Programming is and approach that includes:
 Pair Programming
 Test-Driven Development
 Continuous Integration

12. From Practice to Method
 A Scrum is an agile approach that contains but is not limited to:
 Backlogs
 Daily Scrums
 Sprints
 Scrums are built from any number of different practices.
 A new foundation is needed, independent of the practices and
practitioners for the new software Engineering.

13. Kernel is The Foundation for Practices
and Methods
 Kernel is the first tangible result of SEMAT
 It consists of 3 parts :
 A means for measuring the progress and health of an endeavor.
 A categorization of the activities necessary to advance the progress of
an endeavor.
 A set of competencies necessary to carry out such activities.
 SEMAT seven dimensions to measure progress known as “alpha”
(Abstract Level Progress Health Attribute).
 The seven dimensions are: opportunity,stakeholders, requirements,
software system, work, team, and way of working.

14. Seven Dimensions of Kernel

15. alpha in Software Engineering
 Each alpha has a specific set of states that codify points along the
dimension of progress represented by the alpha.
 Each of the states has a checklist.
 Help practitioners monitor the current state of their endeavor along a
certain alpha.
 To understand the state they need to move toward next.
 Idea is to provide an intuitive tool for practitioners.

16. Spider Chart
 One way to visualize seven dimensional space of alphas using spider
chart.

17. alpha states on Card

18. Practices Built on the Kernel: Enable
Agile Methods
 A practice can be expressed in terms of the kernel by:
 Identifying the areas in which it advances the endeavor.
 Describing the activities used to achieve this advancement and the work
products produced.
 Describing the specific competencies needed to carry out these activities.
 How the common framework of the kernel provides a predictive capability.

19. Conclusion
 Those practices, as well as building new ones as necessity. Ultimately, the
goal will be, as an industry to provide for the standardization of particularly
useful and successful practices.
 While enhancing not limiting, the agility of teams in applying and adapting
those practices, as well as building new ones as necessary.
 Finally, that is the path toward a true discipline of software engineering.

20. References
 Ivar Jacobson and ED Seidewitz “A New Software Engineering” VOL. 57 ,NO. 12, December 2014.
 Graziotin, D. and Abrahamsson, P. A Web-based modeling tool for the SEMAT Essence theory of software
engineering. J. Open Research Software 1, 1(2013).
 Jacobson, I., Ng, P-W., McMahon, P., Spence, I. and Lidman, S. The Essence of software engineering: The
SEMAT kernel. ACM Queue 10, 10 (2012).
 Jacobson, I., Ng, P.-W., McMahon, P. E., Spence, I.and Lidman, S. The Essence of Software Engineering:
Applying the SEMAT Kernel. Addison-Wesley, Reading,PA, 2013.
 Jacobson, I., Spence, I. and Ng, P.-W. Agile and SEMAT— Perfect partners. Comm. ACM 6, 11 (Nov. 2013)
 Kuhn, T. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. University of Chicago Press, 1962.