93693
Facilitating communication in software development
ABSTRACT Effective communication is critical to the success of a softwaredevelopment project. It factors into the productivity of individualsand organizations, and has particular impact when change occurs.Yet communication is generally left unsupported by the softwaredevelopment process and by the communication infrastructure. Weaddress this issue in the context of two software developmentprojects at N YNEX through a conceptual framework called DesignIntent. There are three innovations in our approach. Design Intentencourages stakeholders to engage in active listening, enablesstakeholders to collaboratively construct a consistent understand-ing of the development effort, and provides a communicationinfrastructure for stakeholders to share ideas and participate in dis-cussions. INTRODUCTION Effective communication among the stakeholders of a softwaredevelopment project is crucial to its success. The importance ofthis communication has been well documented by Curtis, Krasner,and Iscoe [8], who noted frequent, recurring problems related tothe lack of adequate communication among those involved in thedevelopment effort. In order to improve the communication amongmembers of a software development team, an effective process andthe infrastructure to support it must be provided.As designers, we have a new role of “designing experiences” orways for people within our corporation to appreciate new ideas.This role is “designing the boundary objects that facilitate commu-nication and the interpretative moves [leaping] of overlappingcommunities of practice”[18]. We need to build not only “proto-types of need or use” and “prototype systems” [2] — but also theinfrastructures that support relationships, work practices, andsocial intercourse in communities of learners and knowledgeworkers.We feel that three main activities are essential for producing goodsoftware systems:1. Active listening andinterpretive leaping: understanding theproblem and how to solve it in a signiﬁcant way — offering amodel of transcendence.2. Designing boundary objects that help peopleexperiencethepower and possibilities of new ideas.3. Facilitating the communication of ideas and innovations bybuilding the infrastructures.We refer to them as the three dimensions of Design Intent. We willdiscuss our experiences along these dimensions using two projectsat
7785175
Dynamic forms: an enhanced interaction abstraction based on forms
Dynamic Forms supports developers in creating a single, dynamic, scrollable form using a form description language. The virtual form is structured into sections and subsections so that effective organization and navigation of the information are possible. The object-oriented, textual, and interpretive nature of the language allow developers to incorporate user suggestions concerning changes to a dynamic form quickly and with minimal tools. Dynamic Forms is based on an understanding of the environment in which data-entry tasks are carried out, the manner in which users perform their tasks, and how the users utilize human and computer resources in solving these tasks.
12171458
Making web sites be places for social interaction
Technology can play an important role in enabling people to interact with each other. The Web is one such technology with the affordances for sharing information and for connecting people to people. In this paper, we describe the design of two social interaction Web sites for two different social groups. We review several related efforts to provide principles for creating social interaction environments and describe the specific principles that guided our design. To examine the effectiveness of the two sites, we analyze the usage data. Finally, we discuss approaches for encouraging participation and lessons learned.
40848730
User's command line reference behaviour: Locality versus recency
27113053
A Multimedia Office Filing System
8964703
Experiences in developing collaborative applications using the World Wide Web “shell”
The components of the World Wide Web, which we call the World Wide Web Shell, provide a framework for collaborative application development in much the same way as an expert system shell does for expert system development. This development is quick enough to support rapid prototyping. Once the collaborative application is developed, the WWW Shell facilitates the distribution of the application and its data to geographically-separated users on diverse computing platforms. We have developed and deployed two collaborative applications, Design Intent and NYNEX Portholes, using the WWW Shell. These applications are described and our experiences developing them with the WWW Shell are detailed. In the process of developing these applications we discovered limitations of the WWW Shell which we present, along with suggested modifications and extensions to address them.
15346826
Open implementation analysis and design
This paper describes a methodology for designing Open Implementations -software modules that can adapt or change their internals to accommodate the needs of different clients. Analysis techniques are used for capturing domain knowledge, user requirements, and domain properties that influence the module’s eventual implementation. Design techniques are used for determining and refining the interfaces by which clients control the modules implementation strategies. The methodology has evolved over the past two years in several pilot projects.
28520987
Object-oriented protocol specification
17399297
Distinctions Among Different Types of Generalizing in Information Systems Research
It is incorrect and even harmful that many information systems researchers typically criticize their own intensive (qualitative, interpretive, critical, and case) research as lacking “generalizability.” We untangle and distinguish the numerous concepts now confounded in the single term “generalizability,” which are generality, generalization, generalize, general and generalizing. These clarified terms allow us to identify four distinct forms of generalizing (everyday inductive generalizing, everyday deductive generalizing, academic inductive generalizing, and academic deductive generalizing), each of which we illustrate with an information systems-related example. The clarified terms provide the basis for an explanation of how information systems researchers who perform intensive research may properly lay claim to generality for their research.
18476883
Electronic Mail as a Medium for Rich Communication: An Empirical Investigation Using Hermeneutic Interpretation
This study provides an account of how richness occurs in communication that uses electronic mail. In examining actual e-mail exchanged among managers in a corporation, the study interprets the managerial use of the communication medium of electronic mail as the users themselves understand and experience it. Employing the research approach of interpretivism in general and hermeneutics in particular, the study finds that richness or leanness is not an inherent property of the electronic-mail medium, but an emergent property of the interaction of the electronic-mail medium with its organizational context, where the interaction is described in terms of distanciation, autonomization, social construction, appropriation, and enactment.Conclusions and recommendations are that managers who receive e-mail are not passive recipients of data, but active producers of meaning; that the best or just an appropriate communication medium is not determined through an individual manager's exercise of rational decision making, but emerges as best or appropriate over time, over the course of the medium's interactions with many users; that systems professionals need to treat the managerial user of an e-mail system not merely as a client of information services, but also as a processor or co-processor to be integrated into the system design; and that information systems researchers need to dedicate attention to the actual processes by which the users of communication medium come to understand themselves, their own use of the medium, and their organizational context.