fredag 10 juni 2011

What is Human-Focused Software Engineering?

This is a short introduction to my research interests around which my future blogging will most likely revolve:

Software development is relatively young as an engineering discipline and as such has focused on developing the technical tools at its disposal. However, software development is a multi-disciplinary endeavor; it is not only about technology but also about the process with which we work, how we organize ourselves and about the business and economics involved. Common to all of these non-technical aspects is that the humans are in focus. A new process is not effective purely by how it reorders the work but by how it affects the engineers involved and the communication between them. But this human aspect is also central for technical innovation in the field. A new technology cannot affect industrial practice unless its effect on the
engineers is understood and taken into account.

My research lab, the HOSE research lab, at the division of Software Engineering at Chalmers focus on the humans in software development, both understanding their performance better and supporting them with automation and better methods.

Themes/areas in our research:
1. Human factors (Psychological, social, organizational) in SE and technology
2. Search-Based SE & Automation to allow developers to focus on exploration/creativity
3. Alignment between and optimization of different areas of SE
4. Agile and Lean Software Practices
5. Industry collaboration