The development of methods tools and process improvements is best to be based on the understanding of the development practice to be supported. Qualitative research has been proposed as a method for understanding the social and cooperative aspects of software development. However, qualitative research is not easily combined with the improvement orientation of an engineering discipline. During the last 6 years, we have applied an approach we call 'cooperative method development', which combines qualitative social science fieldwork, with problem-oriented method, technique and process improvement. The action research based approach focusing on shop floor software development practices allows an understanding of how contextual contingencies influence the deployment and applicability of methods, processes and techniques. This article summarizes the experiences and discusses the further development of this approach based on several research projects in cooperation with industrial partners.
This chapter reports on a case study performed in cooperation with a telecommunication provider. The telecom business changes rapidly as new services are continuously introduced. The rapidly changing business environment demands that the company has supportive, sustainable information systems to stay on the front line of the business area. The company’s continuous evolution of the IT-infrastructure makes it necessary to tailor the interaction between different applications. The objective of the case study was to explore what is required to allow end users to tailor the interaction between flexible applications in an evolving IT-infrastructure to provide for software sustainability. The case study followed a design research paradigm where a prototype was created and evaluated from a use perspective. The overall result shows that allowing end users to tailor the interaction between flexible applications in an evolving IT infrastructure relies on, among other things, an organization that allows cooperation between users and developers that supports both evolution and tailoring.
The purpose of this classic grounded theory study was to understand how seniors who are living independently resolve issues influenced by visual impairment and high fall risk. We interviewed and observed 13 seniors with visual impairment in their homes. We also interviewed six visual instructors with experience from many hundreds of relevant incidents from the same group of seniors. We found that the seniors are resolving their main concern of “remaining themselves as who they used to be” by self-preservation. Within this category, the strategies maintaining the established self and defying deterioration emerged as the most prominent in our data. The theme maintaining the established self is mostly guided by change inertia and includes living the past (retaining past activities, reminiscing, and keeping the home intact) and facading (hiding impairment, leading to avoidance of becoming a burden and to risk juggling). Defying deterioration is a proactive scheme and involves moving (by exercising, adapting activities, using walking aids, driving), adapting (by finding new ways), and networking by sustaining old support networks or finding new networks. Self-preservation is generic human behavior and modifying this theory to other fields may therefore be worthwhile. In addition, health care providers may have use for the theory in fall preventive planning.
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