A design theory for software engineering

Abstract

(2017This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P TA design theory for software engineering Method: We elaborate our theory based on Gregor's influential 'meta-theoretical' exploration of the structural nature of a theory in the discipline of Information Systems, with particular attention to ontological and epistemological arguments. Results: We argue how, from an ontological perspective, our theory embodies a view of Software Engineering as the practice of framing, representing and transforming Software Engineering problems. As such, theory statements concern the characterisation of individual problems and how problems relate and transform to other problems as part of an iterative, potentially backtracking, problem solving processes, accounting for the way Software Engineering transforms the physical world to meet a recognised need, and for the problem structuring process in context. From an epistemological perspective, we argue how the theory has developed through research cycles including both theory-then-(empirical-)research and (empirical-)research-then-theory strategies spanning over a decade; both theoretical statements and related empirical evidence are included. Conclusion:The resulting theory provides descriptions and explanations for many phenomena observed in Software Engineering and in the combination of software with other technologies, and embodies analytic, explanatory and predictive properties. There are however acknowledged limitations and current research to overcome them is outlined.

POE‐Δ: Towards an engineering framework for solving change problems

“…D 's challenge thus consists of (cf. (Hall & Rapanotti, )): creating their own view, ( E , N ), of the G 's change problem ( E G , N G ); …”

“…Its underlying design theory concerns the characterization of individual problems and how problems relate and transform to other problems as part of the problem solving processes. A thorough presentation of POE is beyond the scope of this paper, but can be found in (Hall & Rapanotti, ). Here, we briefly recall some basic definitions, extended by POE‐Δ to change problems in Section POE‐Δ.…”

Safety engineering with COTS components

“…A comprehensive introduction to POE can be found in [13]; in the next section we limit ourselves to a brief introduction of some of the basic concepts and notation relevant to the current case study.…”

“…POE is design theoretic [13], by which we mean it provides a theory that characterises the elements of problem solving in terms of the effect they have on the process of design rather than on an artefact. Design in POE can use many types of design activities, including Weick's 'sensemaking' [42], various formal and informal refinement techniques, Jackson's problem progression [19], the use of architectures, etc, each of which is captured by the effect it has on design (see [13] for details).…”

“…This work is based on Problem Oriented Engineering (POE; see, for instance, [15,14,12]), an emerging framework for engineering as problem solving [13]. POE has developed (since 2001) into a collection of thought tools for the problem solving activities that underpinning design and engineering.…”