Towards a behavioral software engineering

Abstract

Throughout the history of Software Engineering (SE) it has been repeatedly found that the humans involved, i.e. the engineers and developers in addition to other stakeholders, are a key factor in determining project outcomes and success. However, the amount of research that focuses on human aspects has been limited compared to research with technology or process focus. With increasing maturity of the field, interest in agile methods and a growing dissatisfaction with the continued challenges of developing high-quality software on time, the amount of SE research putting human aspect in primary focus has increased.In this paper we argue that a synthesized view of the emerging human-focused SE research is needed and can add value through giving focus, direction and help identify gaps. Taking cues from the addition of Behavioral Economics as an important part of the area of Economics we propose the term Behavioral Software Engineering (BSE) as an umbrella concept for research that focus on behavioral and social aspects in the work activities of software engineers. We propose that a model based on three units of analysis can give structure and point to concepts that are important for BSE. To add detail to this model we are conducting a systematic review to map out what is currently known. To exemplify the model and the area we here present the results from a subset of the identified concepts.

Psychological safety and norm clarity in software engineering teams

“…Request permissions from permissions@acm.org. logical and process-oriented solutions to improve development [35,36]. However, in the last decades, researchers and practitioners alike have increasingly started to recognize that to improve team performance; one also needs to take human factors into account (e.g.…”

Intertemporal Choice: Decision Making and Time in Software Engineering

“…The aim of this work corresponds to the recent emergence of Behavioral Software Engineering, a field aiming to draw in behavioural frameworks and concepts for a better understanding of SE [2], [3], [27].…”

“…For example, standard frameworks and process models do not explain well how engineers actually make decisions in systems development teams [2], [3]. Many decision support models prescribe ways to evaluate design options through the weighted assessment and comparison of alternatives against stated criteria, but successful expert decision makers often do none of these things when they make important decisions [4].…”

“…Behavioral research aims to better understand such cognitive and cooperative aspects of human activities, and the recent emergence of behavioral SE [2], [3] suggests a wealth of research questions at the intersection of these fields. Following organizational psychology, these can be grouped according to individual, group and organizational issues [3].…”

Socialness in the recruiting of software engineers

“…Though the progressive claim of 'people trump process' [8] has not been contradicted, most SE research still concentrates on processes, methods, and technologies [18].…”