Waterfagile - how does your actual software development process look like?

[jankapunkt]

Background

Funding applications for research projects often require a thorough description of the planned development and fixed time schedule that corresponds to the intended implementation. Reports need to reflect on these definitions and variations from the planned software need to be explained and reasoned. A setup that would fit a typical waterfall process (and a likely failed software...).

At the same time the actual software development process during a research project can be very iterative, incremental and open-ended, especially when multiple disciplines are involved and many new questions arise or remain open. A typical setup for agile approaches.

However, somehow, me and my group often ended up in some kind of a mix of multiple methodologies and were never really able to stick to one approach, rather picked what worked for us, depending on the short-term situation. This in turn creates the feeling, that we never got it right and there is much room for improvement (although I personally just think, that many methodologies simply don't fit RSE on a 1:1 basis).

Goal

I'd like to exchange and collect ideas and experiences with other RSE on their methodologies, especially how well these methodologies are actually "lived" day by day, including the challenges they face and the tools they use. This may also vary a lot by field and discipline and the actual goals of the projects.

Particular questions could be, among others:

• can you describe the actual software development process in your current or former projects?
• how do/did you prototype, how effective is/was it?
• how do you transition from prototyping to serious development?
• how do you develop in teams with few or even one developer and many non-devs?
• the same for teams with many developers?
• how did unforeseen events or results affect(ed) your overall project plan regarding the software product/service?
• what tools do you use to manage development with devs and with non-devs?
• how well are/were you able to involve the non-devs into your overall development process?
• viewing back, how well did your project plan really described the actual outcome of the software and why?

At the end we might get a collection of methodologies, tools, techniques and literature as an input on how we all can optimize our development processes. Maybe we also find similarities and differences to the commercial software engineering? This, of course, would depend a lot on the variety of attendees and their experiences.

Amount of time would depend on the amount of attendees, I think.

[HeidiSeibold]

Dear @jankapunkt, thanks for your submission 👍

I added labels to this breakout idea. Do you think they fit well?

Could you please answer the following questions for me?

Who could be interested in collaborating on this?

(feel free to tag them with their GitHub username if they have one)

How much time do you need for this?

(90 minutes or multiples thereof)

Abstract

(Can be short)

[HeidiSeibold]

Hi @jankapunkt can you please respond by Tuesday morning, thanks 😃

[jankapunkt]

I added labels to this breakout idea. Do you think they fit well?

Thanks a lot @HeidiSeibold I think labels are good

Who could be interested in collaborating on this?

I actually don't really know anyone from the RSE community (yet). I just discovered there actually people like me :-D

I think this would be interesting for many research groups with Drittmittel funding as there are big fluctuations in employees, constantly different kind of project plans, changing expectations and rules from the financiers but also very project-specific requirements.

However, I would not exclude institutes and research groups with long-term employees and a more narrow scope. The more variation the more interesting the outcomes for all attendees.

How much time do you need for this?

I think 90 minutes are a good fit for this. I would provide a short input presentation, (5 min to max. 10 min) but keep the most time open exchange and discussion.

Abstract

Software engineering in research projects is influenced by fixed and highly determined (waterfall-like) project planning and at the same time very (agile) iterative, incremental and open-ended approaches to the ongoing development of the software.

We found for our group, that a purist approach to a certain methodology (waterfall. scrum, xp, which we tried to implement) does not really fit into this hybrid setup of research projects, involving software development.

I'd like to exchange and collect ideas and experiences with other RSE on their methodologies, especially how well these methodologies are actually "lived" day by day, including the challenges they face and the tools they use. This may also vary a lot by field and discipline and the actual goals of the projects.

[pancetta]

Hi! I just added the "Accepted" label to this BOS. Welcome on board!
https://un-derse23.sciencesconf.org/program

[pancetta]

Hi all, the unconference is only 3 weeks away now! On day 1 there will be a breakout blitz where all session organizers should advertise their sessions. 1 minute, 1 slide, let people know what you intend to do. Please prepare this slide in advance and add it right here (PDF please), by September 20.

[pancetta]

ping

[jankapunkt]

Ooooopsie 😳 I'm on it 🫡

[jankapunkt]

Waterfagile-Blitz.pdf

[pancetta]

Here is the main hub for taking notes: https://pad.gwdg.de/FkFJTslFQhq-UF3Es6q4rw#

[pancetta]

Have fun with the session(s)! Please add the pad you're using also here for people to see what you did.

If possible, please prepare a 1 minute wrap up of your session for the farewell session on Thursday afternoon! What did you do in the session, how would you like to continue, how can people contribute after the unconference etc. We'll go through the blitz slides again one by one as in the blitz session.