Latest in Industry and Research Publications
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If GitHub was like Berlin…
Much open source research assumes that all open source projects are alike and that if you take enough of them, you can claim generalizability for your conclusions. GitHub is the main source of such mischief, because of its size and availability. If GitHub was like Berlin, and projects on GitHub were like the people of…
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Classifying open source user consortia
An open source software user consortium is a non-profit organization (foundation, consortium, working group) created for the purpose of funding and managing the development of non-differentiating open source software made available to foundation members and the general public. Its purpose is to establish a software ecosystem in which vendors and suppliers can provide products and…
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Clarification of “Why I still teach Scrum”
Teaching Scrum at University is challenging. Students are typically at the beginning of their career and don’t understand the challenges of communication and coordination in software engineering well. In a prior post on Why I Still Teach Scrum I had made a cryptic remark to that end and through various channels was asked to clarify…
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![Uncovering the periphery: A qualitative survey of episodic volunteering in free/libre and open source software communities [TSE Journal]](https://dirkriehle.com/wp-content/uploads/featured/10277-hong-kong-corner-store-at-night-300x150.jpg)
Uncovering the periphery: A qualitative survey of episodic volunteering in free/libre and open source software communities [TSE Journal]
Abstract: Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) communities are composed, in part, of volunteers, many of whom contribute infrequently. However, these infrequent volunteers contribute to the sustainability of FLOSS projects, and should ideally be encouraged to continue participating, even if they cannot be persuaded to contribute regularly. Infrequent contributions are part of a trend which…
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There is no (Scrum) product owner
One of the most difficult aspects of Scrum is the role of the product owner. Most software vendors have a product management function, typically split into strategic and technical product management. Technical product management is usually equated with Scrum’s product owner role, that is, the guy or gal who writes business-value-oriented user stories and epics,…
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Agile feature teams vs. inner source
Agile methods reacquainted developers with the idea of working from business value rather than focusing on technical concerns only. Agile methods are therefore often equated with feature-driven development, in which work is driven by features prioritized by business value irrespective of technical consequences. This thinking can create code silos and wreak havoc on software architecture…