Browsing by Author "O'Connor, Rory V."

Now showing 1 - 20 of 23

Citation - WoS: 32
Citation - Scopus: 43
A 3d Virtual Environment for Training Soccer Referees
(Elsevier Science Bv, 2019) Isler, Veysi; O'Connor, Rory V.; Clarke, Paul M.; Gulec, Ulas; Yilmaz, Murat; 47439; 06.01. Bilgisayar Mühendisliği; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
Emerging digital technologies are being used in many ways by and in particular virtual environments provide new opportunities to gain experience on real-world phenomena without having to live the actual real-world experiences. In this study, a quantitative research approach supported by expert validation interviews was conducted to determine the availability of virtual environments in the training of soccer referees. The aim is to design a virtual environment for training purposes, representing a real-life soccer stadium to allow the referees to manage matches in an atmosphere similar to the real stadium atmosphere. At this point, the referees have a chance to reduce the number of errors that they make in real life by experiencing difficult decisions that they encounter during the actual match via using the virtual stadium. In addition, the decisions and reactions of the referees during the virtual match were observed with the number of different fans in the virtual stadium to understand whether the virtual stadium created a real stadium atmosphere for the referees. For this evaluation, Presence Questionnaire (PQ) and Immersive Tendencies Questionnaire (ITQ) were applied to the referees to measure their involvement levels. In addition, a semi-structure interview technique was utilized in order to understand participants' opinions about the system. These interviews show that the referees have a positive attitude towards the system since they can experience the events occurred in the match as a first person instead of watching them from camera as a third person. The findings of current study suggest that virtual environments can be used as a training tool to increase the experience levels of the soccer referees since they have an opportunity to decide about the positions without facing the real-world risks.
Citation - WoS: 2
Adopting Augmented Reality for the Purpose of Software Development Process Training and Improvement: an Exploration
(Springer international Publishing Ag, 2018) Oge, Irem; Orkun, Bora; Yilmaz, Murat; Tuzun, Eray; Clarke, Paul; O'Connor, Rory V.; Ohri, Ipek; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
Augmented reality (AR) is a technological field of study that bridges the physical and digital world together with a view to improving user experience. AR holds great potential to change the delivery of software services or software process improvement by utilizing a specific set of components. The purpose of this exploratory study is to propose an integration framework to support AR for improving the onboarding process, notably in introducing new hires to the development process while performing their daily tasks. In addition, it also aims to enhance the software development workflow process using AR. Similar to a GPS device that can guide you from point A to point B, our goal is to create software artifacts like navigation components where software teams may benefit from digitally enhanced working conditions provided using AR. After conducting a review in the literature, we confirmed that there is lack of studies about the combination of augmented reality with software engineering disciplines for onboarding. In this paper, we formalized our approach based on the benefits of AR. Ultimately; we propose an AR-based preliminary model for improving the software development process.
Citation - WoS: 8
Citation - Scopus: 16
Applying Blockchain To Improve the Integrity of the Software Development Process
(Springer international Publishing Ag, 2019) Tuzun, Eray; Gulec, Ulas; O'Connor, Rory V.; Clarke, Paul M.; Yilmaz, Murat; Tasel, Serdar; 55346; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06.01. Bilgisayar Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
Software development is a complex endeavor that encompasses application and implementation layers with functional (refers to what is done) and non-functional (how is done) aspects. The efforts to scale agile software development practices are not wholly able to address issues such as integrity, which is a crucial non-functional aspect of the software development process. However, if we consider most software failures are Byzantine failures (i.e., where components may fail and there is imperfect information on which a component has failed.) that might impair the operation but do not completely disable the production line. In this paper, we assume software practitioners who cause defects as Byzantine participants and claim that most software failures can be mitigated by viewing software development as the Byzantine Generals Problem. Consequently, we propose a test-driven incentive mechanism based on a blockchain concept to orchestrate the software development process where production is controlled by a similar infrastructure based on the working principles of blockchain. We discuss the model that integrates blockchain with the software development process, and provide some recommendations for future work to address the issues while orchestrating software production.
Citation - WoS: 12
Citation - Scopus: 16
Cengo: a Web-Based Serious Game To Increase the Programming Knowledge Levels of Computer Engineering Students
(Springer international Publishing Ag, 2019) Yalcin, Alihan Dogus; O'Connor, Rory V.; Clarke, Paul M.; Gulec, Ulas; Yilmaz, Murat; 06.01. Bilgisayar Mühendisliği; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
In recent years there has been an increased use of serious games to help increase the level of knowledge and experience of individuals working in different domains. In particular serious games for educational purposes have been used in many domains including software engineering and computer science [1]. Hence, this study proposes a quantitative research approach to increase the programming knowledge levels of the first-year undergraduate students at computer engineering departments. For this aim, a responsive web platform was developed to teach the syntax and logic of the C programming language by using game elements. This environment provided students with an ability to independently investigate the C programming language continuously since the platform is always accessible. To better understand the effectiveness of the designed environment, 10 first-year computer engineering students were selected as a pilot experimental group. According to the results obtained from the user tests, this game can be used as an educational tool, which supports the traditional training methods, to increase the knowledge levels of students about the syntax and logic of the C programming language.
Citation - WoS: 22
Citation - Scopus: 29
Effective Social Productivity Measurements During Software Development: an Empirical Study
(World Scientific Publ Co Pte Ltd, 2016) O'Connor, Rory V.; Clarke, Paul; Yilmaz, Murat; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
Much of contemporary scientific discussion regarding factors that influence software development productivity is undertaken in various domains where there is an insuflcient empirical basis for exploring socio-technical factors of productivity that are specific to a software development organization. The purpose of the study is to characterize the multidimensional nature of software development productivity and its social aspects as a set of latent constructs (i.e. variables that are not directly observed) for a medium-sized software company. To this end, we designed an exploratory in-depthfield study based on the hypothesized productivity constructs, which were modeled by a set of factors identified from literature reviews, and later refined by industrial focus groups. In order to demonstrate the applicability of our approach, we conducted confirmatory factor analysis with the data attained from a questionnaire with 216 participants. To investigate factors of influence further, we analyzed the impact of selected team-based variables over the latent constructs of productivity. Taken together, our findings confirm that such an approach can be used to explore the quantifiable influence of socio-technical factors that would affect productivity of a particular software development organization. Ultimately, the resulting model provides guidance to explore the comparative importance of a set of firm-specific factors that may help to improve the productivity of the organization.
Citation - WoS: 70
Citation - Scopus: 100
An Examination of Personality Traits and How They Impact on Software Development Teams
(Elsevier, 2017) O'Connor, Rory V.; Colomo-Palacios, Ricardo; Clarke, Paul; Yilmaz, Murat; 55248; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
Context Research has shown that a significant number of software projects fail due to social issues such as team or personality conflicts. However, only a limited number of empirical studies have been undertaken to understand the impact of individuals' personalities on software team configurations. These studies suffer from an important limitation as they lack a systematic and rigorous method to relate personality traits of software practitioners and software team structures. Objective: Based on an interactive personality profiling approach, the goal of this study is to reveal the personality traits of software practitioners with an aim to explore effective software team structures. Method: To explore the importance of individuals' personalities on software teams, we employed a two-step empirical approach. Firstly, to assess the personality traits of software practitioners, we developed a context-specific survey instrument, which was conducted on 216 participants from a middle-sized soft ware company. Secondly, we propose a novel team personality illustration method to visualize team structures. Results: Study results indicated that effective team structures support teams with higher emotional stability, agreeableness, extroversion, and conscientiousness personality traits. Conclusion: Furthermore, empirical results of the current study show that extroversion trait was more predominant than previously suggested in the literature, which was especially more observable among agile software development teams. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Citation - WoS: 4
Citation - Scopus: 6
Examining Reward Mechanisms for Effective Usage of Application Lifecycle Management Tools
(Springer-verlag Berlin, 2017) Yilmaz, Murat; Tuzun, Eray; Clarke, Paul M.; O'Connor, Rory V.; Usfekes, Cagdas; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
Application lifecycle management (ALM) highlights the rules of the road for the entire software ecosystems' lifecycle. Successful ALM enables clarity around the entire delivery effort, from defining requirements to deploying the software product. One of the challenges in software engineering today is to orchestrate ALM tools to a set of software projects effectively. In particular, it is challenging for software practitioners to continuously fully engage with the tasks that are assigned to them. The goal of this study is to address such situations using a game theoretic approach by utilizing a reward mechanism, which we intent to test in a medium-sized software development organization. Based on a set of game elements, this study proposes an auction mechanism to address human resource allocation and task optimization issues, and consequently tackle the potential problem of software practitioners' engagement.
Citation - WoS: 8
Citation - Scopus: 11
Exploring Software Process Variation Arising From Differences in Situational Context
(Springer-verlag Berlin, 2017) Clarke, Paul M.; O'Connor, Rory V.; Solan, David; Elger, Peter; Yilmaz, Murat; Ennis, Adam; Treanor, Ryan; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
The software development process is continuously changing, there is huge pressure to condense release cycles into shorter and shorter timeframes, tools are changing dramatically and companies must continually examine the efficacy of their development process. Attempting to hit a moving target is difficult and it is a decision which can have a major effect in terms of both the end-product and the business. In this paper, we discuss the role of situational context in deciding upon the software development process through the analysis of two case studies. The case studies take a detailed look at the organisational profile and context of each company in turn before we compare and contrast each situational context for factors that may influence the development process. We then compare the processes each company has chosen before our discussion of the role context plays in choosing a 'correct' software development process. While both companies have enjoyed sustained business growth and while both are agile in mindset, we find that they are in fact quite distinct in their processes, this distinction being driven by their different situational contexts.
Citation - WoS: 5
Citation - Scopus: 6
Exploring the Belief Systems of Software Development Professionals
(Taylor & Francis inc, 2015) O'Connor, Rory V.; Yilmaz, Murat; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
It is commonly accepted that an individual's beliefs and actions are based on his or her assessment and perceptions of the world. In order to determine what practices an individual is likely to follow at any given time, it is necessary to understand the individual's behavioral intention in a given circumstance. From an Information Technology perspective, a software development professional's belief systems are potentially the basis for the adoption and implementation of new and innovative work practices and processes. In this article, we explore the belief systems of software development professionals in order to understand the beliefs underlying intention and practice, and we seek answers about how they adopt or reject new and innovative software development processes and practices. The results point out a strong influence of past experiences, personality types, and repeated behavior on current software development processes and practices in industrial settings.
Citation - WoS: 43
Exploring the Relationship Between Software Process Adaptive Capability and Organisational Performance
(Ieee Computer Soc, 2015) O'Connor, Rory V.; Leavy, Brian; Yilmaz, Murat; Clarke, Paul; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
Software development is a complex socio-technical activity, with the result that software development organisations need to establish and maintain robust software development processes. While much debate exists regarding the effectiveness of various software development approaches, no single approach is perfectly suited to all settings and no setting is unchanging. The capability to adapt the software process is therefore essential to sustaining an optimal software process. We designed an exploratory study to concurrently examine software process adaptive capability and organisational performance in 15 software development organisations, finding that companies with greater software process adaptive capability are shown to also experience greater business success. While our exploratory study of the complex relationship between these phenomena is limited in some respects, the findings indicate that software process adaptive capability may be worthy of further integration into software process engineering techniques. Software process adaptive capability may be an important organisational strength when deriving competitive advantage, and those responsible for the creation and evolution of software process models and methodologies may want to focus some of their future efforts in this area.
Citation - WoS: 15
Citation - Scopus: 18
A Gamification Approach To Improve the Software Development Process by Exploring the Personality of Software Practitioners
(Springer-verlag Berlin, 2016) Yilmaz, Murat; O'Connor, Rory V.; Clarke, Paul; Yilmaz, Mert; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
Although there are various kinds of processes designed to manage the complexities of software development, it is still a challenging endeavor. Recently, a significant number of researchers have started to investigate social problems such as incompatibilities with respect to personality that is likely to be encountered in all stages of the software development process. However, there is no computer-based artifact to reveal the personality types of software practitioners. To bridge this gap, a virtual 3D assessment environment is developed with the ability to immerse individuals similar to a realistic model of the assessment. The interactive questionnaire is based on previous interactive personality assessment framework, which was specifically designed for software engineers. Based on the developed tool, a study was conducted on software practitioners. The data gathered via a survey study from software practitioners is analyzed to observe the difference between the results of paper-based and interactive versions of the same assessment. The analysis of this research states that there is a significant difference between the results of participant's survey scores. Overall, these results indicate that proposed tool is relevant to help software professionals to improve the software development process when personality types are in consideration.
Citation - WoS: 2
Citation - Scopus: 2
Guest Editorial: Gamification and Persuasive Games for Software Engineering
(inst Engineering Technology-iet, 2019) O'Connor, Rory V.; Colomo-Palacios, Ricardo; Clarke, Paul; Yilmaz, Murat; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
Citation - WoS: 6
Citation - Scopus: 10
The Impact of Situational Context on Software Process: a Case Study of a Very Small-Sized Company in the Online Advertising Domain
(Springer international Publishing Ag, 2018) Yilmaz, Murat; O'Connor, Rory V.; Clarke, Paul M.; Giray, Gorkem; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
A primary concern of software development is selecting a suitable methodology to implement a software project. However, this selection is affected by many factors, with evidence suggesting that a specific set of factors defines a specific situational context for a project. This situational context leads to a project-specific software process. In this paper, we report on our analysis of a very small-sized company's current software process based on a reference framework that identifies the factors of a situational context. The outcome of our case study confirms the earlier findings that a software process is highly dependent on situational factors. The company has a suitable situational context (such as very small-sized, experienced, skilled, cohesive team with low turnover) to apply agile practices and its software process is more close to an agile rather than plan-driven approach. Moreover, the company is continuously adopting its software process to the situational factors changing from project to project and over time.
Citation - WoS: 3
Citation - Scopus: 4
Improving Social Aspects of the Software Development Process: Games, Gamification and Related Approaches
(Graz Univ Technolgoy, inst information Systems Computer Media-iicm, 2016) Yilmaz, Murat; Yılmaz, Murat; O'Connor, Rory V.; Mora, Manuel; Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
Citation - WoS: 13
Citation - Scopus: 17
Integration of Accessibility Design Patterns With the Software Implementation Process of Iso/Iec 29110
(Wiley, 2019) Sanchez-Gordon, Mary; Yilmaz, Murat; O'Connor, Rory V.; Sanchez-Gordon, Sandra; 55248; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines was developed by World Wide Web Consortium with a goal of providing a single shared standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments. Given that there is a large percentage of very small entities that develop software who also utilize the ISO/IEC software process standard, the purpose of this study is the development of software design patterns for users with visual disabilities. As a result, four accessibility design patterns are defined: Authentication adapter, Blindness adapter, Dichromatic color vision adapter, and Blurry vision adapter. These patterns will help to improve the design of the web applications built using them while being compliant with the ISO/IEC 29110 standard. The use of design patterns also enables the transfer of design experience to programming practices and improves the software documentation. To validate the set of patterns, an online course for Spanish speakers was developed, and the evaluation was carried out using simulators, automated tools, experts, and users. Simulators and automated tools showed no accessibility errors and experts evaluated 10 heuristics principles and did not identify any severity issues. Taken together, our results provide positive evidence that users with visual disabilities could benefit from the proposed features.
Citation - WoS: 30
Citation - Scopus: 36
Overcoming Public Speaking Anxiety of Software Engineers Using Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy
(Springer-verlag Berlin, 2017) Gulec, Ulas; Gozcu, Mert Ali; O'Connor, Rory V.; Clarke, Paul M.; Nazligul, Merve Denizci; Yilmaz, Murat; 47439; 06.01. Bilgisayar Mühendisliği; 02.04. Psikoloji; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 02. Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
Public speaking anxiety is a type of social phobia, which might be commonly seen in novice software engineers. It is usually triggered by a fear of social performance especially when the performer is unfamiliar with the audience. Today, many software engineering activities (e.g. code inspection, peer review, daily meetings, etc.) require social gatherings where individuals need to present their work. However, novice software engineers may not be able to reduce their performance anxiety during their course of education. In this study, we propose a virtual reality approach to construct a practice environment for improving novice software engineers' pubic speaking experiences. Consequently, we examine the effects of virtual reality intervention on the public speaking experience of six novice software engineers from a computer engineering department. We designed a virtual auditorium to simulate the presentation delivery environment and findings suggest that using this infrastructure for training purposes can reduce presenter anxiety levels - which is consistent with related published studies. We believe that this virtual auditorium environment can deliver benefits for students and practitioners alike in terms of addressing the anxiety that is often associated with early stage career presenters.
Citation - WoS: 8
Citation - Scopus: 6
Software Developer's Journey a Story-Driven Approach To Support Software Practitioners
(Springer-verlag Berlin, 2016) Atasoy, Berke; O'Connor, Rory V.; Martens, Jean-Bernard; Clarke, Paul; Yilmaz, Murat; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
Agile development requires a highly iterative and collaborative design process, which relies on the successful interpretation of software development activities amongst team members throughout the overall process. However, contemporary methods and tools that support agile efforts provide little help in addressing context-specific tacit knowledge, which is difficult to externalize without a shared method of interpretation. Without a continuously updated interpretation of the project vision, it is difficult to claim a shared mental model, while this is actually vital for the success of an agile process. In this paper, we address this issue and seek guidance in an approach that is commonly used in film storycraft. Film production has ample experience with externalizing experiences with the help of visual planning tools and related techniques to orchestrate the creative efforts of vast interdisciplinary production teams. We therefore propose that methods and tools from visual storycrafting can be adapted to assist software developers, not only with externalizing and discussing context-specific tacit knowledge but also to keep them creatively engaged in the development process.
Software Development Roles: A Multi-Project Empirical Investigation
(2015) Yılmaz, Murat; O'Connor, Rory V.; Clarke, Paul; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
In our earlier research work, we developed a conceptual framework that identifies the di?erent types of roles that can exist in contemporary software development projects (including both agile and traditional software development approaches). The purpose of the framework is to assist software project managers when tuning software development project roles to the demands of individual projects, with our previous research indicating that there is a need to tailor software development roles to individual projects. In this work, we extend the earlier research through the use of a series of semi-structured interviews within seven Turkish software companies. The results, which are consistent with previous findings, offer further evidence of the usefulness of the framework, while also identifying possible areas for future work in this space.
Citation - WoS: 49
Citation - Scopus: 65
Software Engineering Education and Games: a Systematic Literature Review
(Graz Univ Technolgoy, inst information Systems Computer Media-iicm, 2016) Kosa, Mehmet; Yılmaz, Murat; Yilmaz, Murat; O'Connor, Rory V.; Clarke, Paul M.; Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
The trend in using games in elementary level education also spreads through higher education levels and specific domains such as engineering. Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in the usage of games in software engineering. In this paper, we are presenting a systematic review and analysis of 350 papers regarding games in software engineering education that was published in the last fifteen years. After applying our inclusion criteria and manual inspection of these studies, we have ended up with 53 primary papers. Based on a systematic process, we reported and discussed our findings with possible future research directions. The main results of this study indicate that the studies are accumulated around 5 categories: Games that learners/students play, games that learners/students develop as projects, curriculum proposals, developing/coming up with new approaches, tools, frameworks or suggestions and others.
Citation - WoS: 12
Citation - Scopus: 17
A Systematic Investigation Into the Use of Game Elements in the Context of Software Business Landscapes: A Systematic Literature Review
(Springer-verlag Berlin, 2017) Yilmaz, Murat; Clarke, Paul M.; O'Connor, Rory V.; Olgun, Serhan; 06.09. Yazılım Mühendisliği; 06. Mühendislik Fakültesi; 01. Çankaya Üniversitesi
The software development process is a set of socio-technical activities to produce software artifacts in which humans play a crucial role. Since it is a people centric activity, factors such as user motivation, engagement, communication and collaboration might constrain these activities. Therefore, software business organizations stand to benefit from adopting different tools and methods in order to overcome these obstacles and to improve their software business processes. Research has been made to increase software quality and enhance the software development process. Alongside these studies, innovative techniques and concepts are beneficial. As a solution, the notion of gamification (i.e. employing game elements in non-gaming contexts) has been introduced to enhance the software development process and overcome the challenges mostly related to human factors. However, the applicability of game elements in the context of software business landscapes is still a controversial issue and not totally proven as of yet. Numerous studies have been conducted to examine the benefits of gamification and how game elements affect the software development process. Thus, in this paper, a systematic literature review was conducted in order to investigate the application of game elements both in research and industrial levels of software development and as well as in software business landscapes.