MSWE 607   EXPERIMENTATION PAPER

Due: November 6, 2000

Submit a paper on either of the following two topics. Topic A is more of
an investigative report, while Topic B is more of a literature search.
If you work in a software development organization, Topic A is preferred.

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TOPIC A. The idea for this paper is to understand the rationale behind some
new technology used in some development organization. How was the
new technology chosen? evaluated? used?

1. Choose some development organization. If you work in an organization
that develops software, try to use that organization. If that is not feasible,
try to use some other organization. Study a technology where you can answer
fully most of the following questions. If not, choose Topic B for the
paper.

2. Once you have the organization, choose some development method used
by that organization. It can be a new tool (e.g., compiler, testing tool,
operating system, configuration management tool, ...) or new method (e.g., 
inspections, cost estimation model, design technique, cleanroom, ...). It
may be a manual process or may have a software component.

3. Write a report that has the following components. Size is not specified.
It should be long enough to convey your ideas, and not too long with
excess padding. The paper should look like a paper in a journal; it should
not simply be a series of numbered paragraphs corresponding to the
questions that follow. Good writing style is important, as is correct spelling.

Part I. 

a. What is the name of the tool or technique that you studied?

b. In about one paragraph, what is the purpose of this tool or technique?
What attribute of development was the tool or technique supposed to
improve (e.g., development time, error rates, quality, productivity, ...).

c. What tool or technique was used previously to accomplish the same goal?

Part II.

d. What evaluation was done by the organization in order to determine
that the tool or technique met the requirements for effective use of that tool
or technique?

e. What data was collected as part of that evaluation?

f. Were there any competing tools or techniques that were also evaluated?
What was the result of the comparison among the tools and techniques?

g. Has current use of the tool continued to maintain the attribute that
was the deciding factor in the initial evaluation?

Part III.

h. Give an evaluation of this example of technology transfer. Did the
organization do the right thing in terms of tool and technique selection?
evaluation? use? data collection? How would you have done it better? Did
you think the evaluation was unbiased, that is the decision to use the tool was
made before it was evaluated.

If necessary, back up your report with appropriate literature citations
of others who have used or developed similar techniques.

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TOPIC B.  Choose some new technology for improving software development.

Part I. 

a. What is the name of the tool or technique that you studied?

b. In about one paragraph, what is the purpose of this tool or technique?
What attribute of development was the tool or technique supposed to
improve (e.g., development time, error rates, quality, productivity, ...).

c. What tool or technique was used previously to accomplish the same goal?

d. Who developed the technology, where and when?

Part II.

e. How was the technology evaluated? What experiments were performed by the
developer to show that the technology was effective? What experiments were
performed by others to show effectiveness? What data is available for
understanding the use of the technology?

Part III.

f. Give an evaluation of this example of technology transfer. Did the
organizations do the right thing in terms evaluating the technology?
How would you have done it better? Did you think the evaluation was unbiased, 
that is the decision to use the tool was made before it was evaluated.

Annotate your paper with appropriate references (Both topics A and B).