Gunnar Rye Bergersen

• Stray, Viktoria; Moe, Nils Brede; Bergersen, Gunnar R. & Kirkerud, Jeanette (2024). Behavioral Aspects of Agile Software Development: A Case Study on Meeting Practices. In Bui, Tung X. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 57th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. The Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS). ISSN 9780998133171. p. 7720–7729. doi: 10.24251/HICSS.2023.926. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In FinTech organizations, there are trends toward employing agile methods, moving away from legacy monolithic technical architecture to microservices architecture, and focusing on collaboration and autonomy to boost innovation. When software teams have end-to-end responsibility and decision-making authority, they avoid handovers between teams and can develop software more quickly. Furthermore, effective coordination through meetings and digital collaboration tools is important for the success of the development of software applications. We conducted a case study in a large FinTech organization to understand behavioral aspects of software development and, specifically, their meeting practices. The results show that employees spend nearly half of their workday in meetings, posing challenges to productivity and availability. Strategies to reduce interruptions include blocking time in calendars, grouping meetings, and using digital tools such as Slack. Our findings indicate that achieving a balance between collaborative activities and uninterrupted work is not only challenging but essential in software development organizations. Consequently, it is important that team members discuss and actively experiment with various strategies to optimize this balance.

• Kobialka, Paul; Pferscher, Andrea; Bergersen, Gunnar R.; Johnsen, Einar Broch & Tarifa, Silvia Lizeth Tapia (2024). Stochastic Games for User Journeys. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS). ISSN 0302-9743. 14934. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-71177-0_12. Full text in Research Archive
• Kobialka, Paul; Tarifa, Silvia Lizeth Tapia; Bergersen, Gunnar R. & Johnsen, Einar Broch (2024). User journey games: automating user-centric analysis. Software and Systems Modeling (SoSyM). ISSN 1619-1366. doi: 10.1007/s10270-024-01148-2. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The servitization of business is moving industry to business models driven by customer demand. Customer satisfaction is connected with financial rewards, forcing companies to invest in their users’ experience. User journeys describe how users maneuver through a service. Today, user journeys are typically modeled graphically, and lack formalization and analysis support. This paper proposes a formalization of user journeys as weighted games between the user and the service provider and a systematic data-driven method to derive these user journey games from system logs, using process mining techniques. As the derived games may contain cycles, we define an algorithm to transform user journeys games with cycles into acyclic weighted games, which can be model checked using to uncover potential challenges in a company’s interactions with its users and derive company strategies to guide users through their journeys. Finally, we propose a user journey sliding-window analysis to detect changes in the user journey over time by model checking a sequence of generated games. Our analysis pipeline has been evaluated on an industrial case study; it revealed design challenges within the studied service and could be used to derive actionable recommendations for improvement.

• Kobialka, Paul; Schlatte, Rudolf; Bergersen, Gunnar R.; Johnsen, Einar Broch & Tarifa, Silvia Lizeth Tapia (2024). Simulating User Journeys with Active Objects. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS). ISSN 0302-9743. 14360, p. 199–225. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-51060-1_8. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The servitization of business makes companies increasingly dependent on providing carefully designed user experiences for their service offerings. User journeys model services from the user’s perspective, but user journeys are today mainly constructed and analyzed manually. Recent work analyzing user journeys as games enable optimal service-provider strategies to be automatically derived, assuming a restricted user behavior. Complementing this work, we here develop an actor-based modeling framework for user journeys that is parametric in user behavior and service-provider strategies, using the active-object modeling language ABS. Strategies for the service provider, such as those derived for user journey games, can be automatically imported into the framework. Our work enables prescriptive simulation-based analyses, as strategies can be evaluated and compared in scenarios with rich user behavior.

• Sjøberg, Dag & Bergersen, Gunnar Rye (2023). Improving the Reporting of Threats to Construct Validity. In Babar, Muhammad Ali (Eds.), EASE '23: Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). ISSN 9798400700446. doi: 10.1145/3593434.3593449. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Background: Construct validity concerns the use of indicators to measure a concept that is not directly measurable. Aim: This study intends to identify, categorize, assess and quantify discussions of threats to construct validity in empirical software engineering literature and use the findings to suggest ways to improve the reporting of construct validity issues. Method: We analyzed 83 articles that report human-centric experiments published in five top-tier software engineering journals from 2015 to 2019. The articles’ text concerning threats to construct validity was divided into segments (the unit of analysis) based on predefined categories. The segments were then evaluated regarding whether they clearly discussed a threat and a construct. Results: Three-fifths of the segments were associated with topics not related to construct validity. Two-thirds of the articles discussed construct validity without using the definition of construct validity given in the article. The threats were clearly described in more than four-fifths of the segments, but the construct in question was clearly described in only two-thirds of the segments. The construct was unclear when the discussion was not related to construct validity but to other types of validity. Conclusions: The results show potential for improving the understanding of construct validity in software engineering. Recommendations addressing the identified weaknesses are given to improve the awareness and reporting of CV.

• Sjøberg, Dag & Bergersen, Gunnar Rye (2022). Construct Validity in Software Engineering. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. ISSN 0098-5589. 49(3), p. 1374–1396. doi: 10.1109/TSE.2022.3176725. Full text in Research Archive
• Kobialka, Paul; Tarifa, Silvia Lizeth Tapia; Bergersen, Gunnar R. & Johnsen, Einar Broch (2022). Weighted Games for User Journeys. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS). ISSN 0302-9743. 13550, p. 253–270. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-17108-6_16. Full text in Research Archive
• Gjelsten, Børge Kile; Bergersen, Gunnar R.; Sjøberg, Dag & Cutts, Quintin (2021). No Gender Difference in CS1 Grade for Students with Programming from High School: An Exploratory Study, Koli Calling '21: Proceedings of the 21st Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research. ACM Digital Library. ISSN 9781450384889. doi: 10.1145/3488042.3488071. Full text in Research Archive
• Jørgensen, Magne; Bergersen, Gunnar R. & Liestøl, Knut (2021). Relations between Effort Estimates, Skill Indicators, and Measured Programming Skill. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. ISSN 0098-5589. 47(12), p. 2892–2906. doi: 10.1109/TSE.2020.2973638. Full text in Research Archive
• Jørgensen, Magne; Bergersen, Gunnar & Liestøl, Knut (2020). Relations Between Effort Estimates, Skill Indicators, and Measured Programming Skill. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. ISSN 0098-5589. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  There are large skill differences among software developers, and clients and managers will benefit from being able to identify those with better skill. This study examines the relations between low effort estimates, and other commonly used skill indicators, and measured programming skill. One hundred and four professional software developers were recruited. After skill-related information was collected, they were asked to estimate the effort for four larger and five smaller programming tasks. Finally, they completed a programming skill test. The lowest and most over-optimistic effort estimates for the larger tasks were given by those with the lowest programming skill, which is in accordance with the well-known Dunning-Kruger effect. For the smaller tasks, however, those with the lowest programming skill had the highest and most over-pessimistic estimates. The other programming skill indicators, such as length of experience, company assessed skill and self-assessed skill, were only moderately correlated with measured skill and not particularly useful in guiding developer skill identification. A practical implication is that for larger and more complex tasks, the use of low effort estimates and commonly used skill indicators as selection criteria leads to a substantial risk of selecting among the least skilled developers.

• Lindsjørn, Yngve; Bergersen, Gunnar R.; Dingsøyr, Torgeir & Sjøberg, Dag (2018). Teamwork Quality and Team Performance: Exploring Differences Between Small and Large Agile Projects. In Garbajosa, Juan; Wang, Xiaofeng & Aguiar, Ademar (Ed.), Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming, 19th International Conference, XP 2018, Proceedings. Springer. ISSN 9783319916019. p. 267–274. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-91602-6_19. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Agile principles were originally developed for small projects but are now widely used in larger projects with hundreds of developers. Teamwork quality is essential in any development work, but how does teamwork quality differ in small and large agile projects? We report from an explorative survey with 64 agile teams and 320 team members and team leaders, from 31 teams in small projects and 33 teams in large projects. For small projects, teamwork quality was considered by both team members and team leaders to primarily affect product quality. For large projects, the effect of teamwork quality on product quality was positive when it was rated by team members but was negative when rated by team leaders. At a finer granularity, the six dimensions of teamwork quality that we investigated affected team performance differently in small and large projects. These findings question to what extent findings from previous studies on teamwork in agile development in small projects apply to large projects.

• Feldt, robert; Zimmermann, Thomas; Bergersen, Gunnar R.; Falessi, Davide; Jedlitschka, Andreas & Juristo, Natalia [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2018). Four commentaries on the use of students and professionals in empirical software engineering experiments. Empirical Software Engineering. ISSN 1382-3256. 23(6), p. 3801–3820. doi: 10.1007/s10664-018-9655-0. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The relative pros and cons of using students or practitioners in experiments in empirical software engineering have been discussed for a long time and continue to be an important topic. Following the recent publication of “Empirical software engineering experts on the use of students and professionals in experiments” by Falessi, Juristo, Wohlin, Turhan, Münch, Jedlitschka, and Oivo (EMSE, February 2018) we received a commentary by Sjøberg and Bergersen. Given that the topic is of great methodological interest to the community and requires nuanced treatment, we invited two editorial board members, Martin Shepperd and Per Runeson, respectively, to provide additional views

• Stray, Viktoria; Moe, Nils Brede & Bergersen, Gunnar R. (2017). Are Daily Stand-up Meetings Valuable? A Survey of Developers in Software Teams. In Baumeister, Hubert; Lichter, Horst & Riebisch, Matthias (Ed.), Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming, 18th International Conference, XP 2017, Cologne, Germany, May 22-26, 2017, Proceedings. Springer. ISSN 9783319576336. p. 274–281. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-57633-6_20. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The daily stand-up meeting is a widely used practice. However, what is more uncertain is how valuable the practice is to team members. We invited professional developers of a programming forum to a survey and obtained 221 responses. Results show that the daily stand-up meeting was used by 87% of those who employ agile methods. We found that even though the respondents on average were neutral towards the practice, the majority were either positive or negative. Junior developers were most positive and senior developers and members of large teams most negative. We argue that the value of the practice should be evaluated according to the team needs. Further, more work is needed to understand why senior developers do not perceive the meetings as valuable and how to apply the practice successfully in large teams.

• Lindsjørn, Yngve; Sjøberg, Dag; Dingsøyr, Torgeir; Bergersen, Gunnar R. & Dybå, Tore (2016). Teamwork Quality and Project Success in Software Development: A Survey of Agile Development Teams. Journal of Systems and Software. ISSN 0164-1212. 122, p. 274–286. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2016.09.028. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Small, self-directed teams are central in agile development. This article investigates the effect of team- work quality on team performance, learning and work satisfaction in agile software teams, and whether this effect differs from that of traditional software teams. A survey was administered to 477 respondents from 71 agile software teams in 26 companies and analyzed using structural equation modeling. A posi- tive effect of teamwork quality on team performance was found when team members and team leaders rated team performance. In contrast, a negligible effect was found when product owners rated team per- formance. The effect of teamwork quality on team members ́learning and work satisfaction was strongly positive, but was only rated by the team members. Despite claims of the importance of teamwork in ag- ile teams, this study did not find teamwork quality to be higher than in a similar survey on traditional teams. The effect of teamwork quality on team performance was only marginally greater for the agile teams than for the traditional teams.

• Dybå, Tore; Bergersen, Gunnar R. & Sjøberg, Dag (2016). Evidence-Based Software Engineering. In Menzies, Tim; Williams, Laurie & Zimmermann, Thomas D. (Ed.), Perspectives on Data Science for Software Engineering. Elsevier. ISSN 9780128042069. p. 149–153. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-804206-9.00029-5. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  A decade ago, Kitchenham, Dybå and Jørgensen coined the term and provided the foundations for evidence-based software engineering (EBSE). A trilogy of papers was written for researchers, practitioners, and educators. They suggested that practitioners consider EBSE as a mechanism to support and improve their technology adoption decisions, and that researchers should use systematic literature reviews as a methodology for performing unbiased aggregation of empirical results. This spurred significant international activity, and a renewed focus on research methods and theory, and on the future of empirical methods in SE research.

• Sjøberg, Dag; Bergersen, Gunnar R. & Dybå, Tore (2016). Why Theory Matters. In Menzies, Tim; Williams, Laurie & Zimmermann, Thomas D. (Ed.), Perspectives on Data Science for Software Engineering. Elsevier. ISSN 9780128042069. p. 29–33. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-804206-9.00006-4. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  It is relatively easy to generate and acquire much data from software engineering activities. The challenge is to obtain meaning from the data that represents something true, rather than spurious. To increase knowledge and insight, more theories should be built and used.

• Bergersen, Gunnar R.; Sjøberg, Dag & Dybå, Tore (2014). Construction and Validation of an Instrument for Measuring Programming Skill. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. ISSN 0098-5589. 40(12), p. 1163–1184. doi: 10.1109/TSE.2014.2348997. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Skilled workers are crucial to the success of software development. The current practice in research and industry for assessing programming skills is mostly to use proxy variables of skill, such as education, experience, and multiple-choice knowledge tests. There is as yet no valid and efficient way to measure programming skill. The aim of this research is to develop a valid instrument that measures programming skill by inferring skill directly from the performance on programming tasks. Over two days, 65 professional developers from eight countries solved 19 Java programming tasks. Based on the developers' performance, the Rasch measurement model was used to construct the instrument. The instrument was found to have satisfactory (internal) psychometric properties and correlated with external variables in compliance with theoretical expectations. Such an instrument has many implications for practice, for example, in job recruitment and project allocation.

• Bergersen, Gunnar R. & Sjøberg, Dag (2012). Evaluating Methods and Technologies in Software Engineering with Respect to Developers’ Skill Level. In Mendes, Emilia & Genero, Marcela (Ed.), Proceedings, 16th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering. IET Research Journals. ISSN 9781849195416. p. 101–110. Full text in Research Archive
• Bergersen, Gunnar; Hannay, Jo Erskine; Sjøberg, Dag; Dybå, Tore & Karahasanovic, Amela (2011). Inferring Skill from Tests of Programming Performance: Combining Time and Quality, Proceedings of International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement (ESEM). IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). ISSN 9781457722035. p. 305–314. doi: 10.1109/esem.2011.39. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The skills of software developers are important to the success of software projects. Also, when studying the general effect of a tool or method, it is important to control for individual differences in skill. However, the way skill is assessed is often ad hoc, or based on unvalidated methods. According to established test theory, validated tests of skill should infer skill levels from well-defined performance measures on multiple, small, representative tasks. In this respect, we show how time and quality, which are often analyzed separately, can be combined as task performance and subsequently be aggregated as an approximation of skill. Our results show significant positive correlations between our proposed measures of skill and other variables, such as seniority, lines of code written, and self-evaluated expertise. The method for combining time and quality is a promising first step to measuring programming skill in both industry and research settings.

• Bergersen, Gunnar & Gustafsson, Jan-Eric (2011). Programming Skill, Knowledge, and Working Memory Among Professional Software Developers from an Investment Theory Perspective. Journal of Individual Differences. ISSN 1614-0001. 32(4), p. 201–209. doi: 10.1027/1614-0001/a000052. Full text in Research Archive

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• Kobialka, Paul; Pferscher, Andrea; Bergersen, Gunnar Rye; Tarifa, Silvia Lizeth Tapia & Johnsen, Einar Broch (2024). Stochastic Games for User Journeys. Full text in Research Archive
• Dingsøyr, Torgeir; Schneider, Phillip; Bergersen, Gunnar R. & Lindsjørn, Yngve (2024). Challenges in Understanding the Relationship between Teamwork Quality and Project Success in Large-Scale Agile Projects. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  A number of methods for large-scale agile development have re- cently been suggested. Much of the advice in agile methods fo- cuses on teamwork. Prior research has established that teamwork quality influences project success both for traditional software de- velopment teams and agile teams. Further, prior studies have also suggested that teamwork quality may play out differently in large projects compared to small. We investigated the relationship be- tween teamwork quality and project success with a survey of 196 project participants across 34 teams in four projects, replicating a previous study on single teams. The new data do not fit the previ- ously established theoretical model, which raises several concerns. The observed effect of teamwork quality on project success oper- ates differently across projects. We discuss possible reasons, which include disagreements on what characterises success in large-scale agile development, "concept drift" of teamwork quality factors, the possibility that interteam factors might have more influence on project success than intrateam factors, and finally, that our study design does not capture all relevant levels and functions. We con- clude with a call for more studies on the quality and frequency of interaction between teams in addition to internal team factors to further advance theory and practice within large-scale agile software development.

• Kobialka, Paul; Schlatte, Rudolf; Bergersen, Gunnar Rye; Johnsen, Einar Broch & Tarifa, Silvia Lizeth Tapia (2023). Simulating User Journeys with Active Objects. Full text in Research Archive
• Bergersen, Gunnar R. & Sjøberg, Dag Ingar Kondrup (2023). Education of software developers in a fast-growing job market: Giving more students with "non-standard" backgrounds an opportunity. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Software development is a fast-growing occupation worldwide and has grown by 50% in Norway during the last five years. Unlike many other professional occupations, system developers are seldom required to have a formal education to work professionally. For example, anyone with the right skills can build open-source software or offer freelance services worldwide on a project-by-project basis. Currently, educational institutions cannot educate enough developers to fill new jobs. However, there is also a discrepancy between what type of students that academic educations will admit and, potentially, could admit. In this context, a student with a "standard" background would enter a programme after upper secondary education with all the study requirements in place and a goal to complete a BSc or MSc. In contrast, a student with a "non-standard" background would typically be older, have prior work or education experience, and have different interests and motivations to study a few selected topics. However, this may not be possible as many would-be students lack advanced math, a formal requirement for attending many courses. We report results on an ongoing longitudinal study of software development students (N=854) in our department over four years. In addition to analyzing prior grades, math specialization, and programming-related electives from upper secondary school, the students provided self-reports on their prior experience, interests, motivations, and aspirations for studying software development. We also contrast these variables with grades and study credit production and show that a substantial group of students with non-standard backgrounds appear to do equally well or better than the students with standard backgrounds. We conclude that even though commonly established requirements for studying software development should be retained for students with standard backgrounds, one should revise how students with non-standard backgrounds are admitted. As calls for greater diversity in society linger, we highlight the importance of greater flexibility in university requirements for studying software development so that the software industry's increasing needs are met to a greater extent than it is today.

• Røise, Martin Braathen & Bergersen, Gunnar R. (2023). Mener de har funnet løsningen på kompetansekrisen: – Dette kommer til å eksplodere. [Journal]. Digi.no. Full text in Research Archive
• Kobialka, Paul; Bergersen, Gunnar Rye; Tarifa, Silvia Lizeth Tapia & Johnsen, Einar Broch (2022). Weighted Games for User Journeys. Full text in Research Archive
• Jørgensen, Magne; Bergersen, Gunnar; Liestøl, Knut & Apel, Sven (2021). Relations Between Effort Estimates, Skill Indicators, and Measured Programming Skill (A Journal first conference publication). Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  There are large skill differences among software developers, and clients and managers will benefit from being able to identify those with better skill. This study examines the relations between low effort estimates, and other commonly used skill indicators, and measured programming skill. One hundred and four professional software developers were recruited. After skill-related information was collected, they were asked to estimate the effort for four larger and five smaller programming tasks. Finally, they completed a programming skill test. The lowest and most over-optimistic effort estimates for the larger tasks were given by those with the lowest programming skill, which is in accordance with the well-known Dunning-Kruger effect. For the smaller tasks, however, those with the lowest programming skill had the highest and most over-pessimistic estimates. The other programming skill indicators, such as length of experience, company assessed skill and self-assessed skill, were only moderately correlated with measured skill and not particularly useful in guiding developer skill identification. A practical implication is that for larger and more complex tasks, the use of low effort estimates and commonly used skill indicators as selection criteria leads to a substantial risk of selecting among the least skilled developers.

• Mirmotahari, Omid; Bergersen, Gunnar Rye; Berg, Yngvar; Bråthen, Kristin & Eliassen, Kristin Broch (2019). Framework for Pupil-to-Student Transition, Learning Environment and Semester Start for First-Year Students. In Pappas, Ilias; Mikalef, Patrick; Dwivedi, Yogesh K.; Jaccheri, Maria Letizia; Krogstie, John & Mäntymäki, Matti (Ed.), Digital Transformation for a Sustainable Society in the 21st Century. 18th IFIP WG 6.11 Conference on e-Business, e-Services, and e-Society, I3E 2019, Trondheim, Norway, September 18–20, 2019, Proceedings. Springer Publishing Company. ISSN 9783030293741. p. 128–139. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-39634-3_12. Full text in Research Archive
• Brombach, Harald & Bergersen, Gunnar R. (2017). Mange programmerere misliker tavleintervjuer. Men fungerer de? [Journal]. Digi.no. Full text in Research Archive
• Bergersen, Gunnar R. (2017). State of the art in skill testing of developers. Full text in Research Archive
• Bergersen, Gunnar R. (2016). Why companies fail at evaluating developers. Full text in Research Archive
• Tobiassen, Markus; Bergersen, Gunnar R. & Sjøberg, Dag (2016). Ser butikk i it-flauser. [Journal]. Dagens Næringsliv. Full text in Research Archive
• Bergersen, Gunnar R. (2016). Data science—A subjective introduction to a large topic. Full text in Research Archive
• Bergersen, Gunnar R. (2016). Ready for the 21st century jobs? Increasing realism, relevance, and rigour in the assessment of programming skills. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  A natural consequence of the sharp growth of available data in today’s society is that programming skills are increasingly becoming more important for many types of jobs. This talk starts with outlining results from a collaboration with professor Jan-Eric Gustafsson on summative evaluations of professional developers in the global ICT industry. Through backwards tracing, I attempt to outline the steps needed to achieve more realistic, relevant, and rigorous formative assessments of programming students in the future.

• Bergersen, Gunnar R. (2015). Evaluering av utviklere og leverandører ved bruk av realistiske programmeringsoppgaver: Resultater fra forskningen. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Bruken av realistiske programmeringsoppgaver til å evaluere utvikleres evner til å utvikle IT-løsninger er mye anvendt internasjonalt, men ikke i Norge. Presentasjonen tar utgangspunkt i hva som er kjent om individuelle ferdigheter innen programmering og relaterer dette til gruppe- og leverandørevalueringer. Gunnar Bergersen er daglig leder i Technebies og forsker ved Universitetet i Oslo. I Technebies har han de tre siste årene jobbet med evaluering av utviklere innen outsourcing. Technebies er basert på forsking utført ved Simula Research Laboratory og Universitetet i Oslo siden 2005 og er spesialisert på bruken av høyrealistiske programmeringsoppgaver i en evalueringssammenheng.

• Bergersen, Gunnar (2010). Combining time and correctness in the scoring of performance on items. Full text in Research Archive
• Bergersen, Gunnar & Hannay, Jo Erskine (2010). Detecting learning and fatigue effects by inspection of person-item residuals. Full text in Research Archive
• Sabir, Uzma; Sahay, Sundeep & Bergersen, Gunnar R. (2017). Cross-border software development of health information system: A case study on project between India and Pakistan based on open source software. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Global software development is a phenomenon that is receiving considerable interest from researchers during past two decades. Several challenges have been identified and approaches to deal with these challenges have been developed. Typically, western companies outsource their projects to countries where costs are lower and skilled professionals are easily available. Majority of these projects are developed for commercial purposes. However, software development projects between India and Pakistan involving open source software for public health information systems have never been explored earlier. Therefore, this is particularly a very relevant and important area of research which I have tried to explore through this thesis. This thesis will address the following research questions. 1. What are the challenges in cross-border software development for open source public health information systems? 2. What are some approaches to address these challenges? These questions are empirically examined in the context of cross-border software development between India and Pakistan. The project involves development of a health information system based on open source software. The results show that the complexities of contextual factors are closely connected to several challenges. A problem in conveying and understanding context specific requirements over distance creates delays in the development process but can be mitigated through face-to-face meetings. Also, differences in cultural values and expectations result in conflicts, but could be mitigated by negotiated culture. Moreover, due to the distributed working environment, communication between stakeholders was also found to be a challenge, but online means of communication and meeting face-to-face helped resolve the problem to a certain degree. To summarize, although linguistic similarities and working within similar time zones are clear benefits of cross-border software development, the importance of face-to-face meetings cannot be done away with.

• Bergersen, Gunnar R.; Sjøberg, Dag & Dybå, Tore (2015). Measuring programming skill. Akademika forlag. Full text in Research Archive

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