Assessment of a hybrid software development process for student projects: a controlled experiment

Rafał Włodarski (1) , Jean-Rémy Falleri (2, 3) , Corinne Parvéry (4)

1 Łódź University of Technology
2 LaBRI - Laboratoire Bordelais de Recherche en Informatique
3 IUF - Institut universitaire de France
4 Bordeaux INP - Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux

In recent years, a vivid interest in hybrid development methods has been observed as practitioners combine various approaches to software creation to improve productivity, product quality, and adaptability of the process to react to change. Scientific papers on the subject proliferate, however evaluation of the effectiveness of hybrid methods in academic contexts has yet to follow. The work presented investigates if introducing a hybrid approach for student projects brings added value as compared to iterative and sequential development. A controlled experiment was carried out among Bachelor students of a French engineering school to assess the impacts of a given development method on the success of student computing undertakings. Its three dimensions were examined via a set of metrics: product quality, team productivity as well as human factors (teamwork quality & learning outcomes). Several patterns were observed, which can provide a starting point for educators and researchers wishing to tailor or design a software development process for academic needs.

Mots clés: hybrid software development; hybrid method; software process; iterative; sequential; student projects; education

Domaines: Génie logiciel [cs.SE]

Rafał Włodarski, Jean-Rémy Falleri, Corinne Parvéry. Assessment of a hybrid software development process for student projects: a controlled experiment. 2021. ⟨hal-03154580⟩