Investigating Software Engineering Artifacts in DevOps Through the Lens of Boundary Objects
0 likes103 views
The document explores the concept of boundary objects in the context of DevOps and software engineering, emphasizing their role as artifacts that facilitate collaboration among diverse stakeholders. It identifies various categories of boundary objects and attributes that influence their relevance, such as frequency of change and level of automation. The findings highlight the importance of consciously managing these artifacts to enhance collaboration and knowledge management within agile teams operating in DevOps environments.
![Boundary Objects
2
A theory from sociology applied to engineering organizations
“
[...] have different meanings in different social
worlds but their structure is common enough
to more than one world to make them
recognizable, a means of translation [SG89]
”
[SG89] S. L. Star & J. R. Griesemer. 1989. Institutional Ecology, “Translations and Boundary Objects:
Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology”, 1907-39.
Social Studies of Science 19, 3 (aug 1989), 387–420](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ease-2023devops-boundary-objects-230612112458-197bc263/85/Investigating-Software-Engineering-Artifacts-in-DevOps-Through-the-Lens-of-Boundary-Objects-2-320.jpg)
![Methodology
■ Exploratory multiple case study [Eas+08]
□ 9 study sites, 12 interviews with industry practitioners
□ Median 9.5 years of work experience
4
[Eas+08] S. Easterbrook, J. Singer, M.-A. Storey & D. Damian. 2008. “Selecting empirical methods for
software engineering research”. In Guide to advanced empirical software engineering. 285–311.
1. Collaboration practices, coordination of dev
and ops roles, significance of engineering artifacts
2. Introduction of Boundary Object concept
3. Reflection on concept in daily work
■ Semi-Structured Interviews](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ease-2023devops-boundary-objects-230612112458-197bc263/85/Investigating-Software-Engineering-Artifacts-in-DevOps-Through-the-Lens-of-Boundary-Objects-4-320.jpg)
![DevOps
Boundary
Objects
Frequency of
Change
Connected-
ness
Criticality
Level of
Automation
Structured-
ness
Lifespan
Number of
Stakeholders
Attributes of Boundary Objects
11
Relative to other objects in a given context, how frequent are updates?
DevOps
Boundary
Objects
Frequency of
Change
■ Notifications on updates
■ Obtained info
outdated quickly
■ “a map might be a
good Boundary Object
because its speed of change is manageable” [Interview K]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ease-2023devops-boundary-objects-230612112458-197bc263/85/Investigating-Software-Engineering-Artifacts-in-DevOps-Through-the-Lens-of-Boundary-Objects-11-320.jpg)
![DevOps
Boundary
Objects
Frequency of
Change
Connected-
ness
Criticality
Level of
Automation
Structured-
ness
Lifespan
Number of
Stakeholders
Attributes of Boundary Objects
13
To what degree will the performance degrade if the object is
unavailable?
DevOps
Boundary
Objects
Criticality
■ Described by “how many people can’t work”
■ Consequences of inadequate/missing quality (legal reqs):
“They will literally send you to jail” [Interview K]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ease-2023devops-boundary-objects-230612112458-197bc263/85/Investigating-Software-Engineering-Artifacts-in-DevOps-Through-the-Lens-of-Boundary-Objects-13-320.jpg)
![DevOps
Boundary
Objects
Frequency of
Change
Connected-
ness
Criticality
Level of
Automation
Structured-
ness
Lifespan
Number of
Stakeholders
Attributes of Boundary Objects
14
How much repeated manual effort is required to update the object?
■ Automate as much as possible (in theory, less in practice)
■ “If communication is ad-hoc, it is slow, get rid of it and automate”
[Interview F]
■ Monitoring and
alerting of
stakeholders
DevOps
Boundary
Objects
Level of
Automation](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ease-2023devops-boundary-objects-230612112458-197bc263/85/Investigating-Software-Engineering-Artifacts-in-DevOps-Through-the-Lens-of-Boundary-Objects-14-320.jpg)
![DevOps
Boundary
Objects
Frequency of
Change
Connected-
ness
Criticality
Level of
Automation
Structured-
ness
Lifespan
Number of
Stakeholders
Attributes of Boundary Objects
17
How many stakeholders derive value from the object during its lifespan?
■ Includes
non-technical roles
e.g. Product
Management
■ “If a microservice is to
be monetized, the
marketing team
must interact”
[Interview E]
DevOps
Boundary
Objects
Number of
Stakeholders](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ease-2023devops-boundary-objects-230612112458-197bc263/85/Investigating-Software-Engineering-Artifacts-in-DevOps-Through-the-Lens-of-Boundary-Objects-17-320.jpg)
![Conclusion
18
■ Previously identified Boundary Objects
present in DevOps contexts
□ E.g. checklists in medicine or software security [Gil+03]
□ No single central coordination objects
■ Starting points for collaboration and
connecting stakeholders
[Gil+03] D.P. Gilliam, T.L. Wolfe, J.S. Sherif, and M. Bishop. 2003. “Software Security
Checklist for the Software Life Cycle”. In Twelfth IEEE International Workshops on
Enabling Technologies (WET 2003). 243–248.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ease-2023devops-boundary-objects-230612112458-197bc263/85/Investigating-Software-Engineering-Artifacts-in-DevOps-Through-the-Lens-of-Boundary-Objects-18-320.jpg)
![Conclusion
19
■ Object attributes inform
knowledge management
□ E.g. Object with two stakeholders,
low criticality, and lacking automation
→ might not be worth maintenance overhead
■ “management of the data generated by the
[DevOps] toolchain is still undervalued” [Col+21]
in practice
[Col+21] A. Colantoni, A. Garmendia, L. Berardinelli, M. Wimmer, and J. Brauer. 2021. “Leveraging
Model-Driven Technologies for JSON Artefacts”. In 24th Int. Conference on Model Driven Engineering
Languages and Systems. 250–260.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ease-2023devops-boundary-objects-230612112458-197bc263/85/Investigating-Software-Engineering-Artifacts-in-DevOps-Through-the-Lens-of-Boundary-Objects-19-320.jpg)
![Conclusion
20
“the more an agile team operates according to
DevOps, the more it benefits from its artifacts [Fors+20]
”
[Fors+20] M. Forsberg Lie, M. Sánchez-Gordón, and R. Colomo-Palacios. 2020. “DevOps in an ISO
13485 Regulated Environment”. In 14th ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software
Engineering and Measurement. 1–11.
but the more it needs to
consciously manage the
Boundary Objects that
facilitate collaboration](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ease-2023devops-boundary-objects-230612112458-197bc263/85/Investigating-Software-Engineering-Artifacts-in-DevOps-Through-the-Lens-of-Boundary-Objects-20-320.jpg)
Investigating Software Engineering Artifacts in DevOps Through the Lens of Boundary Objects
- 1. Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, Germany christoph.matthies@hpi.de @chrisma0 Investigating Software Engineering Artifacts in DevOps Through the Lens of Boundary Objects Christoph Matthies, Robert Heinrich, Rebekka Wohlrab June 2023 Oulu https://conf.researchr.org/home/ease-2023
- 2. Boundary Objects 2 A theory from sociology applied to engineering organizations “ [...] have different meanings in different social worlds but their structure is common enough to more than one world to make them recognizable, a means of translation [SG89] ” [SG89] S. L. Star & J. R. Griesemer. 1989. Institutional Ecology, “Translations and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology”, 1907-39. Social Studies of Science 19, 3 (aug 1989), 387–420
- 3. Boundary Objects 3 A real-world example (also used to explain in interviews)
- 4. Methodology ■ Exploratory multiple case study [Eas+08] □ 9 study sites, 12 interviews with industry practitioners □ Median 9.5 years of work experience 4 [Eas+08] S. Easterbrook, J. Singer, M.-A. Storey & D. Damian. 2008. “Selecting empirical methods for software engineering research”. In Guide to advanced empirical software engineering. 285–311. 1. Collaboration practices, coordination of dev and ops roles, significance of engineering artifacts 2. Introduction of Boundary Object concept 3. Reflection on concept in daily work ■ Semi-Structured Interviews
- 5. Boundary Objects 5 A real-world example (also used to explain in interviews)
- 6. Research Questions RQ1 Categories of artifacts employed as Boundary Objects? 6 Areas of inquiry within the research paper RQ2 Which stakeholders are involved? RQ3 Where do practitioners see concerns? RQ4 What attributes influence Boundary Object relevance?
- 7. Research Questions RQ1 Categories of artifacts employed as Boundary Objects? 7 Presented in this talk RQ4 What attributes influence Boundary Object relevance?
- 8. DevOps Boundary Objects 8 Categories of Boundary Objects identified by study participants Dev. Ops.
- 9. DevOps Boundary Objects 9 Examples of Boundary Objects identified by study participants Dev. Ops. ■ Sprint Backlog Entry ■ Pseudo-Code ■ Metrics Dashboard ■ Software Log File ■ Wiki Page ■ Code Review Comment ■ Checklists with steps ■ Operations Runbooks
- 10. Attributes of Boundary Objects 10 Seven attributes that influenced perceptions of relevance DevOps Boundary Objects Frequency of Change Connected- ness Criticality Level of Automation Structured- ness Lifespan Number of Stakeholders
- 11. DevOps Boundary Objects Frequency of Change Connected- ness Criticality Level of Automation Structured- ness Lifespan Number of Stakeholders Attributes of Boundary Objects 11 Relative to other objects in a given context, how frequent are updates? DevOps Boundary Objects Frequency of Change ■ Notifications on updates ■ Obtained info outdated quickly ■ “a map might be a good Boundary Object because its speed of change is manageable” [Interview K]
- 12. DevOps Boundary Objects Frequency of Change Connected- ness Criticality Level of Automation Structured- ness Lifespan Number of Stakeholders Attributes of Boundary Objects 12 How many connections to other engineering artifacts are there? DevOps Boundary Objects Connected- ness ■ Higher degree of detail without duplication ■ Higher effort to fully explore knowledge ■ Maintenance of links
- 13. DevOps Boundary Objects Frequency of Change Connected- ness Criticality Level of Automation Structured- ness Lifespan Number of Stakeholders Attributes of Boundary Objects 13 To what degree will the performance degrade if the object is unavailable? DevOps Boundary Objects Criticality ■ Described by “how many people can’t work” ■ Consequences of inadequate/missing quality (legal reqs): “They will literally send you to jail” [Interview K]
- 14. DevOps Boundary Objects Frequency of Change Connected- ness Criticality Level of Automation Structured- ness Lifespan Number of Stakeholders Attributes of Boundary Objects 14 How much repeated manual effort is required to update the object? ■ Automate as much as possible (in theory, less in practice) ■ “If communication is ad-hoc, it is slow, get rid of it and automate” [Interview F] ■ Monitoring and alerting of stakeholders DevOps Boundary Objects Level of Automation
- 15. DevOps Boundary Objects Frequency of Change Connected- ness Criticality Level of Automation Structured- ness Lifespan Number of Stakeholders Attributes of Boundary Objects 15 To what degree does the object follow set standards? ■ Highly dependent on context ■ Reports via email vs. Jira task management ■ Structure enables faster understanding DevOps Boundary Objects Structured- ness
- 16. DevOps Boundary Objects Frequency of Change Connected- ness Criticality Level of Automation Structured- ness Lifespan Number of Stakeholders Attributes of Boundary Objects 16 When is the object created and for how long is it relevant? ■ May be used only for a specific development phase ■ Archived or set as read-only ■ May require data only available later, e.g. metrics dashboards DevOps Boundary Objects Lifespan
- 17. DevOps Boundary Objects Frequency of Change Connected- ness Criticality Level of Automation Structured- ness Lifespan Number of Stakeholders Attributes of Boundary Objects 17 How many stakeholders derive value from the object during its lifespan? ■ Includes non-technical roles e.g. Product Management ■ “If a microservice is to be monetized, the marketing team must interact” [Interview E] DevOps Boundary Objects Number of Stakeholders
- 18. Conclusion 18 ■ Previously identified Boundary Objects present in DevOps contexts □ E.g. checklists in medicine or software security [Gil+03] □ No single central coordination objects ■ Starting points for collaboration and connecting stakeholders [Gil+03] D.P. Gilliam, T.L. Wolfe, J.S. Sherif, and M. Bishop. 2003. “Software Security Checklist for the Software Life Cycle”. In Twelfth IEEE International Workshops on Enabling Technologies (WET 2003). 243–248.
- 19. Conclusion 19 ■ Object attributes inform knowledge management □ E.g. Object with two stakeholders, low criticality, and lacking automation → might not be worth maintenance overhead ■ “management of the data generated by the [DevOps] toolchain is still undervalued” [Col+21] in practice [Col+21] A. Colantoni, A. Garmendia, L. Berardinelli, M. Wimmer, and J. Brauer. 2021. “Leveraging Model-Driven Technologies for JSON Artefacts”. In 24th Int. Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems. 250–260.
- 20. Conclusion 20 “the more an agile team operates according to DevOps, the more it benefits from its artifacts [Fors+20] ” [Fors+20] M. Forsberg Lie, M. Sánchez-Gordón, and R. Colomo-Palacios. 2020. “DevOps in an ISO 13485 Regulated Environment”. In 14th ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement. 1–11. but the more it needs to consciously manage the Boundary Objects that facilitate collaboration
- 21. Summary 21
- 22. Image Sources 22 In order of appearance ■ area by Nithinan Tatah from Noun Project (CCBY3.0) ■ Document by Liberus from Noun Project (CCBY3.0) ■ Document by DinosoftLab from Noun Project (CCBY3.0) ■ Definition by Eko Purnomo from Noun Project (CCBY3.0) ■ explain by Iconographer from Noun Project (CCBY3.0) ■ Hiking Map (hiking-map_926245) by sclance.com ■ interview by Mutualism from Noun Project (CCBY3.0) ■ Architectural Design software diagram by heinzhafner.de ■ Question by Alzam from Noun Project (CCBY3.0) ■ conclusion by WEBTECHOPS LLP from Noun Project (CCBY3.0)