Experimental Software Engineering in Internet Startups: An Oxymoron?

1
Experimental Software Engineering in Internet
Startups An Oxymoron?

• Philip Johnson
• Collaborative Software Development Laboratory
• Information and Computer Sciences
• University of Hawaii
• Honolulu, HI USA

2
Experimental Methodology

• True confession there wasnt any.
• Thoughts based upon direct experiences with
• Large, mature hardware/software corp.
• Instrumentation devices, C, embedded
• Small, mature ocean engineering corp.
• Cable lay software, Fortran, VB
• Small, explosively growing Internet startup
• N-tier web information system, Java

3
Issues

• What differentiates an Internet startup from
  other kinds of software development
  organizations?
• Why would an Internet startup find experimental
  software engineering useful?
• What are the challenges of getting an Internet
  startup to practice experimental software
  engineering?

4
Things that are not different

• Politics
• Organizational volatility
• Rapidly changing requirements
• Variability in skill level

5
Things that are different

• No legacy code, languages, environments,
  customers
• No weve always done it that way
• No developer or management deadwood

6
Benefits

• Standard benefits
• Improved quality
• Better planning
• etc.
• Unique benefits to Internet startups
• Faster development of self-awareness

7
Obstacles

• Mature companies often decide to invest in Exp.
  SE because of past failures.
• Internet startups
• Have no past history of failure
• May be clueless about software development
• May be ridiculously optimistic

8
Recommendations

• Data collection must be free.
• Instrument IDE, version control system, defect
  tracking system, etc.
• Startups love to outsource. Exploit that.
• You want to partner, not be an employee.
• Equity compensation first, cash second.
• Risk takers like to work with risk takers.
• Startups are desperate to be cutting edge.
• Experimentation must be rad, not trad.

9
Things to discuss

• What kinds of experiments would be suited to a
  startup environment?
• What kinds of experimental methods give results
  in weeks or days, not months or years?
• What is the elevator pitch for exp. SE?
• How can the current popularity of incubators and
  accelerators be exploited (in-house experimental
  software engineering).