Title: Mentality patterns: recurring turns of mind as first-class concerns in software projects

Authors: Georgios Koutsoukos

Addresses: Department of Computer Science, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK; EFG Eurobank, Iolkou 8 and Filikis Etaireias St., 142 34 N. Ionia, Athens, Greece

Abstract: The increasing adoption of agile software development methodologies is amplifying the message that people are a first-order success factor of software projects. In this paper we describe a means to make certain people characteristics a first-class concern in software development projects. In particular, we present a systematic way of capturing, making explicit and effectively communicating human attitudes, beliefs and ways of thinking that influence individual and team work in software projects. Moreover, we provide an organised way to supplement and enhance software development methods, processes and project practice in order to explicitly take into account such human factors.

Keywords: software development processes; mentality patterns; human factors; agile software development; people characteristics; teamwork; attitudes; beliefs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTPM.2008.016178

International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management, 2008 Vol.8 No.1, pp.5 - 21

Published online: 08 Dec 2007 *

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