EMMSAD/BPMDS'2021
Joint Keynote
The Role of Users’ involvement in Contemporary Software-Supported Business Process Improvement
Abstract:
User involvement in software development has been the subject of a plethora of research for over four decades and it is considered to play a pivotal role in user satisfaction thus leading to a successful outcome. Although much of the research on User Involvement (UI) in software development has revealed a positive contribution to system success, this participation is considered as a double-edged sword that can equally create problems rather than just benefits. Much of the empirical evidence to date shows that this connection between UI and system success is not ubiquitous in the development of all digital transformations and across different domains, environments and platforms.
Software supported business process improvement is not just about technology but also about the people whose jobs and lives are to be transformed. The most important part of this transformation is a major change in processes and human behaviours. Even though products and services are changed into commodities, ultimately humans are the most critical asset because they could be both the makers and breakers of change brought about by the business process improvement. This depends largely on how well they have been informed, involved and travelled in the journey for transformation.
Since 2012, I have led empirical longitudinal studies of UI in software projects to explore: “what are the problems and challenges of UI?", "how does users' satisfaction with their involvement evolve?", and "what useful theories could be developed to explain the link between UI and system success?". We have explored the alignment of stakeholder expectations about UI in agile software development and studied UI in the context of organizational power and politics. In this keynote, I will present the results of this body of work and sketch a research agenda for the future of users' involvement in contemporary software-supported business process improvement.
Short bio:
Dr Didar Zowghi is a Professor of Software Engineering and the Deputy Dean of Graduate Research School at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Previously she was Director of the research centre for Human-Centred Technology Design, Director of Women in Engineering and Information Technology, and Associate Dean Research at UTS. Before academia, she worked in the software industry in the UK and Australia as a software engineer, systems analyst, and project manager.
Professor Zowghi's research focuses on improving the software development processes and the quality of their products, in particular, addressing important challenges in the communication-rich, multidisciplinary activities of software development, also known as Requirements Engineering. She has conducted and supervised empirical studies in Global Software Development, Technology Adoption, Web Technologies, Software Process Improvement, Service-Oriented Computing, IoT, Smart Cities, Data Quality and Mobile Learning.
Professor Zowghi has served the program committee of many conferences including the IEEE International Conference on Requirements Engineering (1998 to 2021), was its General Chair (2010), Program Chair (2015), and Steering Committee Chair (2016-2018). She is Associate Editor of IEEE Software and Requirements Engineering Journal,
She has published over 200 research articles in prestigious conferences and journals, as well as books and book chapters. She has co-authored publications with over 90 different researchers from 30+ countries.
