ISERN´04: Program

version 1.00, updated on 16.08.2004

Note the starting time on the first day and the possibility for breakfast already at 7 am !.

Monday, August 16, 2004

7:00 Registration & Continental Breakfast
8:00
 Opening, Barry Boehm and Jyrki Kontio
Meeting objectives and agenda
8:20 New participant introductions, Dieter Rombach
Brief introduction of observer guests and candidate members
8:45 Guidelines for empirical research, chaired by Dieter Rombach 
Do we need guidelines (or even standards) for designing empirical studies and presenting the results of such studies? What should these standards/guidelines contain, how should they be created and deployed?
10:15 Break
10:45 Parallel sessions:
Experiences in small company process improvement ("SME SPI"), chaired by Ross Jeffery

How do small companies plan and improve their SW processes; what are the issues and best practices  for conducting empirical research in SME SPI ?

 Inspections and reading techniques, Marcus Ciolkowski and Forrest Shull
ISERN researchers have conducted many studies on inspections, but we still lack a good understanding of how those studies help us understand inspections better.  What we would like to do in the inspection session is to discuss 
  • What types of data/evidence are relevant (expert opinion, ..., controlled experiments) 
  • What are purposes of integration? How can we best make use from data/evidence? 
  • How can we assess the validity/value of data/evidence? 
  • How can we construct a framework into which these different types of data/evidence can be integrated?
12:15 Lunch
13:30 Empirical theory, presented by Dag Sjøberg, Claes Wohlin and Audris Mockus
What should theories in empirical software engineering be like and how do we develop and validate them?
15:00 Break
15:30 Parallel sessions:
Agile development methods, chaired by Laurie Williams
What kind of empirical studies have been conducted in agile development methods, what evidence exists on their strengths and weaknesses, how can the existing empirical studies be improved, what should be the next objectives for empirical studies, what kind of empirical studies are most beneficial?		 Surveys as tools in empirical research, chaired by Odd Petter Slyngstad
What is the role of questionnaire/web surveys in empirical research, what are the best practices and challenges in conducting good surveys, what can be done by questionnaire and by structured interview? How to develop a sound questionnaire? how to select companies, and how to assure a high response rate?
16:30 Day adjourned
17:00 Buses to depart for Santa Monica for dinner
An excursion to the landmark Santa Monica pier and promenade area, including buffet dinner at the Asian-themed Monsoon restaurant and plenty of time to explore, shop, ride the Ferris Wheel and otherwise play (see http://www.santamonica.com; we'll provide a brochure with maps at registration). Bus leaves at 5pm sharp and returns 10pm sharp. If you miss the bus or want to stay later, the taxi fare back to the Crowne Plaza is around $35.

 

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

8:00 Registration & Continental Breakfast
9:00 Value of empirical research, chaired by Barry Boehm.
How to assess the value of empirical research results, how to communicate this to industry and to the scientific community?
10:45 Break
11:15 Parallel working groups (tentative):
These parallel working groups will address specific issues identified during the earlier sessions in the meeting, producing templates and outlines for solutions that will be elaborated and detailed after the ISERN meeting.
Empirical research guidelines, chair: Dan Port Empirical data and designs ownership principles, chair: Vic Basili  Dealing with the speed of change, chair: TBD Links to other communities, chair: TBD
12:45 Lunch
14:00 Working group summaries
15:30 Break
16:00 Planning for ISERN'05 / open issues
17:00 ISERN'04 adjourned
18:00 Dinner
Mexican dinner and entertainment on the Redondo Pier, a short quarter-mile walk south of the hotel. Starts at 6pm; browse the pier area as long as you want after dinner.