Augmenting an existing software development process with a team building activity - a case study

The task of developing software systems not only requires technological aspects but also, and moreimportantly, human aspects. Here, we argue that every software method/process ought to support thehuman aspects of software engineering, in terms of 'working teams', as well as the technologicalaspects. Consequently, we proposed some new process fragments to augment an existing processframework for software development specifically to be able to support the human side of softwaredevelopment that bring together individuals to achieve teamwork for a common purpose. We firstdiscuss the concepts of working teams and team building followed by an investigation of some of theweaknesses with the current software methods concerning the degree of support for the human side ofsoftware engineering with particular emphasis on working teams and the team development lifecycle.An empirical study, using Action Research (AR), with a governmental body in Australia was thenexecuted in order to test and validate our theory of augmenting the OPEN Process Framework (OPF)with a new team building activity and-a number of tasks for enhancing teamwork. At the end of ourlongitudinal study we have witnessed a major and successful work culture change that been achievedat our study organization as a direct result of their adoption and diffusion of the proposed OPF thatwas augmented with new support for the human aspects of software development.