EPIC 2011: Third Workshop on Leveraging Empirical Research Results for Software Business Success

For many companies, software development is their core business process. For this process to be economically viable, it is not enough that software companies deliver software products that satisfy customers´ written specification. Software businesses also deem other requirements important as to deliver in time and on budget, to increase developers´ satisfaction and to optimize their delivery processes and reduce waste. Collective efforts by software engineering practitioners, consultants and researchers have yielded a huge variety of solutions for improving software processes, products and services. While it is generally known that the suitability and effectiveness of most of these solutions depend on the context where they are applied, only few empirical studies were done to uncover how the current process/product/servicefocused approaches used in software businesses yield outcomes that are aligned to the business goals of these organizations. With few exceptions, little is known about the empirical evidence that can possibly confirm or disconfirm the claims of effectiveness of different commercially viable approaches that solve particular process, product or service related problems. The primary goal of the first EPIC workshop was twofold: to initiate (1) the conversation of leveraging empirical research for software business success and (2) the process of creating a forum and a community to debate the need and value of using empirical/evidence-based approaches to researching aspects of software processes, products and services that contribute to software business success. An outcome of the workshop is the LinkedIn group, EPIC FORUM. The second EPIC event was a panel session that defined some roadblocks to the collaboration of software business practitioners and researchers, and some solutions that worked.The third workshop builds upon these first results and will extend the discussion on state-of-the art good practices for empirical research that adds value to both small and large software companies.