一句话：提出基于谈判原则的防御视角与数字模拟，帮助软件工程师抵御估算压力并捍卫工作量估算。
软件组织中对高生产力和快速交付的压力，常使软件工程师像下弃子棋一样牺牲技术上合理的估算，令团队陷入时间压力，进而引发质量下降、情绪困扰、生产力降低和进一步延期的恶性循环。为从被动屈服转向主动防御，本文提出一种支持估算者学习如何捍卫估算的方法：将谈判原则封装为一组“防御视角”，并通过数字模拟呈现。作者以不同公司的软件从业者为对象开展对照实验，基于计划行为理论收集态度、主观规范、感知行为控制与防御意图等数据，并采用频率学派和贝叶斯方法分析。结果显示，实验组参与者在接触数字模拟并学习防御视角后，各项得分均有提升；面对压力情境时，他们比仅反思估算压力原因与后果的对照组更倾向于选择防御行动。定性证据还表明，从业者认为该组视角对其当前工作环境有用，且参与所需时间较短。
Pressure for higher productivity and faster delivery is increasingly pervading software organizations. This can lead software engineers to act like chess players playing a gambit—making sacrifices of their technically sound estimates, thus submitting their teams to time pressure. In turn, time pressure can have varied detrimental effects, such as poor product quality and emotional distress, decreasing productivity, which leads to more time pressure and delays: a hard-to-stop vicious cycle. This reveals a need for moving on from the more passive strategy of yielding to pressure to a more active one of defending software estimates. Therefore, we propose an approach to support software estimators in acquiring knowledge on how to carry out such defense, by introducing negotiation principles encapsulated in a set of defense lenses, presented through a digital simulation. We evaluated the proposed approach through a controlled experiment with software practitioners from different companies. We collected data on participants' attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intentions to perform the defense of their estimates in light of the Theory of Planned Behavior. We employed a frequentist and a bayesian approach to data analysis. Results show improved scores among experimental group participants after engaging with the digital simulation and learning about the lenses. They were also more inclined to choose a defense action when facing pressure scenarios than a control group exposed to questions to reflect on the reasons and outcomes of pressure over estimates. Qualitative evidence reveals that practitioners perceived the set of lenses as useful in their current work environments. Collectively, these results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach and its perceived relevance for the industry, despite the low amount of time required to engage with it.
DOI 原文 · arXiv · PDF（开放获取） · DBLP
@inproceedings{abs-2302-07229,
title = {Moving on from the Software Engineers' Gambit: An Approach to Support the Defense of Software Effort Estimates},
author = {Patricia G.F. Matsubara and Igor Steinmacher and Bruno Gadelha and Tayana Conte},
booktitle = {ICSE},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.1109/icse48619.2023.00068}
}