[论文解读] Software Startups - A Research Agenda

Michael Unterkalmsteiner, Pekka Abrahamsson+25 more|LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas)|Jan 1, 2016

Open Source Software Innovations参考文献 187被引用 119

一句话总结

本文提出了六轨的软件初创企业工程研究议程，详细列出70+个研究问题，以及促进协作的软件初创企业研究网络（SSRN）.

ABSTRACT

Software startup companies develop innovative, software-intensive products within limited time frames and with few resources, searching for sustainable and scalable business models. Software startups are quite distinct from traditional mature software companies, but also from micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises, introducing new challenges relevant for software engineering research. This paper's research agenda focuses on software engineering in startups, identifying, in particular, 70+ research questions in the areas of supporting startup engineering activities, startup evolution models and patterns, ecosystems and innovation hubs, human aspects in software startups, applying startup concepts in non-startup environments, and methodologies and theories for startup research. We connect and motivate this research agenda with past studies in software startup research, while pointing out possible future directions. While all authors of this research agenda have their main background in Software Engineering or Computer Science, their interest in software startups broadens the perspective to the challenges, but also to the opportunities that emerge from multi-disciplinary research. Our audience is therefore primarily software engineering researchers, even though we aim at stimulating collaborations and research that crosses disciplinary boundaries. We believe that with this research agenda we cover a wide spectrum of the software startup industry current needs.

研究动机与目标

• Define a concrete research agenda for software engineering in startups to address their unique challenges.
• Identify and organize research tracks and questions that differentiate startups from mature software firms.
• Propose methodological approaches and collaboration structures to advance software startup research.

提出的方法

• Organizes eighteen track descriptions into six thematic clusters based on similarities and differences.
• Provides background, motivation, research questions, and potential impact for each track.
• Describes how the track descriptions were developed through a multi-stage, community-driven process starting in 2015.
• Introduces a formal research network (SSRN) to facilitate collaboration between researchers and startups.
• Connects startup engineering challenges to practical implications for practice and theory.
• Highlights potential cross-disciplinary opportunities and future directions in software startup research.

实验结果

研究问题

• RQ1 RQ1: To what degree is actual engineering a critical success factor for startups?
• RQ2 RQ2: How can the startup context be defined such that informed decisions on engineering choices can be made?
• RQ3 RQ3: What engineering practices, processes and methods/models are used today, and do they work in a startup context?
• RQ4 RQ4: How can prototyping be used to maximize learning experience and support multiple startup goals?
• RQ5 RQ5: To what extent do software startups explicitly manage risk, and how can systemic risk be modeled and mitigated?

主要发现

• Identifies six major clusters of research tracks for software startups: Supporting Startup Engineering Activities, Startup Evolution Models and Patterns, Human Aspects, Applying Startup Concepts in Non-Startup Environments, Startup Ecosystems and Innovation Hubs, and Methodologies/Theories for Startup Research.
• Documents eighteen track descriptions with motivations, research questions, potential impact, and methodologies.
• Establishes the Software Startup Research Network (SSRN) to foster global collaboration among researchers and startups.
• Provides a context for developing a software startup context model to characterize startup environments and guide engineering practice.
• Emphasizes need for empirical knowledge on software engineering in startups, including context-driven practices, technical debt management, and prototyping strategies.
• Proposes that future work should connect startup research with broader domains such as marketing, business development, and ecosystem design.