CALL FOR PAPERS - IEEE Software Special Issue on Agility and Architecture - Oil and Water?

CALL FOR PAPERS

IEEE Software Special Issue on Agility and Architecture - Oil and Water?

Submission Deadline: August 17, 2009.
Publication: March/April 2010

Agile software development approaches have had significant impact on
industrial software development practices. However, despite becoming widely
popular, there is an increasing perplexity about the scalability of Agile
approaches to cater the needs and requirements of developing large scale
software-intensive systems. Advocates of the vital role of architecture in
achieving quality goals of large scale software intensive systems are
skeptics of the scalability of any development approach that does not pay
sufficient attention to the Non-Functional Requirements and architectural
aspects of developing large-scale software-intensive systems, especially in
domains like automotive, telecommunication, finance, and medical devices.
But the proponents of Agile approaches usually emphasize the importance of
features (i.e., functional requirements) and perceive the upfront design and
evaluation of architecture as being of little value to the customers of a
system. There is a growing interest in separating the facts from myths about
the necessity, importance, advantages and disadvantages of co-existence of
agile and architectural approaches.


IEEE Software seeks submissions for a special issue on Agility and
Architecture - Oil and Water? Potential topics include:

- Industry relevant and tested approaches, techniques, and tools for
eliciting, specifying, and satisfying non-functional requirements in agile
software development approaches

- Case studies on success and/or failure in integrating architectural
approaches in agile software development approaches

- Practical guidelines and frameworks for designing and evolving reliable
architectures while developing large systems using agile approaches

- Experience reports of scale Agile approaches for large systems while
dealing with architectural challenges

- Best practices about putting together the agile values and architectural
principles optimally for developing and evolving large scale
software-intensive products and services

Manuscripts must not exceed 5,400 words including figures and tables, which
count for 200 words each. Submissions in excess of these limits may be
rejected without refereeing. The articles we deem within the theme's scope
will be peer-reviewed and are subject to editing for magazine style,
clarity, organization, and space. We reserve the right to edit the title of
all submissions. Be sure to include the name of the theme or special issue
you are submitting for.

Articles should have a practical orientation, and be written in a style
accessible to practitioners. Overly complex, purely research-oriented or
theoretical treatments are not appropriate. Articles should be novel.

IEEE Software does not re-publish material published previously in other venues,
including other periodicals and formal conference/workshop proceedings,
whether previous publication was in print or in electronic form.

For this special issue, we particularly seek to include practitioner
reports, experiences and case studies. For your contributions to be
considered, please note the following aspects:

- you have valuable insights from your projects or organizations from which
other practitioners can learn;

- you can place these insights in a larger context, indicating their origins
and discussing alternative approaches;

- the insights are deep enough to reveal the approaches' limitations; and

- you can support them by qualitative or quantitative data.

For more detailed guidance in preparing your contribution in this special
issue, see "Tips for Software Authors" in September/October 2007 (pp.
5-7) issue of IEEE Software.

For general author guidelines: www.computer.org/software/author.htm
For submission details: software@computer.org
For more information about the focus, contact the Guest Editors:

- Pekka Abrahamsson, University of Helsinki, Finland (pekka.abrahamsson@ieee.org)

- M. Ali Babar, Lero, Ireland (Muhammad.AliBabar@lero.ie)

- Philippe Kruchten, University of British Columbia, Canada (pbk@ece.ubc.ca)