Making Sense of Software Product Requirements

One of the most crucial tasks for a company offering a software product is to decide what new features should be implemented in the product’s forthcoming versions. Yet, existing studies show that this is also a task with which many companies are struggling. This problem has been claimed to be ambiguous and changing. There are better or worse solutions to the problem, but no optimal one. Furthermore, the criteria determining the success of the solution keeps changing due to continuously changing competition, technologies and market needs. This thesis seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges that companies have reportedly faced in determining the requirements for their forthcoming product versions. To this end, product management related activities are explored in seven companies. Following grounded theory approach, the thesis conducts four iterations of data analysis, where each of the iterations goes beyond the previous one. The thesis results in a theory proposal intended to 1) describe the essential characteristics of organizations’ product management challenges, 2) explain the origins of the perceived challenges and 3) suggest strategies to alleviate the perceived challenges. The thesis concludes that current product management approaches are becoming inadequate to deal with challenges that have multiple and conflicting interpretations, different value orientations, unclear goals, contradictions and paradoxes. This inadequacy continues to increase until current beliefs and assumptions about the product management challenges are questioned and a new paradigm for dealing with the challenges is adopted.

"They're trying to trick us!": Making sense of anti-oppressive children's literature in the elementary school classroom

This study examines how children make sense of “anti-oppressive” children’s literature in the classroom, specifically, books that integrate and promote positive portrayals of gender non-conformity and sexual diversity. Through a feminist poststructural lens, I conducted ethnographic observations and reading groups with twenty students in a grade one/two classroom to explore how children engage with these storybooks. I further explored how the use of these books in the classroom might help to mediate and negotiate existing gendered and heteronormative beliefs and practices within educational settings. The books used in this study challenge oppressive gender and sexuality regimes within mainstream children’s literature that have traditionally served to marginalize and silence gender non-conforming and LGBTQ individuals. Responses from participants in this study aid in questioning how dominant discourses of gender and sexuality are produced and reinforced, as well as where we may find opportunities for change and reform within the elementary school classroom.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen” : making sense of emotions in the face of expectation breach

Des recherches antérieures sur les émotions en contexte organisationnel, notamment autour des notions de travail émotionnel, de contrat psychologique et d'équité, ont souvent soulevé la question de la rationalité et du caractère approprié ou non des manifestations émotionnelles, ainsi que sur les mécanismes utilisés pour contrôler et modérer celles-ci. Cependant, peu de recherche empirique a été effectuée sur la façon dont les employés eux-mêmes font sens de leurs émotions au travail et le processus par lequel ils parviennent à rendre celle-ci compréhensibles et légitimes, à la fois pour eux-mêmes et pour autrui. Au cours des dernières années, un courant de recherche émergent tend toutefois à mettre de côté la perspective normative / rationaliste pour soulever ce type de questions. Ainsi, au lieu d'être considérées comme des expériences strictement subjectives, privées, voire inaccessibles, les émotions y sont envisagées à travers les discours et les mises en récits dont elles font l’objet. Les émotions apparaissent ainsi non seulement exprimées dans le langage et la communication, mais construites et négociées à travers eux. La recherche présente développe empiriquement cette perspective émergente, notamment en faisant appel aux théories du sensemaking et de la narration, à travers l’analyse détaillée des récits de quatre employés chargés du soutien à la vente pour un revendeur de produits informatiques. En demandant à mes sujets de parler de leurs expériences émotionnelles et en analysant leurs réponses selon une méthodologie d’analyse narrative, cette recherche explore ainsi la façon dont les employés parviennent à construire le sens et la légitimité de leurs expériences émotionnelles. Les résultats suggèrent entre autres que ces processus de construction de sens sont très étroitement liés aux enjeux d’identité et de rôle.

Learning through enquiry : making sense of geography in the key stage 3 classroom.

Está destinado al apoyo de los profesores en su desarrollo profesional, pues es una referencia útil para aquellos que quieran conocer temas de investigación en pedagogía geográfica. Aunque los ejemplos se han tomado principalmente de las escuelas de Inglaterra, pueden ser aplicados a las aulas de geografía de todo el mundo. También muestra cómo es el aprendizaje de la geografía promovido por la autora del libro, que favorece la participación activa de los estudiantes, al demostrar la importancia de estimular su curiosidad y promover un comportamiento crítico hacia los datos, y ofrecer, asimismo, oportunidades para qué los propios alumnos busquen nuevas ideas e información y reflexionen sobre lo aprendido.

Making sense of primary science investigations.

EL mensaje de que la ciencia no es sólo un conjunto de conocimientos, sino también una forma de trabajar parece que ha llegado a los profesores, pero todavía no ha calado en los niños. A pesar de los esfuerzos por acercar la Ciencia a los alumnos de primaria, éstos no comprenden del todo bien el proceso o los efectos de la investigación científica. Por este motivo, el objetivo de este texto es ayudar a los docentes a saber transmitir este mensaje a sus alumnos, y lo que es más importante, que éstos sientan muy de cerca la Ciencia.

Making sense of grammar.

Introduce un punto de vista semántico y pragmático en el análisis de la estructura gramatical y muestra cómo funciona la gramática en diferentes contextos lingüísticos, literario, no literario, oral y escrito. Investiga una amplia variedad de temas lingüísticos, que incluyen la sociolingüística, la adquisición del lenguaje y la estilística.

Mathematics in the primary school : a sense of progression.

Proporciona un conjunto de principios básicos para la enseñanza de las matemáticas en la escuela primaria a través de los principales temas del programa de estudios. Los autores exploran la comprensión de los niños en áreas claves de las matemáticas en la etapa Fundación (Foundation Stage) y la etapas clave de las fases 1 y 2 (Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2). Identifican importantes enfoques de la enseñanza, incluyendo el uso de calculadoras y ordenadores, y hacen énfasis en el cálculo mental y en la solución de problemas. Se utilizan estudios de casos para ilustrar como ponerlos en práctica y cómo los niños responden a ellos. Subraya la importancia del conocimiento matemático de los propios profesores y les ofrece orientación y consejos prácticos.

Making sense social sciences : a student's guide to research and writing.

Libro orientado a servir de guía a los estudiantes universitarios en la redacción de ensayos, exámenes e informes de investigación en el área de las Ciencias Sociales, analizando tanto sus requerimientos específicos como los preceptos generales para una escritura eficaz. Una redacción adecuada en esta área requiere no sólo un buen estilo, sino también una buena comprensión del diseño de la investigación, la teoría, las mediciones, los argumentos y la comunicación. Para ello el libro señala los errores más comunes en las redacciones de los estudiantes e indica cómo evitarlos y corregirlos, y proporciona orientación en métodos de investigación, evaluación de fuentes de información, plagio y cuestiones éticas, programas de presentación de contenidos y bibliografía.

Prospective elementary school teachers' ways of making sense of mathematical problem posing. 'Modos en que futuros profesores de primaria dan sentido a la invención de problemas matemáticos'.

Resumen basado en el de la publicación

Factors involved in making post-performance judgments in mathematics problem-solving

Resumen tomado de la publicaci??n

Making sense of supply chain management: acomparative study of aerospace and construction

Current recipes for learning across business sectors too often fail to recognize the embedded and contextual nature of management practice. The existing literature gives little emphasis to the symbiotic relationship between supply chain management and the broader dynamics of context. The aerospace and construction sectors are selected for comparison on the basis that they are so different. The UK aerospace sector has undergone extensive consolidation as a result of the imperatives of global competitive pressures. In contrast, the construction industry has experienced decades of fragmentation and remains highly localized. An increasing proportion of output in the aerospace sector occurs within a small number of large, globally orientated firms. In contrast, construction output is dominated by a plethora of small firms with high levels of subcontracting and a widespread reliance on self-employment. These differences have fundamental implications for the way that supply chain management is understood and implemented in the two sectors. Semi-structured interviews with practitioners from both sectors support the contention that supply chain management is more established in aerospace than construction. The introduction of prime contracting and the increasing use of framework agreements within the construction sector potentially provide a much more supportive climate for supply chain management than has traditionally prevailed. However, progress depends upon an improved continuity of workload under such arrangements.

Making sense of research quality assessment

Purpose – For many academics in UK universities the nature and orientation of their research is overwhelmingly determined by considerations of how that work will be graded in research assessment exercises (RAEs). The grades awarded to work in a particular subject area can have a considerable impact on the individual and their university. There is a need to better understand those factors which may influence these grades. The paper seeks to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach – The paper considers relationships between the grades awarded and the quantitative information provided to the assessment panels for the 1996 and 2001 RAEs for two subject areas, built environment and town and country planning, and for three other subject areas, civil engineering, geography and archaeology, in the 2001 RAE. Findings – A simple model demonstrating strong and consistent relationships is established. RAE performance relates to numbers of research active staff, the production of books and journal papers, numbers of research studentships and graduations, and research income. Important differences between subject areas are identified. Research limitations/implications – Important issues are raised about the extent to which the new assessment methodology to be adopted for the 2008 RAE will capture the essence of good quality research in architecture and built environment. Originality/value – The findings provide a developmental perspective of RAEs and show how, despite a changed methodology, various research activities might be valued in the 2008 RAE. The basis for a methodology for reviewing the credibility of the judgements of panels is proposed.