The Art of Software Innovation

Imagine that you are the CEO of a software company. You know you compete in an environment that does not permit you to treat innovation as a secondary issue. But how should you manage your software innovation to get the most out of it?

This book will provide you with the answer.

Software innovation is multifaceted and the approaches used by companies can be very different. The team of authors that wrote this book took the assumption that there is no such thing as a universal software engineering process or innovation process. Some things work well for a certain company, others do not. The book is organized around what the authors call eight fundamental practice areas for innovation with software. Each practice area contains a number of activities that can help companies to master that practice area. It also contains industrial experience reports that illustrate the applicability of these practice areas in software companies and is structured in such a way that you can select and read only those practice areas that are relevant to your company.

Minna Pikkarainen is a Principal Scientist at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. She has worked in several industrial-driven research projects and project preparations, collaborating closely with software companies across Europe. Minna is also a member of Sirris, The Collective Centre of the Belgian Technology Industry. Recently, her work has focused on research in the areas of agile development, software innovation and variability management.

Wim Codenie is Program Coordinator Software Engineering at Sirris. He advises companies about improving their software product development capabilities. His specific interests include product variability, agile software development and innovation management in software development; and he has set up several research initiatives on these topics.

Nick Boucart works as a technology advisor software engineering and ICT at Sirris. Nick facilitates companies to improve their software engineering capabilities. His interests include agile software development, software testing, software startups and (community-driven) innovation.

José Antonio Heredia Alvaro is Professor in the industrial systems engineering department at University Jaume I, Spain. He has published numerous papers in scientific journals as well as two books on industrial management, and has more than 15 years of experience in managing research projects. He had also founded two successful spin-off companies in the IT field, based on successful EU-funded projects.