The 4th ICSE Workshop on General
Theories of Software Engineering (GTSE 2015)
Monday, May 18, 2015, Florence,
ItalyÂ
In conjunction with the
International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2015)
Key Dates
Paper submission deadline:
***Extended to  January 30, 2015****Â
Paper acceptance notification:
 February 18, 2015
Camera-ready accepted paper
deadline: Â February 27, 2015Â
Workshop: Â May 18, 2015
Workshop Overview
Most academic disciplines emphasize
the importance of their core, central or general theories.
Examples of general theories include Big Bang Theory,
Maxwellâs equations, The Theory of the Cell, The Theory of
Evolution, Supply and Demand, Structuration Theory, The
General Theory of Crime, Pure Theory of Law and The Theory of
Marriage. Software engineering meanwhile, has not produced
widely-accepted general theories. Lack of theory undermines
the perceived scientific legitimacy of the field, curtails
education and impedes development of a cumulative body of
knowledge. GTSE consequently supports attempts to propose,
synthesize, clarify and test core, central and general
theories in the software engineering domain. GTSE especially
promotes attempts to answer fundamental questions, integrate
ideas from diverse sources and propose revolutionary,
contrarian and generally ambitious new theories.Â
Keynote by Professor Barry Boehm
Developing and Evolving a
Value-Based Theory of Software Engineering
The development of a value-based
theory of software engineering began in the 1980s with
attempts to find a theory of project management that was
simple, general, and specific, for use in teaching software
engineering and managing software projects at TRW. After
trying to tailor various management heroes such as Theories X,
Y, and Z, the stakeholder win-win Theory W emerged in
1988-89. It then evolved over software management
experiences at TRW and DARPA and participation in the
value-based software engineering community into a more
fully-articulated theory presented in the 2005 book,
Value-Based Software Engineering. Subsequent application,
evolution, and student PhD dissertations led to its current
form, along with associated processes, tools, and
generalization to systems engineering. This presentation
includes a discussion and set of criteria for a good theory,
elaboration of the theory and process and its application to a
representative project, and a summary of its !
evaluation with respect to the
criteria for a good theory.
Topics of interest include (but are
not limited to):
New theories in software engineering
Groundbreaking extensions to existing theories
Groundbreaking synthesis of existing theories
Novel applications of theories from reference
disciplines (e.g. sociology) to software engineering
Grounded theory, ethnography and qualitative approaches
to theory building
Systematic literature review and thematic synthesis,
leading to new theory
Empirical evaluation of general theories
Software engineering process theories
Research methodologies for general theory evaluation
Addressing core questions for a general theory:
How can a general theory of software engineering be of
practical use?
What core phenomena should it explain?
What questions should it address?
What should its main concepts be?
How are they related?
How should it be expressed?
How can it be tested?
How can it gain acceptance throughout both the academic
community and industry?
Contrarian perspectives on software engineering theory
Possible Contributions include (but
are not limited to):
Theory proposals with conceptual evaluations
Theory building empirical field studies including
grounded theory, case studies and ethnography
Theory building, explorative lab studies, experiments
and simulations
Empirical evaluations of general, central or core
theories (any research approach welcome)
Systematic literature reviews and thematic analyses
Conceptual contributions related to research
methodology
Position papers on general theory topics
Submissions
Organizing Committee
Paul Ralph, University of Auckland,
New Zealand
Ivar Jacobson, Ivar Jacobson
International, Switzerland
Gregor Engels, University of
Paderborn, Germany
Michael Goedicke, paluno, University
of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Contact information