Software Engineering in Organizations:
Lessons and Status Reports

Software Engineering in Organizations: Lessons and Status Reports are a new element in the ICSE program. The reports are intended to provide software engineering professionals with a picture of interesting and innovative software engineering work and research in the areas of software engineering practices, procedures, techniques, products, and organizational structures.

Deadline

Overview

Our goal in presenting the Lessons and Status Reports is to provide software engineers with:

• insights that can be adapted and applied within their own work and organization;
• information on the activities of software engineering groups doing innovative and interesting work;
• information on software engineering activities laying the basis for future generations of software engineering tools and practices.

We encourage submissions from institutions, organizations, and groups within companies, universities, and government. For example, company submissions are welcome from small product development teams in start-up companies to SEPGs to established software groups in large companies. We also encourage submissions from the broadest range of applications, from single-user PC software to global, enterprise-wide solutions. We are looking for lessons, procedures, techniques, approaches, products, and new perspectives on old problems that stimulate practicing software engineers, R&D organizations, and software engineering researchers, and which can be learned and applied.

We expect submissions that:

• present experience on some aspects of the application of innovative software engineering techniques in organizations;
• report on the structure and status of software engineering activities and programs at an organization;

The submissions should emphasize:

• the circumstances under which work is done,
• the underlying goals, policies, and organizational background,
• perspectives of past, present, and future software engineering efforts.

We aim to bring together people to report about their work with the focus on giving the "big picture" rather than the technically interesting spotlight on a singular scientific result.

Authors of accepted submissions will be invited to make a 30 minute presentation at the conference.

Example Submission

We have included a sample submission to illustrate what a good status report might contain. The submission is an example of an experience report on the use of an innovative software engineering technique.

Types of Organizations for Lessons and Status Reports

Reports may describe software engineering work in:

• Product development or consultancy organizations
• Corporate, university, or government research/advanced development
• Software engineering process groups (SEPGs)
• Groups or institutions
• Countries or geographical region
• Collaborative efforts involving several groups or organizations
• Partnerships of different types of groups, or groups cooperating across geographical, political, or cultural boundaries

Review Process

Proposals will be reviewed for acceptance based on the interest to members of the software engineering community and the objective of informing the community of software engineering activities world wide.

Proposals may also be solicited from organizations. Solicited proposals will be subject to the same review process and criteria as proposals submitted in response to this call.

Proposals

Proposed Lessons and Status Reports must be prepared in the Conference Proceedings format. Proposals must not exceed two pages in length.

Upon Acceptance

Authors will be notified of acceptance or rejection by the end of November 1996. Accepted reports will be published in the ICSE 97 Conference Proceedings.

The primary author of each accepted report will receive an Author Kit with detailed instructions on how to submit camera-ready materials for publication. These materials are due on 24 February 1997.

At the Conference

At the conference, the Status Report should be presented by a major participant in the work. The presentation should be based on the material described in the Status Report summary. It should be appropriate for a 30-minute verbal presentation that includes 5 minutes for audience questions.

Ground Rules

1. Your submission must be in English.
2. Electronic and fax submissions are not accepted.
3. Submissions which arrive after the deadline will not be considered.
4. Your submission should contain no proprietary or confidential material and should cite no proprietary or confidential publications. Your submission should not be a demonstration of a commercial product.
5. Responsibility for permissions to use video, audio or pictures of identifiable people rests with you, not ICSE 97.
6. If your submission is accepted, it will not be published without copyright release forms signed by the first-listed author or a representative of the first author's institution.
7. We strongly suggest the use of express mail or a courier service, for speedy delivery. Customs labels should bear the words "Educational materials with no commercial value."

Checklist

Please follow the steps in this checklist to ensure completeness of your submission.

1. Read the Invitation To Submit.
2. Fill out Cover Page One.
3. Prepare a proposal (maximum two pages) in the Conference Proceedings format for publication, as described above.
4. Collect Cover Page One and the proposal, in the order given, in a packet, and make 6 copies of the packet. Use 8.5 x 11 inch or A4 paper.
5. Make sure each copy of the packet is STAPLED, not loose or held by clips.
6. You may include a self-addressed reply postcard which will be mailed to acknowledge receipt of your submission.
7. Send the 6 copies of your submission packet, and the reply postcard, to one of the Lessons and Status Reports Co-Chairs at the Send To address shown below.

Send To

Elliot Chikofsky
DMR Group
404 Wyman Street, Suite 450
Waltham, MA 02154

E-mail: e.chikofsky@computer.org
Tel: +1-617-272-0099
Fax: +1-617-272-8464

or

Ian Thomas
Ian Thomas and Associates
650 Castro St, Suite 120-274
Mountain View, CA 94041, USA

E-mail: ithomas@netcom.com
Tel: +1-415-390-0833
Fax: +1-415-964-1997

For more information