STRATOS: The Design of Visualization to Support Decision-making in Software Release Planning

Bon Adriel Aseniero. (2014). STRATOS: The Design of Visualization to Support Decision-making in Software Release Planning.

Abstract

Software is typically developed in incremental stages or releases. Planning releases involves deciding on which features of the software should have implementation priority. This is a complex planning process involving numerous constraints and factors, trade-offs, that often make decisions difficult. Since the success of a product depends on this plan, it is vital for planners to examine the trade-offs between different alternatives in order to make an informed choice. To support this type of decision-making, my exploration involved designing and implementing STRATOS—a visualization tool showing several software release plans simultaneously within a singular layout, helping planners understand the differences among them. Through a qualitative evaluation, I found that it enabled a range of decision-making processes, ultimately helping participants in choosing an optimal release plan. My contributions include the hybrid visualization, STRATOS, and the findings from its evaluation that implicate design for future visualizations supporting decision-making.

Materials

PDF File (http://hcitang.org/papers/2014-mscthesis-aseniero.pdf)

BibTeX

@mastersthesis{aseniero2014thesis,
  author = {Aseniero, Bon Adriel},
  title = {STRATOS: The Design of Visualization to Support Decision-making in Software Release Planning},
  school = {University of Calgary},
  year = {2014},
  month = dec,
  pdfurl = {http://hcitang.org/papers/2014-mscthesis-aseniero.pdf},
  type = {thesis}
}