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Software Innovation: Eight work-style heuristics for creative system developers

By Jeremy Rose

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Book Description

Software Innovation: eight work-style heuristics for creative system developers. Innovation is the forgotten key to modern systems development - the element that defines the enterprising engineer, the thriving software firm and the cutting edge software application. Traditional forms of technical education pay little attention to creativity – often encouraging overly rationalistic ways of thinking which stifle the ability to innovate. Professional software developers are often drowned in commercial drudgery and overwhelmed by work pressure and deadlines. The topic that will both ensure success in the market and revitalize their work lives is never addressed. This book sets out the new field of software innovation. It organizes the existing scientific research into eight simple heuristics - guiding principles for organizing a system developer's work-life so that it focuses on innovation.

Print edition available from Lulu.com

Table of Contents

Introduction
- Why study software innovation?
  - The global perspective
  - The competition perspective
  - The developer perspective
- Knowledge sources for software innovation
- Software innovation - the shape of the study
- Eight work-style heuristics
- Innovation concepts and software development
  - Three basic starting places: creativity, invention, innovation
  - Radical and incremental innovation
  - Product and process innovation
  - Installed base (infrastructure)
  - Innovation and software systems
  - Sources and further reading:
Keep your head up: software trajectories and innovation windows
- Technology and economic development
- Installed base, infrastructure
- Software technology trajectories
- Software technology convergence
- The software innovation window
- Work-style heuristic 1 - keep your head up
  - Sources and further reading:
Grow your community: network, knowledge, learning
- Virtual innovation community: the open source movement
- Open innovation
- Work-style heuristic 2 - grow your knowledge community
  - Sources and further reading:
Target the product’s innovation profile: innovative software
- Characteristics of innovative software products
- Utility - hierarchies of technical systems
- Incremental and radical innovation
- Utility forms
  - Innovation utility form 1: computing infrastructural
    - Innovation example: TCP/IP (1973-8)
  - Innovation utility form 2: technology enabling
    - Innovation example: Copenhagen metro
  - Innovation utility form 3: user service
    - Innovation example: Skype
  - Innovation utility form 4: business change enabling
    - Innovation example: SAP (ERP system)
  - Innovation utility form 5: interaction and communication
    - Innovation example: Facebook.
  - Innovation utility form 6: entertainment
    - Innovation example: World of Warcraft
- Work-style heuristic 3 - target your product’s innovation profile
  - Sources and further reading:
Shape your own process: software process and innovation
- Software development method – innovation is not a typical goal
- Linear innovation in industry
- The software innovation life cycle model
- Iterative software innovation process models
- Do agile methods promote innovation?
- Market-led and technology-led software innovation
- Improvisation, bricolage
- Six innovation process strategies
  - Innovation process strategy 1: creative requirements analysis
  - Innovation process strategy 2: designed process framework
  - Innovation process strategy 3: low tech prototyping
  - Innovation process strategy 4: user-driven software innovation
  - Innovation process strategy 5: community development and the open source model
  - Innovation process strategy 6: research prototype
- Software process innovation
  - The global picture
  - The local picture
- Work-style heuristic 4 - Shape your own process
  - Sources and further reading:
Develop your personal creativity: the creative software developer
- Creativity as the developer’s mental process
- Creativity as a set of personal competences
- Creativity as a style of thinking
- Creativity as meta-thinking: recognising unconscious pre-dispositions
- Creativity as whole-brain thinking: beyond rationality
- Creativity as a state of mind
- Creativity as a relationship between the developer and the outside world
- Creativity as a universal mental skill to be enhanced
- Work-style heuristic 5 - develop your personal creativity
  - Sources and further reading
Be a super-team-worker: the innovative software team
- Creative/innovative work environments: barriers
- Group dysfunction
- Innovative team roles:
- Innovation team interaction
- Team learning and innovation
- Accommodation of divergent thinking
- Expertise integration
- Overview: macro + micro integration
- Innovative teamwork patterns
- Environmental scanning
- Work-style heuristic 6 - be a super-team-worker
  - Sources and further reading
Bring your toolbox: creativity tools and techniques
- Creativity tools
- Characteristics of applications supporting creativity
- A software support toolbox
- Creativity techniques
- A starting repertoire of creativity techniques for software development
  - Brainstorming
  - Backward mapping
  - SCAMPER
  - Six Serving Men
  - Six thinking hats
  - Vision box
  - Elevator test
- Work-style heuristic 7 – bring your toolbox
  - Sources and further reading
Know when you are (not) innovative: assessment and evaluation
- Personal creativity: psychometric testing
- Innovative software product assessment
- Work environment assessment
- Assessment overview
- Here-and-now quick-and-dirty evaluation instrument
  - Keep your head up
  - Grow your knowledge community
  - Target your product’s innovation profile
  - Shape your own process
  - Develop your personal creativity
  - Be a super-team-worker
  - Bring your toolbox
  - Know when you are (not) innovative
- Work-style heuristic 8 – understand when you are (not) innovative
  - Sources and further reading
Software innovation: eight work-style heuristics for innovative system developers
- Software innovation
- Eight work-style heuristics for innovative system developers
  - Keep your head up
  - Grow your knowledge community
  - Target your product’s innovation profile
  - Shape your own process
  - Develop your personal creativity
  - Be a super-team-worker
  - Bring your toolbox
  - Know when you are (not) innovative
- Comprehensive list of reading and sources