research-article

The effect of gamification on software architecture knowledge management: a student experiment and focus group study

Authors:

Benjamin Mayer,

Rainer WeinreichAuthors Info & Claims

SAC '19: Proceedings of the 34th ACM/SIGAPP Symposium on Applied Computing

Pages 1731 - 1740

https://doi.org/10.1145/3297280.3297449

Published: 08 April 2019 Publication History

Abstract

Both scientists and practitioners agree on the importance of software architecture knowledge (AK) in software development, but AK is often not recorded. This is especially problematic with large and complex software systems, as AK easily evaporates over time if it is not documented. A major problem is the lack of the motivation of architects and developers to document AK. Since gamification is a means of increasing motivation and work morale in general, we investigated its suitability for improving the capturing of AK. To investigate the effects of gamification and identify potential problems, we conducted an experiment and an associated focus group with graduate students in computer science. While we found some minor differences between groups using gamification and not using gamification, none of them was statistically significant. The focus group interviews, however, provided some explanation why we could not observe any significant differences as well as why it may still be worthwhile to further investigate the use of gamification in this area.

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Cited By

Araújo ACoelho ARodrigues MViana WMarques A(2024)Todo Esforço Será Recompensado: Gamificação no Ensino de Arquitetura de Software com o Uso de BadgesAnais do XXXII Workshop sobre Educação em Computação (WEI 2024)10.5753/wei.2024.3064(341-352)Online publication date: 21-Jul-2024
https://doi.org/10.5753/wei.2024.3064
Bibi NRana TAfzal HAnwar ZKadry S(2024)Collaborative Solutions to Software Architecture Challenges Faced by IT ProfessionalsInternational Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals10.4018/IJHCITP.34283915:1(1-29)Online publication date: 15-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.4018/IJHCITP.342839
Brandner KMayer BWeinreich R(2019)Software architecture knowledge sharing with the architecture knowledge base (AKB)Proceedings of the 13th European Conference on Software Architecture - Volume 210.1145/3344948.3344960(30-33)Online publication date: 9-Sep-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3344948.3344960

Index Terms

The effect of gamification on software architecture knowledge management: a student experiment and focus group study
1. Software and its engineering

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cover image ACM Conferences

SAC '19: Proceedings of the 34th ACM/SIGAPP Symposium on Applied Computing

April 2019

2682 pages

ISBN:9781450359337

DOI:10.1145/3297280

Conference Chairs:
Chih-Cheng Hung
Kennesaw State University, Marietta, Georgia
,
George A. Papadopoulos
University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

Copyright © 2019 ACM.

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Published: 08 April 2019

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Cited By

Araújo ACoelho ARodrigues MViana WMarques A(2024)Todo Esforço Será Recompensado: Gamificação no Ensino de Arquitetura de Software com o Uso de BadgesAnais do XXXII Workshop sobre Educação em Computação (WEI 2024)10.5753/wei.2024.3064(341-352)Online publication date: 21-Jul-2024
https://doi.org/10.5753/wei.2024.3064
Bibi NRana TAfzal HAnwar ZKadry S(2024)Collaborative Solutions to Software Architecture Challenges Faced by IT ProfessionalsInternational Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals10.4018/IJHCITP.34283915:1(1-29)Online publication date: 15-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.4018/IJHCITP.342839
Brandner KMayer BWeinreich R(2019)Software architecture knowledge sharing with the architecture knowledge base (AKB)Proceedings of the 13th European Conference on Software Architecture - Volume 210.1145/3344948.3344960(30-33)Online publication date: 9-Sep-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3344948.3344960

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