Software Engineering, Entrepreneurship & Innovation

The Software Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Innovation research group focuses on innovative development methods for software-based products and services that generate a high level of customer benefit. Further focal points are the analysis, design and testing of the “Entrepreneurial Process” as well as the identification and validation of technology-oriented/digital innovation ideas and business models (including continuous experimentation, risk prioritization procedures).

Main Research Areas

• Entrepreneurship & Innovation

The development of software-based products today generally takes place in dynamic environments in which technologies and markets are changing rapidly. Requirements for software products cannot usually be defined in advance. Nor is it possible to ask customers what features they would like. In such situations, traditional approaches to software development with upstream requirements definition are not suitable. But how do you still create products that customers want and love? There are new development approaches that combine agile software development methods such as Scrum with processes for brainstorming and validating critical product assumptions. The product manager, who is responsible for the so-called “product backlog”, plays a central role here.

The aim of the research is to develop, analyze and test new techniques and applications of product management. This includes the description of a product vision, the development of a product strategy, the identification and prioritization of critical product assumptions, the data-based testing of critical assumptions with the help of experiments and the further development of the product strategy based on the results of the experiments. Other research topics include startup methods, corporate startups, hypothesis-driven development, scaling lean, customer development, LeanUX, business model validation, and evidence-based service systems engineering.

Data is the gold of the information age. But how do you extract this treasure and use it for the efficient development of successful software? In the context of software development, “analytics” refers to the targeted collection, analysis, interpretation and use of data with the aim of improving the development, maintenance and operation of software and software systems as well as increasing their utility value and market success.

The research aims to develop, analyze, and test fundamental measurement methods and analytics techniques. This includes goal-oriented measurement and analysis methods, as well as developing and applying quality, cost, and benefit models. Other research topics include lean analytics, traction modeling, value modeling, startup metrics, and growth hacking.

• Agile Engineering (Integration of Agile and Traditional Models) 

In recent years, more and more agile elements have found their way into professional software development. Methods and process models such as Scrum, Continuous Integration, Continuous Deployment, Kanban and Customer Involvement are used extensively. The advantages of these methods and process models are in particular faster development cycles, faster customer feedback and therefore rapidly accelerated learning cycles.

However, there are still successfully practiced traditional software development processes based on the V-model. In regulated domains such as the automotive industry, mechanical engineering, medical technology, and financial services, extensive and comprehensive safeguards are required. Here, traditional processes have proven effective. For example, in the automotive industry, well-defined V-Model-based development processes are used in drivetrain development. However, agile development processes seem more suitable for quickly creating and at least prototyping new features, such as those based on electric drive technology. The combination of traditional processes and agile practices promises many advantages.

The goal of the research is to analyze and test the suitability of agile methods in regulated domains. In particular, the interaction of traditional and agile approaches will be examined and tested. Other research topics include agile scaling, agile business transformation, organizational change management and agile product lines.