Journal Articles

Securing Success: Crafting Environments for Development, Innovation, and Security.

Ben Park, Ph.D.

Crafting fortified production environments begins with the network but only succeeds with a secure software development team and architecture. In today’s tech world, there’s a big disconnect. Security experts often lack insight into software development, while developers aren’t always focused on security. This mismatch leaves businesses open to avoidable threats that could be easily tackled without adding extra strain on teams. A recent Gartner report states that only 30% of product development teams use DevSecOps as of 2022 (Betts, 2023). With limited DevSecOps based development teams and security teams that don’t fully understand software development, the risk to business owners is high that a negative event will occur. This article will discuss solid ways to secure the network through proven practices as well as the steps needed to be addressed with software development.

DELIVERING VALUE TO THE CUSTOMER USING DISTRIBUTED SOFTWARE TEAMS: IDENTIFYING THE KEY RESEARCH FACTORS

Ben Park, Ph.D. and Tim Kotnour, Ph.D.

The intent of this paper is to identify key research factors to understand the performance of distributed software development teams. Based on the author's experience in leading distributed teams, the need to enhance team performance is identified as critical to success. Also, with the switch to a "New Normal" work environment, there is increasing use of distributed, remote teams. The researcher conducted a systematic literature review in the areas of agile software development, teams, and distributed teams. Results of the systematic literature review are provided and include the taxonomy of factors, sub-factors and variables. Engineering Managers may use this paper to understand the dynamics in their distributed teams. Engineering Management Researchers may use this paper to help identify the important factors focused on distributed software development team performance.

Published in the Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Management 2021 International Annual Conference G. Natarajan, E.H. Ng, and P.F. Katina eds.

DISTRIBUTED PROJECT TEAMS: OBSERVATIONS FROM THE LEADER’S SEAT

Ben Park, Ph.D. and Tim Kotnour, Ph.D.

The intent of this paper is to articulate observations concerning project management of distributed teams during the pandemic of 2020. Utilizing factors identified through research, the author compares these factors to the real-world impact on distributed teams in our “New Normal.” Engineering Managers can use this paper to understand and act accordingly to dynamics within their distributed teams. Engineering Management Researchers can use this paper to help identify the essential variables focused on distributed software development team performance.

Published in the Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Management 2021 International Annual Conference G. Natarajan, E.H. Ng, and P.F. Katina eds

STARTING UP A GLOBALLY DISTRIBUTED TEAM: A PRESCRIPTIVE APPROACH BASED ON REAL-LIFE EXPERIENCE VALIDATED WITH RESEARCH

Ben Park, Ph.D. and Tim Kotnour, Ph.D.

Starting up a Globally Distributed Team (GDT) can be daunting. Effectively starting the globally distributed team can help to prevent significant schedule issues and financial setbacks. GDT models, factors, and constructs are described, articulating the pitfalls and advantages of each. The GDT models, factors, and constructs result from a mix of practical life experience starting globally distributed teams alongside validated research. For the engineering manager, this prescriptive paper articulates how to startup a GDT by describing the structures, issues, and items to watch. For the Engineering Management Researchers, the structures, issues, and items to watch derive from researched factors and studies, providing a basis for future studies.

Published in the Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Management 2022 International Annual Conference G. Natarajan, E.H. Ng, and P.F. Katina eds

FEEDBACK RESEARCH PROCESS: FINDING YOUR RESEARCH FASTER AND MORE EFFECTIVELY

Ben Park, Ph.D. and Tim Kotnour, Ph.D.

Literature research can be a tedious, laborious, and painstaking task to find the desired articles that meet the specification and topics for research. Standard research takes a path of searching for articles, reading abstracts, filtering, reading articles, and determining the article’s relevance. One might use the references of articles to find additional articles with core articles. Again, this path is laborious and painstaking. What if articles of interest could be found significantly faster? What if authors of interest could be found significantly faster? The feedback research process uncovers articles of interest, authors of interest, and journals of interest through a process that rapidly exposes this information. This paper intends to answer these questions by articulating a feedback research process. The feedback research process describes the steps and tools used to build the feedback research process. For the Engineering Management Researcher, this process can lead to finding the correct research papers faster, more effectively, and with more thorough coverage.

Published in the Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Management 2022 International Annual Conference G. Natarajan, E.H. Ng, and P.F. Katina eds