An Empirical Study on the Knowledge Management Practice in Software Testing.
Claudia Patricia Candia Maciel, Érica Ferreira de Souza, Nandamudi Lankalapalli Vijaykumar, Ricardo de Almeida Falbo, Giovani Volnei Meinerz, Katia Romero Felizardo · Biblioteca Digital da Memória Científica do INPE (National Institute for Space Research) · 2018
Context: Software testing is a knowledge intensive process, and therefore can benefit from the use of experience gained from past projects. In this context, principles of Knowledge Management (KM) can be applied to promote knowledge capture and sharing as well as the emergence of new knowledge. In spite of this, there are only few studies that present practitioners' perspective about KM initiatives in software testing. Objective: The main goal of this study is to identify the perception of professionals in software testing on the use of KM initiatives in software engineering companies, such as KM adoption, potential benefits or hindrances. Method: A survey was conducted in software development companies. In addition, the survey results were compared with another survey conducted previously in the same context, however, with different objectives and target audience. 39 software companies participated in this research. Results: Testing planning activity and the test case reuse are the aspects that have received more attention by companies. A strategic planning and reuse of existing test cases have a potential to significantly reduce software development costs and time. Conclusion: Applying KM in software companies can bring several benefits in terms of quality of results, reduction costs, time and effort. However, it is still a challenge to be faced and tackled.