Tracks Activities and Reports

Definitions

Track leader: Brian Henderson-Sellers

11 May 2010 -- Preliminary report (draft document, work-in-progress) available here.

Theory

Track leader: Michael Goedicke

Universals

Track leader: Ian Spence

9 May 2010 -- Report by Ian Spence:

• W/E 7th May - Initial conference call(s) held on the 4th May. 5 attendees. Main achievemnt working practices established.
  Voluteers now up to 15.
• Next call(s) to be held on Monday 24th of May with the theme "Working Software or Working System: What is it software engineering produces?"
• A fuller report along with some introductory reading material posted to the SEMAT Working Group.

28 May 2010 -- Report by Ian Spence:

The second universals call was held on Monday 25^th May. The two meeting conference call was found to be successful with 11 people being able to make at least one call, with some volunteers attending both. Calls will be held fortnightly with next call on Monday 7^th June. The first universal has been identified with the working title of Software Intensive System. A smaller working group has been set up to complete the description of this first universal. The group will report back at the next meeting on the 7^th of June.

11 June 2010 -- Report by Ian Spence:

The third universals call was held on Monday the 7^th of June. A preliminary format for capturing the universals has been agreed. The first universal (Software Intensive System) has been identified and described. Four other universals have been identified and smaller working groups set up to name and describe them (with a completion date of the 21^st of June). The evolving set of universals now looks like:

Kernel Language

Track leaders: Ivar Jacobson and Jean Bezivin

9 May 2010 -- Report by Ivar:

The Kernel Language track had a telecon last Thursday with six participants. We agreed on splitting the work in five tasks:

1. Requirements of the Process Kernel Language (Dave Cuningham working as a ramrod)
2. Definitions of key concepts (Ivar Jacobson)
3. Formal definition of the process kernel language (Stefan Bylund and Gunnar Overgaard)
4. Metalanguage (Jean Bézivin)
5. Getting the Kernel Language widely accepted (Paul McMahon )

Work is now reported on our own google group: http://groups.google.com/group/semat-kernel-language-track?hl=en

I have provided some content as a starting point.

Next telecon will take place May 20 at 9 am EST. That meeting will discuss Requirements and Definitions, but reports are expected from each task. At that meeting we will also discuss iterations up to July 13-14.

20 May 2010 -- Report by Ivar:

We discussed the requirements of the kernel language. We went through some key definitions such as practice, method, work product, alpha. We also got a presentation of what the kernel language may look like. Everything we discussed is open for comments and improvements, but the general feeling of the meeting was that we are on the right track. Please visit http://groups.google.com/group/semat-kernel-language-track?hl=en and comment on the work.

Assessment

Track leader: Watts Humphrey assisted by Paul McMahon

9 April 2010 -- Report by Paul McMahon:

I am participating on the Requirements Track and have submitted three Scenarios that I believe the Assessment Track could Elaborate. I have been in contact with Watts, but I am currently waiting on more feedback from him as to the next step to engage more volunteers to help with elaborating these Scenarios.

28 April 2010 -- Report by Paul McMahon:

I am continuing to work through the Requirements Track and have been in contact with Ivar and Martin related to working requirements for the Assessment Track and tying them back to Requirements Track Scenarios.

I am planning to actively seek more volunteers for the Assessment Track per Watt's guidance, and initiate a kickoff meeting of the Assesment Track within the next few weeks.

14 May 2010 -- Report by Paul McMahon:

Initiated Google Group for discussion. Populated with proposed initial tasks. Discussions have begun through track distribution list emails. First skype call planned for Friday, May 21st. I am also participating on the Universals and Kernel Language Tracks to aid Assessment Track coordination with other tracks.

31 May 2010 -- Report by Paul McMahon:

Assessment Track held first Track Meeting May 25th. Minutes and discussions are being posted on our Google Groups site. Second meeting is planned for June 4th. I have just published a white paper on the google groups site for review by the Assessment track volunteers. Paper is titled "Proposed Assessment Track Focus for Next 10 months". This will be discussed at the next meeting, along with further discussion started at the last meeting on contingency factors related to measures.

7 June 2010 -- Report by Paul McMahon:

Assessment Track held second Track Meeting June 4th. Discussions held with Watts Humphrey preceding meeting to guide Assessment track direction. Minutes, discussions and planned direction have been posted on our Google Groups site found at http://groups.google.com/group/semat-assessment-track.

20 June 2010 -- Report by Paul McMahon:

The Assessment Track held its third track meeting on Friday June 20^th, and agreed to continue to meet weekly until the Washington conference. The assessment track is coordinating its work with the efforts in the Universal and Kernel Language track to ensure its proposed measures are consistent with the direction of the first release of the Semat product. The group is currently working collaboratively on a paper that will describe the tracks proposed measurement approach and priorities over the next 10 months.

8 August 2010 -- Report by Paul McMahon:

The Assessment Track has continued to meet weekly with 6 Active members working key actions as we align our internal activities with the plan Ivar presented for the Kernel Language Track in Washington. A draft Assessment Framework is underway with the goal of having an initial product available for review in Milan. The Assessment Track is also working closely with the Requirements Track and has accepted the responsibility to move forward with the Evaluate Method Use Case. The Assessment Track is also coordinating its work with the Universals Track and the Kernel Language Track and discussions are underway to provide on-going assessment of current in work Universal and Kernel Language track products. More detailed meeting minutes are posted weekly to our Google Groups site where the full Assessment Track members can provide review and comment.

12 September 2010 -- Report by Paul McMahon:

The Assessment Track has continued to meet weekly through Skype calls throughout August and early September, and is coordinating its work closely with the Universal and Kernel Language Tracks. We have refined our initial Assessment Framework, and given it a partial test by using it to do an intial assessment of the Architectural Spike that is being conducted through the Universal and Kernel Language tracks. We continue to post weekly meeting minutes on our Google Groups site where the full Assessment Track members can provide review and comment. We are driving to provide an Assessment Report of the Architecture Spike along with our Draft Assessment Framework document prior to the Milan Workshop.

Requirements

Track leader: Martin Naedele

May 7: Initial result of requirements track is available here.

A short presentation was given at the SEMAT session during ICSE 2010 in Capetown on May 7.
Some members of the requirements track will attend the Washington meeting in July.
No further activities are planned in the Requirements track at this point.

Martin

Domain Definition

22 July 2010:

• A draft: " Domain definition for the kernel language" is available.