1. How many people are in your software development group full-time? a. 1-3 40% b. 4-6 28% c. 7-10 3% d. less than 10 but more than 20 17% e. more than 20 10% 2. How many people are in your software development group part-time? a. 1-3 62% b. 4-6 8% c. 7-10 3% d. less than 10 but more than 20 2% e. more than 20 2% 3. Does your software development Group have a designated group manager? a. yes 88% b. no 12% 4. Are you a: a. development group staff 75% b. development group manager 25% 5. Do you feel that management of your development group is: a. effective 37% b. somewhat effective 40% c. somewhat ineffective 12% d. ineffective 10% 6. How many software projects are you working on concurrently? a. 1 32% b. 2 20% c. 3 25% d. 4 or more 23%
7. Would you describe your workload as: a. Overloaded, working on too many projects. 48% b. underutilized, working on too few projects. 0% c. well balanced 48% 8. Is your primary job description: a. researcher who does some software development 8% b. software development 47% c. software maintenance 5% d. software developer who does some research 40% 9. Is the software that you write written for: a. your use only 0% b. limited group use 27% c. extensive third party use 70% d. commercial sale 0% 10. What is the primary purpose of the software that you write a. Data Analysis 52% b. Data Archive/Database 25% c. Education 0% d. Computational Research 13% e. Hardware monitoring and control 10% 11. Which of the following software development models do you primarily use? a. Code-and-Fix 23% b. Waterfall 5% c. Incremental 23% d. Iterative 37% 12. Do you feel that the development model you use is: a. Very useful 32% b. somewhat useful 45% c. nominally useful 12% d. not useful 5% 13. If the development model you use is not useful, is it because: a. the plan itself is poor 15% b. the plan does not fit my product/project 0% c. the plan is not properly implemented by my group 15% management d. scientific programming is mostly R&D and is hard to 55% constrain e. The project does not lend itself to any development 10% model 14. Which of the following development process activities do you follow? a. Requirements 43% b. Design 62% c. Unit/Component/System test 43% d. Project Tracking Meetings 27% e. Code Review 20% 15. What method do you normally use to obtain requirements? (check one) a. Use-Case scenario sessions with end user 17% b. Explicit Requirements provided by end user 27% c. Informal Feedback from Workshops/Surveys/Users 42% d. Borrowed from existing products 8%
16. What method do you normally use to schedule projects? a. Top-Down (completion date handed down) 35% b. Bottom-up (Completion date determined by requirements) 60% 17. Is your project schedule: a. A fixed completion date to aim for. 15% b. A completion date with major milestone dates. 27% c. A completion date with major and minor milestone dates 30% d. I don't normally have a project schedule 27% 18. If your project is behind schedule, is it usually because a. Requirements weren't properly defined 25% b. Requirements have changed 25% c. Insufficient Resources were allocated to the project 23% d. The original schedule estimate was unrealistic. 22% 19. If requirement changes are needed during a project, are they generally a. Included, and the scheduled completion date is delayed 45% b. Included, and resources are increased (either more people or more overtime) to maintain the schedule. 2% c. Excluded, the schedule must be met. 3% d. Inclusion/Exclusion is determined by change management which balances product features, development resources and schedule. 47% 20. Are your software development projects normally: a. delivered on time. 23% b. delivered a bit late (10% over schedule). 27% c. delivered late (20% over schedule). 25% d. delivered very late (>30% over schedule). 2% e. not scheduled so I don't know if they're late. 20% 21. From the list of software tools, please indicate those that you use. a. Bug Tracking 33% b. Project Scheduling 38% c. Debugger 70% d. Memory Leak Checker 38% e. CASE Tool 20% 22. Which operating system is your primary development platform? a. Unix 90% b. Windows NT/95/3.1 6% c. Macintosh 0% d. VAX/VMS 2% e. VxWorks or other real-time system 2% 23. Which is your primary development language? (check one) a. C/C++ 66% b. ADA 0% c. Fortran 10% d. IDL 5% e. Pascal 0% Java or Visual Basic (write-in) 19% 24. If you program in C++, what percentage of your programming is "true" C++? a. 0% (I'm really a C programmer) 35% b. 20% (I use the occasional C++ construct) 10% c. 50% (Isn't C++ still mostly C?) 1% d. 75% (I know about iostreams and classes) 7% e. 100% (I build classes with ease and use true OO methods) 15% 25. Which is your primary scripting language? (check one) a. Perl 33% b. Tcl 14% c. Glish 7% d. Unix shell 15% e. Other__________ 15% 26. Which is your primary web language? (check one) a. Perl 16% b. Java 28% c. HTML/XML 52% d. Tcl 1% 27. Which object oriented modeling method do you use? a. OMT 11% b. Booch 11% c. UML 15% d. other_______________________ 8% e. I don't use object oriented methods. 45% 28. Is your formal degreed education in: a. astronomy/physics/math/science, etc. 75% b. Engineering (electrical, mechanical, etc.) 18% c. Computer Science 2% 29. Please check your highest education level a. High School 1% b. Two-year college 1% c. Four-year college 23% d. Masters Degree 27% e. Doctorate 48% 30. Does your company/institute pay for continuing education: (check all that apply) a. scientific conferences 87% b. computer/trade conferences 47% c. engineering/trade conferences 17% d. Computer software/hardware vendor training on/off-site 42% e. Company does not provide continuing education. 10% 31. How many times per year do you receive continuing education/training? a. 0 5% b. 1-2 75% c. 3-4 15% d. more than 4 3% 32. If you receive continuing education/training, what is the average cost of this training? (not including travel and ancillary costs) a. less than $250 22% b. $250-$500 23% c. $500-$1000 21% d. $1000-$1500 10% e. more than $1500 13%
Granados, Arno, F. 1999, in ASP Conf. Ser., Vol. 172, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems VIII, ed. D. M. Mehringer, R. L. Plante, & D. A. Roberts (San Francisco: ASP), 19