Understanding and designing Cyber-physical systems (CPS) with humans in the loop (HITL) is a basic cross-scientific research problem with large implications for industry. The current software engineering knowledge already explains how to include the humans in the operation of the machines in terms of interfaces, architectures, adaptive systems, and design methodologies for including the Human-in-the-Loop. This paper extends existing knowledge with a systematic review of socio-technical perspectives on CPS with HITL. The review was software engineering focused, as it searched the body of research on CPS with HITL, and only within that body, those papers that included socio-technical perspectives. The results indicated four main areas in the ST literature. Validating these insights by expert interviews with industry CPS experts showed some alignment and also fundamental differences between the socio-technical literature (ST literature) insights and the industry experts’ viewpoints. The discussion identifies useful crossings between the ST literature and research into CPS with HITL adaption, and touch on the issues of non-alignments in industry practice. The conclusion is that the ST perspectives on the body of knowledge on CPS with HITL has much to offer researchers in terms of innovative ways to look at the HITL, but the literature needs further development before industry experts can effectively use it. Future research possibilities are outlined.

– There is increasing interest in Continuous Software Engineering (CSE) among practitioners and researchers. CSE addresses the need to increase flexibility and short release cycles, especially when augmenting software as a service, without jeopardizing software quality. – Empirical literature focuses on the transition to CSE as introducing a new method supported by new tools and architectural concepts. Little is known, however, about how software companies sustain CSE practices. – The analysis proceeds in two stages. First, we present a thematic analysis based on qualitative interviews with both management and developers from three different software development organizations. Then we apply the concept of infrastructuring to the results as a sense-making device. - We show how companies adapt and align their CSE organization, processes, and techniques to internal and external demands and conditions, resulting in widely varying practices. We further see that CSE in the companies is unlikely to arrive at a stable state. Rather, the companies continuously adapt their practices due to changes in the environment, requirements, new techniques and tools, and new software dependencies. – We use the concept of ‘infrastructuring’ from computer supported cooperative work and information systems to make sense of the continuous change we see in our interviews. We show that CSE needs to be regarded as a new way to make use of method (elements), processes and tools in software engineering, rather than a new method.

Software Process Improvement (SPI) projects are large-scale, complex organization-wide change initiatives. They require considerable investments in personnel, time and money and impact just about every aspect of software firms. The group charged with conducting an SPI project has, however, little formal authority to influence or force software professionals to engage in SPI work or to define and implement changes. The SPI literature suggests that successful SPI initiatives depend on strong commitment from top management. But what should the SPI group do if management support is weak? In this paper, we present an analysis of how an SPI group can use alliances to obtain influence and succeed when management support is weak. Our study is based on a 3-year longitudinal field study of SPI change initiatives at Denmark Electronics. Our findings show that a lack of top management support is not necessarily incompatible with success. This research opens an important new area of research on intra-organizational alliances and information system (IS) implementation. It has the potential to offer new theories and practical advice on how IS implementation projects can be more effectively managed.