It Will Never Work in Theory

TL;DR

This paper reviews efforts to improve communication between software engineering researchers and practitioners, assesses past impact, and proposes a new approach for more effective collaboration.

Contribution

It introduces a new strategy to enhance dialogue and collaboration between researchers and practitioners in software engineering.

Findings

Previous efforts had limited success in bridging the gap.

The proposed approach aims to foster better communication.

Recommendations for future collaboration are provided.

Abstract

We have been trying to get software engineering researchers and practitioners to talk to one another for over a decade. This paper describes what we have done, assesses our impact, and recommends an approach that we hope will have greater success.