Role of General Users in the Lifecycle of Scientific Software

TL;DR

This paper discusses the importance of involving general users throughout the software lifecycle to improve scientific software reach and effectiveness, using CASA as a case study.

Contribution

It presents practical avenues for software teams to engage general users despite limited resources, enhancing software development and user satisfaction.

Findings

User involvement improves software relevance and usability.

Engagement strategies benefit both users and development teams.

Case study of CASA illustrates effective user interaction methods.

Abstract

In science, the lifecycle of software products is typically managed with limited resources while facing unlimited demand. Scientific software requirements are necessarily often dominated by internal project specifications and deadlines, but these internal priorities, while beneficial for the community as a whole, do not always align with the individual needs of our ultimate customers: general users. For software products to have the broadest reach, ideally the general user community should be involved in all aspects of the data lifecycle, but reality is that user expectations need to be managed. Based on the lifecycle of the Common Astronomy Software Applications for radio astronomy (CASA), we will show avenues for software teams to interact with general users, even when facing limited resources for user support. We will discuss how involvement of users and user groups in prioritizing software development can benefit both the user community and the software teams. The contents of these proceedings were presented at the 35th conference on Astronomical Data Analysis Software & Systems (ADASS XXXV).