Designing for Incentives: Better Information Sharing for Better Software Engineering
• SEI Report
Publisher
Software Engineering Institute
DOI (Digital Object Identifier)
10.1184/R1/6573077.v1Abstract
Software-reliant systems permeate all aspects of modern society. The resulting interconnectedness and associated complexity has resulted in a proliferation of diverse stakeholders with conflicting goals. Thus, contemporary software engineering is plagued by incentive conflicts, in settling on design features, allocating resources during the development of products, and allocating computational resources at runtime. In this position paper, we describe some of these problems and outline a research agenda in bridging to the economic theory of mechanism design, which seeks to align incentives in multi-agent systems with private information and conflicting goals. The ultimate goal is to advance a principled methodology for the design of incentive-compatible approaches to manage the dynamic processes of software engineering.
Cite This SEI Report
Software Engineering Institute (2010, October 31). Designing for Incentives: Better Information Sharing for Better Software Engineering. Retrieved October 23, 2026, from https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/6573077.v1.
@techreport{Citekey_2010,
author={Software Engineering Institute},
title={Designing for Incentives: Better Information Sharing for Better Software Engineering},
month={Oct},
year={2010},
institution={Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University},
doi={10.1184/R1/6573077.v1},
url={https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/6573077.v1},
note={Accessed: 2026-Oct-23}
}
Software Engineering Institute. "Designing for Incentives: Better Information Sharing for Better Software Engineering." Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. Software Engineering Institute, October 31, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/6573077.v1.
Software Engineering Institute, "Designing for Incentives: Better Information Sharing for Better Software Engineering," Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. Software Engineering Institute, 31-Oct-2010 [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/6573077.v1. [Accessed: 23-Oct-2026].
Software Engineering Institute. "Designing for Incentives: Better Information Sharing for Better Software Engineering." Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Software Engineering Institute, 31 Oct. 2010. https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/6573077.v1. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.
Software Engineering Institute. Designing for Incentives: Better Information Sharing for Better Software Engineering. Software Engineering Institute. 2010. DOI: 10.1184/R1/6573077.v1. https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/6573077.v1