Evaluating an Agile Method for Planning and Controlling Innovative Projects

This article presents an extensive investigation carried out in two technology-based companies of the So Carlos technological pole in Brazil. Based on this multiple case study and literature review, a method, entitled hereafter IVPM2, applying agile project management (APM) principles was developed. After the method implementation, a qualitative evaluation was carried out by a document analysis and questionnaire application. This article shows that the application of this method at the companies under investigation evidenced the benefits of using simple, iterative, visual, and agile techniques to plan and control innovative product projects combined with traditional project management best practices, such as standardization.

Favorability conditions in the adoption of agile method practices for software development in a public banking

The main purpose of this paper is to propose and test a model to assess the degree of conditions favorability in the adoption of agile methods to develop software where traditional methods predominate. In order to achieve this aim, a survey was applied on software developers of a Brazilian public retail bank. Two different statistical techniques were used in order to assess the quantitative data from the closed questions in the survey. The first, exploratory factorial analysis validated the structure of perspectives related to the agile model of the proposed assessment. The second, frequency distribution analysis to categorize the answers. Qualitative data from the survey opened question were analyzed with the technique of qualitative thematic content analysis. As a result, the paper proposes a model to assess the degree of favorability conditions in the adoption of Agile practices within the context of the proposed study.

Agile Methods in Small Software Projects

Agile software development methods are attempting to provide an answer to the software development industry's need of lighter weight, more agile processes that offer the possibility to react to changes during the software development process. The objective of this thesis is to analyze and experiment the possibility of using agile methods or practices also in small software projects, even in projects containing only one developer. In the practical part of the thesis a small software project was executed with some agile methods and practices that in the theoretical part of the thesis were found possible to be applied to the project. In the project a Bluetooth proxy application that is run in the S60 smartphone platform and PC was developed further to contain some new features. As a result it was found that certain agile practices can be useful even in the very small projects. The selection of the suitable practices depends on the project and the size of the project team.

A Case Study of Agile Software Engineering Methods and Practices in the MeeGo Harmattan Open Source and Product Context

The aim of this master’s thesis is to study how Agile method (Scrum) and open source software are utilized to produce software for a flagship product in a complex production environment. The empirical case and the used artefacts are taken from the Nokia MeeGo N9 product program, and from the related software program, called as the Harmattan. The single research case is analysed by using a qualitative method. The Grounded Theory principles are utilized, first, to find out all the related concepts from artefacts. Second, these concepts are analysed, and finally categorized to a core category and six supported categories. The result is formulated as the operation of software practices conceivable in circumstances, where the accountable software development teams and related context accepts a open source software nature as a part of business vision and the whole organization supports the Agile methods.

Challenges in scaling agile software development in offshoring environment

Corporate decision to scale Agile Software development methodologies in offshoring environment has been obstructed due to possible challenges in scaling agile as agile methodologies are regarded to be suitable for small project and co-located team only. Although model such as Agile Scaling Model (ASM) has been developed for scaling Agile with different factors, inabilities of companies to figure out challenges and addressing them lead to failure of project rather than gaining the benefits of using agile methodologies. This failure can be avoided, when scaling agile in IT offshoring environment, by determining key challenges associated in scaling agile in IT offshoring environment and then preparing strategies for addressing those key challenges. These key challenges in scaling agile with IT offshoring environment can be determined by studying issues related with Offshoring and Agile individually and also considering the positive impact of agile methodology in offshoring environment. Then, possible strategies to tackle these key challenges are developed according to the nature of individual challenges and utilizing the benefits of different agile methodologies to address individual situation. Thus, in this thesis, we proposed strategy of using hybrid agile method, which is increasing trend due to adaptive nature of Agile. Determination of the key challenges and possible strategies for tackling those challenges are supported with the survey conducted in the researched organization.

Goal sketching: towards agile requirements engineering

This paper describes a technique that can be used as part of a simple and practical agile method for requirements engineering. The technique can be used together with Agile Programming to develop software in internet time. We illustrate the technique and introduce lazy refinement, responsibility composition and context sketching. Goal sketching has been used in a number of real-world development projects, one of which is described here.

Goal sketching: an agile approach to clarifying requirements

This paper describes a technique that can be used as part of a simple and practical agile method for requirements engineering. It is based on disciplined goal-responsibility modelling but eschews formality in favour of a set of practicality objectives. The technique can be used together with Agile Programming to develop software in internet time. We illustrate the technique and introduce lazy refinement, responsibility composition and context sketching. Goal sketching has been used in a number of real-world development.

Tailoring the Scrum Development Process to Address Agile Product Line Engineering

Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE) is becoming widely used due to the improvement it means when developing software products of the same family. However, SPLE demands long-term investment on a product-line platform that might not be profitable due to rapid changing business settings. Since Agile Software Development (ASD) approaches are being successfully applied in volatile markets, several companies have suggested the idea of integrating SPLE and ASD when a family product has to be developed. Agile Product Line Engineering (APLE) advocates the integration of SPLE and ASD to address their lacks when they are individually applied to software development. A previous literature re-view of experiences and practices on APLE revealed important challenges about how to fully put APLE into practice. Our contribution address several of these challenges by tailoring the agile method Scrum by means of three concepts that we have defined: plastic partial components, working PL-architectures, and reactive reuse.

Marco de trabajo para adaptar las metodologías ágiles e implantarlas a nivel organizacional

Contexto: La adopción y adaptación de las metodologías ágiles ha sido objeto de estudio en la comunidad y diversas aproximaciones han sido propuestas como solución al problema. La mayoría de las organizaciones comienzan introduciendo prácticas ágiles de manera progresiva, las cuales, junto a las buenas prácticas ya existentes, conforman una nueva metodología ágil adaptada. El problema más importante con el que se enfrentan las organizaciones al adaptar una metodología ágil, son las necesidades específicas del contexto de cada proyecto, porque a pesar de haber definido la adaptación de la metodología en base a las buenas prácticas y procesos existentes en la organización, las condiciones particulares del proyecto y del equipo que lo va a desarrollar, exigen adaptaciones específicas. Otro aspecto importante a resolver es el poder implantar esta adopción y adaptación en toda la organización. Las metodologías ágiles no incluyen actividades que asistan a las organizaciones a solucionar este problema, porque su esfuerzo lo centran en el equipo y el proyecto. Objetivo: El objetivo principal de este trabajo de investigación consiste en “definir un marco de trabajo de adaptación de metodologías ágiles orientado a contextos que permita su implantación en toda la organización a través de ciclos de mejora basados en la reutilización de experiencias adquiridas”. Este marco de trabajo permitirá organizar, gestionar y validar la adaptación de las metodologías ágiles, desplegando en toda la organización las experiencias adquiridas, incorporando pequeñas mejoras en el proceso, y facilitando su reutilización. Todo esto, con el apoyo de la alta dirección. Método: Este trabajo se inició con una investigación exploratoria acompañada de una revisión sistemática para conocer el estado del arte del objeto de estudio, detectando las principales carencias y necesidades de resolución, a partir de las cuales, se delimitó el alcance del problema. Posteriormente, se definieron las hipótesis de investigación y se planteó una solución al problema a través de la definición del marco de trabajo, cuyos resultados fueron evaluados y validados a través de la realización de un caso de estudio. Finalmente, se obtuvieron las conclusiones y se establecieron las líneas futuras de investigación. Resolución: El marco de trabajo presenta una alternativa de adaptación de las metodologías ágiles orientada a contextos, y facilita su implantación en toda la organización. El marco de trabajo idéntica los contextos en los que se desarrollan los proyectos y analiza la causa de los problemas que afectan a la consecución de los objetivos de negocio en cada contexto. Posteriormente, identifica las acciones de adaptación requeridas para reducir o eliminar estas causas y las incorpora en la definición de la metodología ágil, creando de esta manera, una metodología adaptada para cada contexto manteniendo un nivel de agilidad aceptable. Cuando se inicia un nuevo proyecto, se identifica su contexto y se aplica la metodología ágil adaptada definida para dicho contexto. Al final de cada iteración, se analizan las medidas obtenidas y se las compara con la media aplicando una técnica para la evaluación de la consecución de los objetivos. En base a esta comparativa, y a la experiencia adquirida por el equipo, se realizan ajustes en las acciones de adaptación para intentar conseguir una mejora en la siguiente iteración. Una vez finalizado el proyecto, se conoce el impacto de los resultados conseguidos y se puede determinar si se ha alcanzado una mejora en el contexto del proyecto. De ser así, la metodología adaptada es almacenada en un repositorio de experiencias para poder ser reutilizada por otros equipos de desarrollo de la organización. Resultados: El trabajo de investigación fue evaluado y validado satisfactoriamente a través de su experimentación en un caso de estudio, aprobando las hipótesis establecidas. Los aportes y principales resultados de esta investigación son: Definición de un marco de trabajo integral de adaptación de metodologías ágiles, con capacidad de facilitar su implantación en toda la organización. Procedimiento para identificar contextos o escenarios de adaptación. Procedimiento para definir unidades de adaptación a partir de los inhibidores de los objetivos de negocio de la organización. Técnica para analizar la consecución de objetivos en propuestas de mejora de procesos. Conclusiones: Son tres las ventajas principales que han quedado evidenciadas durante la realización del trabajo de investigación: El marco de trabajo proporciona un mecanismo capaz de optimizar el rendimiento de la metodología ágil adaptada al orientar el proceso a las necesidades específicas del contexto del proyecto. El marco de trabajo permite conservar el conocimiento empírico adquirido por el equipo de desarrollo al registrarlo como experiencia adquirida para la organización. El marco de trabajo optimiza y reduce los tiempos del proceso de implantación de la metodología ágil adaptada en otros equipos de la organización. ABSTRACT Context: The adoption and tailoring of agile methods has been studied in the community and various approaches have been proposed as a solution. Most organizations start introducing agile practices gradually, which ones, together with existing good practices, make a new agile method tailored. When an organization starts to adapt an agile method, the context-specific needs of each project are the main trouble, because even though the agile method tailored has been defined based on best practices and processes in the organization, the specific conditions of the project and its team, require specific adaptations. Another important aspect to be solved is to implement this adoption and adaptation throughout all the organization. Agile methods do not include specific activities for helping organizations to solve this problem, because their effort is focused on the team and the project. Objective: The main objective of this research is to “define a tailoring framework for agile methods oriented to contexts that allows its deployment throughout all the organization using improvement cycles based on the reuse of lessons learned”. This framework will allow organize, manage and validate the tailoring of agile methods, adding small improvements in the process, and facilitating reuse. All this, with the support of senior management. Method: This work began with an exploratory investigation accompanied by a systematic review to determine the state of the art about the object of study, after major gaps and needs resolution were identified, and the scope of the problem was delimited. Subsequently, the research hypotheses were defined and the framework was developed for solving the research problem. The results were evaluated and validated through a case study. Finally, conclusions were drawn and future research were established. Resolution The framework presents an alternative for tailoring agile methodologies and facilitates its implementation throughout all the organization. The framework identifies the contexts or scenarios in which software development projects are developed and analyses the causes of the problems affecting the achievement of business goals in each context. Then the adaptation actions required to reduce or eliminate these causes are defined and incorporated into the definition of agile method. Thus, a method tailored for each context is created. When a new project is started, the context in which it will be developed is identified and the tailored agile method to that context is applied. At the end of each iteration of the project, the measurements obtained are analysed and compared with the historical average of context to analyse the improvement in business goals. Based on this comparison, and the experience gained by the project team, adjustments are made in adaptation actions to try to achieve an improvement in the next iteration. Once the project is completed, the impact of the achieved results are known and it can determine if it has reached an improvement in the context of the project. If so, the tailored agile method is stored in a repository of experiences to be reused by other development teams in the organization. Results The goal of this research was successfully evaluated and validated through experimentation in a case study, so the research hypotheses were approved. The contributions and main results of this research are: A framework for tailoring agile methods, that allows its deployment throughout all the organization. A procedure for identifying adaptation scenarios or contexts. A procedure for defining adaptation units from inhibitors of the business goals of the organization. A technique for analysing the achievement of goals in process improvement proposals. Conclusions: There are three main advantages that have been highlighted during the research: The framework provides a mechanism to optimize the performance of agile methods because it guides the process based on the specific needs of the project context. The framework preserves the empirical knowledge acquired by the development team because it registers this empirical knowledge as experience for the organization. The framework streamlines and shortens the process of deploying the tailored agile method to other teams in your organization.

Structured software development with the IPIDDDT method - A lean method for small agile organizations

A software development process is a predetermined sequence of steps to create a piece of software. A software development process is used, so that an implementing organization could gain significant benefits. The benefits for software development companies, that can be attributed to software process improvement efforts, are improved predictability in the development effort and improved quality software products. The implementation, maintenance, and management of a software process as well as the software process improvement efforts are expensive. Especially the implementation phase is expensive with a best case scenario of a slow return on investment. Software processes are rare in very small software development companies because of the cost of implementation and an improbable return on investment. This study presents a new method to enable benefits that are usually related to software process improvement to small companies with a low cost. The study presents reasons for the development of the method, a description of the method, and an implementation process for the method, as well as a theoretical case study of a method implementation. The study's focus is on describing the method. The theoretical use case is used to illustrate the theory of the method and the implementation process of the method. The study ends with a few conclusions on the method and on the method's implementation process. The main conclusion is that the method requires further study as well as implementation experiments to asses the value of the method.

Scenario method in anticipating future opportunities of e-business in the forest industry

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on ennakoida liiketoimintaprosessien sähköistymisen kehittymistä käyttämällä skenaariomenetelmää, yhtä laajimmin käytetyistä tulevaisuuden tutkimisen menetelmistä. Tarkastelun kohteena ovat erityisesti tulevaisuuden e-business -ratkaisut metsäteollisuudessa. Tutkimuksessa selvitetään skenaariomenetelmän ominaisuuksia, skenaariosuunnittelun periaatteita sekä menetelmän sopivuutta teknologian ja toimialan muutosten tarkasteluun. Tutkimuksen teoriaosassa selvitetään teknologian muutoksen vaikutusta toimialojen kehitykseen. Todettiin, että teknologisella muutoksella on vahva vaikutus toimialojen muutoksiin, ja että jokainen toimiala seuraa tietynlaista kehitystrajektoria. Yritysten tulee olla tietoisia teknologisen muutoksen nopeudesta ja suunnasta, ja seurata toimialansa kehityksen sääntöjä. Metsäteollisuudessa muutosten radikaali luonne sekä ICT-teknologian nopea kehitys asettavat haasteita liiketoimintaprosessien sähköistämisen kentässä. Empiriaosuudessa luotiin kolme erilaista skenaariota e-busineksen tulevaisuudesta metsäteollisuudessa. Skenaariot perustuvat pääosin aiheen asiantuntijoiden tämän hetkisiin näkemyksiin, joita koottiin skenaariotyöpajassa. Skenaarioiden muodostamisessa yhdistettiin kvalitatiivisia ja kvantitatiivisia elementtejä. Muodostetut kolme skenaariota osoittavat, että e-busineksen vaikutukset tulevaisuudessa nähdään pääosin positiivisina, ja että yritysten tulee kehittyä aktiivisesti ja joustavasti pystyäkseen hyödyntämään sähköisiä ratkaisuja tehokkaasti liiketoiminnassaan.

Introducing Basic Systematic Requirements Engineering Practices in Small Organizations with an Easy to Adopt Method

Requirements-relatedissues have been found the third most important risk factor in software projects and as the biggest reason for software project failures. This is not a surprise since; requirements engineering (RE) practices have been reported deficient inmore than 75% of all; enterprises. A problem analysis on small and low maturitysoftware organizations revealed two; central reasons for not starting process improvement efforts: lack of resources and uncertainty; about process improvementeffort paybacks.; In the constructive part of the study a basic RE method, BaRE, was developed to provide an; easy to adopt way to introduce basic systematic RE practices in small and low maturity; organizations. Based on diffusion of innovations literature, thirteen desirable characteristics; were identified for the solution and the method was implemented in five key components:; requirements document template, requirements development practices, requirements; management practices, tool support for requirements management, and training.; The empirical evaluation of the BaRE method was conducted in three industrial case studies. In; this evaluation, two companies established a completely new RE infrastructure following the; suggested practices while the third company conducted continued requirements document; template development based on the provided template and used it extensively in practice. The; real benefits of the adoption of the method were visible in the companies in four to six months; from the start of the evaluation project, and the two small companies in the project completed; their improvement efforts with an input equal to about one person month. The collected dataon; the case studies indicates that the companies implemented new practices with little adaptations; and little effort. Thus it can be concluded that the constructed BaRE method is indeed easy to; adopt and it can help introduce basic systematic RE practices in small organizations.

Implementing Agile Software Development Methods in a Small Organization

Currently there is a vogue for Agile Software Development methods and many software development organizations have already implemented or they are planning to implement agile methods. Objective of this thesis is to define how agile software development methods are implemented in a small organization. Agile methods covered in this thesis are Scrum and XP. From both methods the key practices are analysed and compared to waterfall method. This thesis also defines implementation strategy and actions how agile methods are implemented in a small organization. In practice organization must prepare well and all needed meters are defined before the implementation starts. In this work three different sample projects are introduced where agile methods were implemented. Experiences from these projects were encouraging although sample set of projects were too small to get trustworthy results.

Towards increased productivity and quality in software development using agile, lean and collaborative approaches

Dagens programvaruindustri står inför alltmer komplicerade utmaningar i en värld där programvara är nästan allstädes närvarande i våra dagliga liv. Konsumenten vill ha produkter som är pålitliga, innovativa och rika i funktionalitet, men samtidigt också förmånliga. Utmaningen för oss inom IT-industrin är att skapa mer komplexa, innovativa lösningar till en lägre kostnad. Detta är en av orsakerna till att processförbättring som forskningsområde inte har minskat i betydelse. IT-proffs ställer sig frågan: “Hur håller vi våra löften till våra kunder, samtidigt som vi minimerar vår risk och ökar vår kvalitet och produktivitet?” Inom processförbättringsområdet finns det olika tillvägagångssätt. Traditionella processförbättringsmetoder för programvara som CMMI och SPICE fokuserar på kvalitets- och riskaspekten hos förbättringsprocessen. Mer lättviktiga metoder som t.ex. lättrörliga metoder (agile methods) och Lean-metoder fokuserar på att hålla löften och förbättra produktiviteten genom att minimera slöseri inom utvecklingsprocessen. Forskningen som presenteras i denna avhandling utfördes med ett specifikt mål framför ögonen: att förbättra kostnadseffektiviteten i arbetsmetoderna utan att kompromissa med kvaliteten. Den utmaningen attackerades från tre olika vinklar. För det första förbättras arbetsmetoderna genom att man introducerar lättrörliga metoder. För det andra bibehålls kvaliteten genom att man använder mätmetoder på produktnivå. För det tredje förbättras kunskapsspridningen inom stora företag genom metoder som sätter samarbete i centrum. Rörelsen bakom lättrörliga arbetsmetoder växte fram under 90-talet som en reaktion på de orealistiska krav som den tidigare förhärskande vattenfallsmetoden ställde på IT-branschen. Programutveckling är en kreativ process och skiljer sig från annan industri i det att den största delen av det dagliga arbetet går ut på att skapa något nytt som inte har funnits tidigare. Varje programutvecklare måste vara expert på sitt område och använder en stor del av sin arbetsdag till att skapa lösningar på problem som hon aldrig tidigare har löst. Trots att detta har varit ett välkänt faktum redan i många decennier, styrs ändå många programvaruprojekt som om de vore produktionslinjer i fabriker. Ett av målen för rörelsen bakom lättrörliga metoder är att lyfta fram just denna diskrepans mellan programutvecklingens innersta natur och sättet på vilket programvaruprojekt styrs. Lättrörliga arbetsmetoder har visat sig fungera väl i de sammanhang de skapades för, dvs. små, samlokaliserade team som jobbar i nära samarbete med en engagerad kund. I andra sammanhang, och speciellt i stora, geografiskt utspridda företag, är det mera utmanande att införa lättrörliga metoder. Vi har nalkats utmaningen genom att införa lättrörliga metoder med hjälp av pilotprojekt. Detta har två klara fördelar. För det första kan man inkrementellt samla kunskap om metoderna och deras samverkan med sammanhanget i fråga. På så sätt kan man lättare utveckla och anpassa metoderna till de specifika krav som sammanhanget ställer. För det andra kan man lättare överbrygga motstånd mot förändring genom att introducera kulturella förändringar varsamt och genom att målgruppen får direkt förstahandskontakt med de nya metoderna. Relevanta mätmetoder för produkter kan hjälpa programvaruutvecklingsteam att förbättra sina arbetsmetoder. När det gäller team som jobbar med lättrörliga och Lean-metoder kan en bra uppsättning mätmetoder vara avgörande för beslutsfattandet när man prioriterar listan över uppgifter som ska göras. Vårt fokus har legat på att stöda lättrörliga och Lean-team med interna produktmätmetoder för beslutsstöd gällande så kallad omfaktorering, dvs. kontinuerlig kvalitetsförbättring av programmets kod och design. Det kan vara svårt att ta ett beslut att omfaktorera, speciellt för lättrörliga och Lean-team, eftersom de förväntas kunna rättfärdiga sina prioriteter i termer av affärsvärde. Vi föreslår ett sätt att mäta designkvaliteten hos system som har utvecklats med hjälp av det så kallade modelldrivna paradigmet. Vi konstruerar även ett sätt att integrera denna mätmetod i lättrörliga och Lean-arbetsmetoder. En viktig del av alla processförbättringsinitiativ är att sprida kunskap om den nya programvaruprocessen. Detta gäller oavsett hurdan process man försöker introducera – vare sig processen är plandriven eller lättrörlig. Vi föreslår att metoder som baserar sig på samarbete när processen skapas och vidareutvecklas är ett bra sätt att stöda kunskapsspridning på. Vi ger en översikt över författarverktyg för processer på marknaden med det förslaget i åtanke.

Comparison and problems between Traditional and Agile software development methods

In today’s world because of the rapid advancement in the field of technology and business, the requirements are not clear, and they are changing continuously in the development process. Due to those changes in the requirements the software development becomes very difficult. Use of traditional software development methods such as waterfall method is not a good option, as the traditional software development methods are not flexible to requirements and the software can be late and over budget. For developing high quality software that satisfies the customer, the organizations can use software development methods, such as agile methods which are flexible to change requirements at any stage in the development process. The agile methods are iterative and incremental methods that can accelerate the delivery of the initial business values through the continuous planning and feedback, and there is close communication between the customer and developers. The main purpose of the current thesis is to find out the problems in traditional software development and to show how agile methods reduced those problems in software development. The study also focuses the different success factors of agile methods, the success rate of agile projects and comparison between traditional and agile software development.