The impact of inadequate customer collaboration on self-organizing Agile teams

Context

Customer collaboration is a vital feature of Agile software development.

Objective

This article addresses the importance of adequate customer involvement on Agile projects, and the impact of different levels of customer involvement on real-life Agile projects.

Method

We conducted a Grounded Theory study involving 30 Agile practitioners from 16 software development organizations in New Zealand and India, over a period of 3 years.

Results

We discovered that Lack of Customer Involvement was one of the biggest challenges faced by Agile teams. Customers were not as involved on these Agile projects as Agile methods demand. We describe the causes of inadequate customer collaboration, its adverse consequences on self-organizing Agile teams, and Agile Undercover — a set of strategies used by the teams to practice Agile despite insufficient or ineffective customer involvement.

Conclusion

Customer involvement is important on Agile projects. Inadequate customer involvement causes adverse problems for Agile teams. The Agile Undercover strategies we’ve identified can assist Agile teams facing similar lack of customer involvement.     

敏捷开发平台的设计

敏捷开发平台是支持敏捷过程的软件开发平台,敏捷开发平台通过生成Java代码和读取存放在数据库中的配置数据,实现系统的可配置.这个平台包括一系列敏捷开发工具,敏捷组件、敏捷表单、敏捷查询等;同时,敏捷开发平台还实现了一套敏捷工作流系统和敏捷数据交换平台.敏捷开发平台对数据库的设计做了一些标准规范,有利于数据资源的有效利用.敏捷开发平台实现了系统设计标准化,能够支持在大型信息化项目中采用敏捷开发过程.     

A survey study of critical success factors in agile software projects

While software is so important for all facets of the modern world, software development itself is not a perfect process. Agile software engineering methods have recently emerged as a new and different way of developing software as compared to the traditional methodologies. However, their success has mostly been anecdotal, and research in this subject is still scant in the academic circles. This research study was a survey study on the critical success factors of Agile software development projects using quantitative approach.

Based on existing literature, a preliminary list of potential critical success factors of Agile projects were identified and compiled. Subsequently, reliability analysis and factor analysis were conducted to consolidate this preliminary list into a final set of 12 possible critical success factors for each of the four project success categories – Quality, Scope, Time, and Cost.

A survey was conducted among Agile professionals, gathering survey data from 109 Agile projects from 25 countries across the world. Multiple regression techniques were used, both at the full regression model and at the optimized regression model via the stepwise screening procedure. The results revealed that only 10 out of 48 hypotheses were supported, identifying three critical success factors for Agile software development projects: (a) Delivery Strategy, (b) Agile Software Engineering Techniques, and (c) Team Capability.

Limitations of the study are discussed together with interpretations for practitioners. To ensure success of their projects, managers are urged to focus on choosing a high-caliber team, practicing Agile engineering techniques and following Agile-style delivery strategy.     

A statistical analysis of the effects of Scrum and Kanban on software development projects

Traditionally, software development processes have relied on the use of the “Waterfall” and “Vee” models. Later, Agile methodologies were used to handle the challenges of managing complex projects during the development phase. Agile methodologies are a group of incremental and iterative methods that are more effective, and have been used in project management. Kanban and Scrum are two powerful Agile project management approaches in software development. The objective of Scrum and Kanban is achieved by optimizing the development process by identifying the tasks, managing time more effectively, and setting-up teams. A review of the literature reveals that there is a lack of statistical evidence to conclude which methodology is more effective in dealing with the traditional project management factors of budget handling, risk control, quality of the project, available resources, having clear project scope, and schedule handling. This research statistically compares the effectiveness of the Scrum and Kanban methods in terms of their effects on the project management factors for software development projects. Numerical analysis is performed based on survey responses from those with experience in the Scrum and Kanban methods. Results suggest that both Scrum and Kanban lead to the development of successful projects, and that the Kanban method can be better than the Scrum method in terms of managing project schedule.     

Systematic analyses and comparison of development performance and product quality of Incremental Process and Agile Process

ContextAlthough Agile software development models have been widely used as a base for the software project life-cycle since 1990s, the number of studies that follow a sound empirical method and quantitatively reveal the effect of using these models over Traditional models is scarce.ObjectiveThis article explains the empirical method of and the results from systematic analyses and comparison of development performance and product quality of Incremental Process and Agile Process adapted in two projects of a middle-size, telecommunication software development company. The Incremental Process is an adaption of the Waterfall Model whereas the newly introduced Agile Process is a combination of the Unified Software Development Process, Extreme Programming, and Scrum.MethodThe method followed to perform the analyses and comparison is benefited from the combined use of qualitative and quantitative methods. It utilizes; GQM Approach to set measurement objectives, CMMI as the reference model to map the activities of the software development processes, and a pre-defined assessment approach to verify consistency of process executions and evaluate measure characteristics prior to quantitative analysis.ResultsThe results of the comparison showed that the Agile Process had performed better than the Incremental Process in terms of productivity (79%), defect density (57%), defect resolution effort ratio (26%), Test Execution V&V Effectiveness (21%), and effort prediction capability (4%). These results indicate that development performance and product quality achieved by following the Agile Process was superior to those achieved by following the Incremental Process in the projects compared.ConclusionThe acts of measurement, analysis, and comparison enabled comprehensive review of the two development processes, and resulted in understanding their strengths and weaknesses. The comparison results constituted objective evidence for organization-wide deployment of the Agile Process in the company.     

Coordination in co-located agile software development projects

Agile software development provides a way to organise the complex task of multi-participant software development while accommodating constant project change. Agile software development is well accepted in the practitioner community but there is little understanding of how such projects achieve effective coordination, which is known to be critical in successful software projects. A theoretical model of coordination in the agile software development context is presented based on empirical data from three cases of co-located agile software development. Many practices in these projects act as coordination mechanisms, which together form a coordination strategy. Coordination strategy in this context has three components: synchronisation, structure, and boundary spanning. Coordination effectiveness has two components: implicit and explicit. The theoretical model of coordination in agile software development projects proposes that an agile coordination strategy increases coordination effectiveness. This model has application for practitioners who want to select appropriate practices from agile methods to ensure they achieve coordination coverage in their project. For the field of information systems development, this theory contributes to knowledge of coordination and coordination effectiveness in the context of agile software development.     

敏捷供需链的管理与决策

信息时代,市场的环境是一种不断改变与不可预测的混沌环境．敏捷供需链管理与 决策支持系统（ASCMS）是将产、供、销过程进行集成,形成一个协同（Synergy）的整体（ Holism）,实现企业与突变市场的混沌同步的信息系统．及时地发现风险与冲突、科学地处 理风险与协调冲突是获取供需链效益的关键．本文在分析ASCMS的问题空间及功能体系结构 的基础上,建立了敏捷供需链的管理与决策模型,提出一种基于规则的敏捷供需链冲突协调 模式,分析讨论了用于协调敏捷供需链冲突的规则制定的依据,支持敏捷供需链中的冲突分 析与协调．     

WebSphere Portal 6.1: an agile development success story

Agile software development techniques are promising to deliver software faster, in better quality, and at a lower cost. Most examples relate to small, co-located teams working on a completely new project, with no legacy. This article focuses on applying Agile methods to a world-wide project with hundreds of developers delivering a market-leading product.In contrast to projects starting from scratch, existing customers have natural demands for support, bug fixes, and new features that focus on their particular needs.This article provides an overview of the most important Agile software development methods in addition to presenting ideas and solutions on how to apply Agile ideas to a large, existing product or solution. Important aspects that should be considered while deciding on what the Agile setup for your next software project should look like are explained.     

Adapting funding processes for agile IT projects: an empirical investigation

Agile software development that provides software development organizations, the ability to respond to changes in turbulent business environments, has been gaining wide adoption. Agile software development projects are characterized by ‘just enough’ planning and lack of upfront commitment to scope, cost, and schedule. These characteristics pose conflicting demands on managers responsible for making funding decisions, because traditional approaches to funding IT projects are often based on well-defined scope, cost, and schedule. These conflicts demand the adaptation of traditional funding processes to suit to agile projects. We draw from Adaptive Structuration Theory to understand the nature of conflicts between traditional IT project funding processes and the dynamic nature of agile projects, and how these conflicts are addressed by practices that are appropriated in the process of social interaction between funding decision makers and development teams. On the basis of a multisite case study, we present a framework that explains how organizations adapt traditional IT funding approaches to accommodate the unique characteristics of agile IT projects.     

Using metrics in Agile and Lean Software Development – A systematic literature review of industrial studies

ContextSoftware industry has widely adopted Agile software development methods. Agile literature proposes a few key metrics but little is known of the actual metrics use in Agile teams.ObjectiveThe objective of this paper is to increase knowledge of the reasons for and effects of using metrics in industrial Agile development. We focus on the metrics that Agile teams use, rather than the ones used from outside by software engineering researchers. In addition, we analyse the influence of the used metrics.MethodThis paper presents a systematic literature review (SLR) on using metrics in industrial Agile software development. We identified 774 papers, which we reduced to 30 primary studies through our paper selection process.ResultsThe results indicate that the reasons for and the effects of using metrics are focused on the following areas: sprint planning, progress tracking, software quality measurement, fixing software process problems, and motivating people. Additionally, we show that although Agile teams use many metrics suggested in the Agile literature, they also use many custom metrics. Finally, the most influential metrics in the primary studies are Velocity and Effort estimate.ConclusionThe use of metrics in Agile software development is similar to Traditional software development. Projects and sprints need to be planned and tracked. Quality needs to be measured. Problems in the process need to be identified and fixed. Future work should focus on metrics that had high importance but low prevalence in our study, as they can offer the largest impact to the software industry.     

Managing Slowdown in Improvement Projects

Unaware of the consequences, busy managers and senior engineers often behave in ways that hamper progress in improvement projects. Change agents easily become frustrated when key colleagues are late to meetings, delay responding to requests for information, or don't make decisions as required. However, rather than accepting the slowdown such behavior causes, change agents should analyze and address the challenges it signals. Based on experiences in nine process improvement projects at Ericsson, the authors suggest how change agents can analyze slowdown behavior, respond by increasing the commitment and effort of key colleagues, and reinforce progress and results in improvement projects.     

Challenges of shared decision-making: A multiple case study of agile software development

ContextAgile software development changes the nature of collaboration, coordination, and communication in software projects.ObjectiveOur objective was to understand the challenges of shared decision-making in agile software development teams.MethodWe designed a multiple case study consisting of four projects in two software product companies that recently adopted Scrum. We collected data in semi-structured interviews, through participant observations, and from process artifacts.ResultsWe identified three main challenges to shared decision-making in agile software development: alignment of strategic product plans with iteration plans, allocation of development resources, and performing development and maintenance tasks in teams.ConclusionAgile software development requires alignment of decisions on the strategic, tactical, and operational levels in order to overcome these challenges. Agile development also requires a transition from specialized skills to redundancy of functions and from rational to naturalistic decision-making. This takes time; the case companies needed from one to two years to change from traditional, hierarchical decision-making to shared decision-making in software development projects.     

WebSphere Portal 6.1: an agile development success story

Agile software development techniques are promising to deliver software faster, in better quality, and at a lower cost. Most examples relate to small, co-located teams working on a completely new project, with no legacy. This article focuses on applying Agile methods to a world-wide project with hundreds of developers delivering a market-leading product. In contrast to projects starting from scratch, existing customers have natural demands for support, bug fixes, and new features that focus on their particular needs.     

Orthogonal defect classification-a concept for in-processmeasurements

Orthogonal defect classification (ODC), a concept that enables in-process feedback to software developers by extracting signatures on the development process from defects, is described. The ideas are evolved from an earlier finding that demonstrates the use of semantic information from defects to extract cause-effect relationships in the development process. This finding is leveraged to develop a systematic framework for building measurement and analysis methods. The authors define ODC and discuss the necessary and sufficient conditions required to provide feedback to a developer; illustrate the use of the defect type distribution to measure the progress of a product through a process; illustrate the use of the defect trigger distribution to evaluate the effectiveness and eventually the completeness of verification processes such as inspection or testing; provides sample results from pilot projects using ODC; and open the doors to a wide variety of analysis techniques for providing effective and fast feedback based on the concepts of ODC     

遥感技术在涉河建设项目监测中的应用

人工巡察涉河建设项目耗时费力,难以满足日益增多的涉河建设项目频繁监察的应用需求。基于 Python 语言构建卫星遥感影像处理、专题制图、报告编制自动化处理流程。利用流程对 2015 年 1 月以来广东省西江流域内的 43 宗涉河建设项目进行跟踪监测及分析。针对重点涉河建设项目,采用无人机遥感技术构建三维模型,量测工程特征参数。选取典型涉河建设项目分别进行卫星、无人机遥感结果分析,结果表明利用卫星遥感多时相动态监测和无人机遥感高空间分辨率的特点,能高效实现对涉河建设项目的监测。卫星及无人机遥感技术在涉河建设项目监测中的应用效果显著,能够客观反映涉河建设项目进展情况,获取定量化信息,有助于提升水政监察的准确性、高效性、及时性和可靠性。     

Estimating,planning and managing Agile Web development projects under a value-based perspective

ContextThe processes of estimating, planning and managing are crucial for software development projects, since the results must be related to several business strategies. The broad expansion of the Internet and the global and interconnected economy make Web development projects be often characterized by expressions like delivering as soon as possible, reducing time to market and adapting to undefined requirements. In this kind of environment, traditional methodologies based on predictive techniques sometimes do not offer very satisfactory results. The rise of Agile methodologies and practices has provided some useful tools that, combined with Web Engineering techniques, can help to establish a framework to estimate, manage and plan Web development projects.ObjectiveThis paper presents a proposal for estimating, planning and managing Web projects, by combining some existing Agile techniques with Web Engineering principles, presenting them as an unified framework which uses the business value to guide the delivery of features.MethodThe proposal is analyzed by means of a case study, including a real-life project, in order to obtain relevant conclusions.ResultsThe results achieved after using the framework in a development project are presented, including interesting results on project planning and estimation, as well as on team productivity throughout the project.ConclusionIt is concluded that the framework can be useful in order to better manage Web-based projects, through a continuous value-based estimation and management process.     

新环境下的信息系统安全开发与测试

随着信息化技术的不断发展,现有的信息系统在架构和用户体验上得到不断提升,软件开发的模式也通过敏捷,SaaS等方式得到不断的发展。但与此同时伴随着用户量的增长和用户对信息的敏感,安全问题长期困扰各类软件和互联网公司,软件的安全开发和测试不得不成为的信息系统在新环境下所面临的考验和待解决的关键问题之一。从分析新环境下信息系统研发安全需求入手,着重讨论了在软件生命周期中如何利用微软SDL来进行安全开发,并结合作者提出的安全测试方法来有效提高信息系统的安全性和解决敏感信息泄露等问题。     

基于Agent面向软件重用的敏捷供应链模型

敏捷性和快速响应性是现代企业成功的关键因素，供应链管理正成为现代企业提高竞争力而采取的有效的先进手段，它要求敏捷化的信息系统支持，满足企业快速构造供应链的需要，因此，如何实现供应链系统的软件重用，就具有非常重要的现实意义，提出了将企业的商务逻辑与具体事务处理分开的思想，建立基于agent的敏捷化供应链管理模型，通过对商务逻辑的规则模型和软件代理的活动行为模型建立，利用ECA规则协调多代理系统的活动，从而有效地支持供应链动态建立，过程重组，增强供应链系统信息分布处理，软件可重用和规模可扩展能力。