The impact of agile practices on communication in software development

Agile software development practices such as eXtreme Programming (XP) and SCRUM have increasingly been adopted to respond to the challenges of volatile business environments, where the markets and technologies evolve rapidly and present the unexpected. In spite of the encouraging results so far, little is known about how agile practices affect communication. This article presents the results from a study which examined the impact of XP and SCRUM practices on communication within software development teams and within the focal organization. The research was carried out as a case study in F-Secure where two agile software development projects were compared from the communication perspective. The goal of the study is to increase the understanding of communication in the context of agile software development: internally among the developers and project leaders and in the interface between the development team and stakeholders (i.e. customers, testers, other development teams). The study shows that agile practices improve both informal and formal communication. However, it further indicates that, in larger development situations involving multiple external stakeholders, a mismatch of adequate communication mechanisms can sometimes even hinder the communication. The study highlights the fact that hurdles and improvements in the communication process can both affect the feature requirements and task subtask dependencies as described in coordination theory. While the use of SCRUM and some XP practices facilitate team and organizational communication of the dependencies between product features and working tasks, the use of agile practices requires that the team and organization use also additional plan-driven practices to ensure the efficiency of external communication between all the actors of software development.

软件危机及其应对措施探讨

软件危机几乎一直伴随着软件开发的整个历史，对于大型软件项目，它造成的危害更大。正是在此背景下，软件工程和面向对象技术得以产生和发展。作为面向对象的基础，设计模式为可复用面向对象软件开发指明了一条道路。敏捷软件开发和极限编程则作为面向对象的进一步发展而出现，成为近年来软件开发方法学研究的热点。     

软件危机及其应对措施探讨

软件危机几乎一直伴随着软件开发的整个历史,对于大型软件项目,它造成的危害更大。正是在此背景下,软件工程和面向对象技术得以产生和发展。作为面向对象的基础,设计模式为可复用面向对象软件开发指明了一条道路。敏捷软件开发和极限编程则作为面向对象的进一步发展而出现,成为近年来软件开发方法学研究的热点。     

Blending Scrum practices and CMMI project management process areas

Software development organizations that have been employing capability maturity models, such as SW-CMM or CMMI for improving their processes are now increasingly interested in the possibility of adopting agile development methods. In the context of project management, what can we say about Scrum’s alignment with CMMI? The aim of our paper is to present the mapping between CMMI and the agile method Scrum, showing major gaps between them and identifying how organizations are adopting complementary practices in their projects to make these two approaches more compliant. This is useful for organizations that have a plan-driven process based on the CMMI model and are planning to improve the agility of processes or to help organizations to define a new project management framework based on both CMMI and Scrum practices.     

极限编程在进销存管理系统开发中的应用

极限编程是敏捷方法中最著名的一种基于实践的软件开发方法.通过介绍极限编程的特点以及在进销存管理系统项目开发中的实践,探讨研究了极限编程对于需求易变的小型信息管理软件开发项目应用的优势.     

Operational release planning in large-scale Scrum with multiple stakeholders – A longitudinal case study at F-Secure Corporation

ContextThe analysis and selection of requirements are important parts of any release planning process. Previous studies on release planning have focused on plan-driven optimization models. Unfortunately, solving the release planning problem mechanistically is difficult in an agile development context.ObjectiveWe describe how a release planning method was employed in two case projects in F-Secure, a large Finnish software company. We identify the benefits which the projects gained from the method, and analyze challenges in the cases and improvements made to the method during the case projects.MethodWe observed five release planning events and four retrospectives and we conducted surveys in the first two events. We conducted six post-project interviews. We conjoined the observation notes, survey results and interviews and analyzed them qualitatively and quantitatively.ResultsThe focal point of the method was release planning events where the whole project organization gathered to plan the next release. The planning was conducted by the development teams in close collaboration with each other and with the other stakeholders. We identified ten benefits which included improved communication, transparency, dependency management and decision making. We identified nine challenges which included the lacking preparation and prioritization of requirements, unrealistic schedules, insufficient architectural planning and lacking agile mindset. The biggest improvements to the method were the introduction of frequent status checks and a big visible planning status board.ConclusionThe release planning method ameliorated many difficult characteristics of the release planning problem but its efficiency was negatively affected by the performing organization that was in transition from a plan-driven to an agile development mindset. Even in this case the benefits clearly outweighed the challenges and the method enabled the early identification of the issues in the project.     

敏捷开发在战机飞控系统软件研制中的应用

战机飞行控制系统软件是战机最高等级——关键级软件,其高质高效的研制直接影响到战机安全性、可靠性和研制进度。目前存在着提高软件质量的同时缩短研制周期的矛盾。为解决该矛盾,提出一种将敏捷开发方法与军用软件研制能力成熟度模型(GJB5000A)相结合的开发模式,并成功应用于某型战机飞控系统软件研制中,为关键级军用软件项目应用敏捷方法提供了一个范例。     

Scrum方法在企业档案管理系统开发中的应用

在江苏省工商局企业档案管理系统的开发过程中,对Scrum方法进行改进和扩展,使之能够适用于开发经验和项目管理经验不足的团队。论述使用Scrum方法中可能遇到的问题及解决办法,为Scrum的实施提供有益的参考和借鉴。     

Scrum方法在企业档案管理系统开发中的应用

在江苏省工商局企业档案管理系统的开发过程中,对Scmm方法进行改进和扩展．使之能够适用于开发经验和项目管理经验不足的团队。论述使用Scmm方法中可能遇到的问题及解决办法,为Scrum的实施提供有益的参考和借鉴。     

基于敏捷软件开发方法的基金管理信息系统开发

敏捷软件开发是一种面临迅速变化的需求快速开发出高质量的软件产品软件的新方法。介绍了敏捷软件开发的主要内容,特别是XP和AM,并以一个基金管理信息系统的开发为例,展示了实际应用过程。     

Using Scrum to guide the execution of software process improvement in small organizations

For software process improvement - SPI - there are few small organizations using models that guide the management and deployment of their improvement initiatives. This is largely because a lot of these models do not consider the special characteristics of small businesses, nor the appropriate strategies for deploying an SPI initiative in this type of organization. It should also be noted that the models which direct improvement implementation for small settings do not present an explicit process with which to organize and guide the internal work of the employees involved in the implementation of the improvement opportunities. In this paper we propose a lightweight process, which takes into account appropriate strategies for this type of organization. Our proposal, known as a “Lightweight process to incorporate improvements”, uses the philosophy of the Scrum agile method, aiming to give detailed guidelines for supporting the management and performance of the incorporation of improvement opportunities within processes and their putting into practice in small companies. We have applied the proposed process in two small companies by means of the case study research method, and from the initial results, we have observed that it is indeed suitable for small businesses.     

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.