Performance on agile teams: Relating iteration objectives and critical decisions to project management success factors

ContextWhile project management success factors have long been established via the golden triangle, little is known about how project iteration objectives and critical decisions relate to these success factors. It seems logical that teams’ iteration objectives would reflect project management success factors, but this may not always be the case. If not, how are teams’ objectives for iterations differing from the golden triangle of project management success factors?ObjectiveThis study identifies iteration objectives and the critical decisions that relate to the golden triangle of project management success factors in agile software development teams working in two-week iterations.MethodThe author conducted semi-structured interviews with members across three different agile software development teams using a hybrid of XP and Scrum agile methodologies. Iteration Planning and Retrospective meetings were also observed. Interview data was transcribed, coded and reviewed by the researcher and two independently trained research assistants. Data analysis involved organizing the data to identify iteration objectives and critical decisions to identify whether they relate to project management success factors.ResultsAgile teams discussed four categories of iteration objectives: Functionality, Schedule, Quality and Team Satisfaction. Two of these objectives map directly to two aspects of the golden triangle: schedule and quality. The agile teams’ critical decisions were also examined to understand the types of decisions the teams would have made differently to ensure success, which resulted in four categories of such decisions: Quality, Dividing Work, Iteration Amendments and Team Satisfaction.ConclusionThis research has contributed to the software development and project management literature by examining iteration objectives on agile teams and how they relate to the golden triangle of project management success factors to see whether these teams incorporate the golden triangle factors in their objectives and whether they include additional objectives in their iterations. What’s more, this research identified four critical decisions related to the golden triangle. These findings provide important insight to the continuing effort to better assess project management success, particularly for agile teams.     

Customer satisfaction and competitiveness in the Chinese E-retailing: Structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to identify the role of quality factors

This paper attempts to study the impact of customer satisfaction and the Chinese electronic retailers (E-retailers) competitiveness using quality factors. Two conceptual models based on asset-process-performance (APP) competitive theoretical framework have been proposed. The proposed models include E-retailers strategic factors such as logistics, quality and customer satisfaction equivalent to asset, process and performance entities of the APP framework. Using an empirical survey from a young population, this study, with the support of structural equation modeling (SEM) identifies reliability in service quality and purchasing experience in e-service quality as dominant customer satisfaction factors. This study uses both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and suggests that to be competitive Chinese E-retailers have to focus more on the delivery of products (logistics) compared to other intangible service quality factors. On theoretical front, this study is a novel attempt to validate the APP framework for E-retailers’ competitiveness. On the practical front, the outcome of the study would be highly beneficial to the Chinese E-retailers to fine tune their strategy to satisfy the growing demand. Furthermore, this study can supplement government policy makers to regulate the growing volatile market.     

输送带热硫化胶接技术应用情况总结

通过多年来对输送皮带热硫化胶接技术的应用实践,对热胶接工艺进行分析总结,介绍了胶带接头尺寸的确定、硫化胶接的程序、接头热硫化工艺程序及硫化三要素,提出皮带热硫化胶接中的有关质量要求、需注意的问题及建议.     

碳铵化肥发青问题解决小结

探讨了该厂化肥生产中碳铵发青的原因,通过硫化氢含量的测定,分析了系统内外影响因素,提出了解决措施,达到了不停车稳定产品质量的目的。     

油滴釉制作工艺的研究

在研制氧化气氛烧制油滴黑釉器的基础上 ,探讨了影响油滴釉形成的工艺因素。通过一系列试验 ,进一步验证了油滴釉在结晶过程中主要发生了液液分相 ;釉料的化学组成是油滴晶斑形成的先决条件 ;釉层厚度、烧成制度等是决定釉面效果的重要因素 ;油滴晶斑的呈色不仅与烧成气氛有关 ,还与着色氧化物的引入有关。     

Fuzzy arithmetic based reliability allocation approach during early design and development

During early design and development stages, every engineering system has to meet its specific reliability goals. The target reliability of the system is achieved through application of an effective reliability apportionment technique to its subsystems. There are various traditional methods exist to perform the reliability allocation based on engineering factors that are assessed in a subjective manner. The conventional reliability allocation approach requires the assessment of factors like complexity, cost, and maintenance. This may not be realistic in real applications if they are assessed in a crisp manner by the domain experts of their varied expertise and background.In this paper, we treat allocation factors as fuzzy numbers, which are evaluated in fuzzy linguistic terms. As a result, fuzzy proportionality factor scales are proposed for the subsystems. In order to accomplish fuzzy division to evaluate the fuzzy proportionality factor, an approximation method based on linear programming for trapezoidal fuzzy numbers is also proposed in this paper. For the evaluation of weighting factors from fuzzy proportionality factors, centroid method of defuzzification is being employed. The allocated reliability of each subsystem is computed with the help of weighting factor thereafter. An example is provided to illustrate the potential application of the proposed fuzzy based reliability allocation approach.     

回用水对冷却水系统316L不锈钢的腐蚀

城市污水回用作循环冷却水系统,讨论了NH3-N、COD、Cl-、SO42-等因素对316L不锈钢耐腐蚀性的影响。极化曲线表明:当NH3-N的质量浓度超过18 mg/L时,NH3-N促进了不锈钢的点蚀;COD对316L不锈钢的点蚀并无多大的影响;Cl-促进点蚀,而SO42-的质量浓度小于300 mg/L时,SO42-对其点蚀有缓蚀作用。     

催化热裂解工艺机遇及影响因素

分析了催化热裂解过程的反应机理及乙烯和丙烯形成的反应，乙烯和丙均可通过热裂解和催化裂解生成，讨论了影响乙烯，丙烯产率的因素：与USY和REY相比，使用ZSM－5催化剂能够提高乙烯，丙烯产率，磷改性ZRP－1经碱土金属改性后，可进一步提高乙烯和丙烯的产率，提高反应温度和降低剂油比，能够提高热裂解和催化裂解的比例，有利于乙烯产率的提高；增强蒸汽量能够减少焦炭产率，提高乙烯和丙烯产率。     

Texaco煤气化装置长周期运行影响因素分析

介绍了Texaco煤气化工艺流程,从原料煤种、水煤浆浓度、操作工艺、关键设备等几个方面讨论了影响装置长周期运行的因素,提出了延长气化装置运行周期的措施。     

影响水库中酸碱度变化因素的研究

通过监测数据分析,辽阳市境内所属两座水库在2006年均出现了pH值大于8.50的现象,经过实验及现场调查,发现其主要原因是水库两岸的有机质及腐殖质的分化对水库中水质中酸碱度产生了影响。