Information flows at inter-team boundaries in agile information systems development

Agile software development methods are being used on larger projects thus the study of inter-team communication are becoming an important topic of interest for researchers. This research addresses inter-team communication by exploring the tools and three different boundaries, inter-team, team and customers, and geographically separated teams. In this research, we gathered data from semi-structured face-to-face interviews which were analyzed following the grounded theory approach. Our study reveals consensus from different teams on the importance of virtual Kanban boards. Also, some teams members tend to adapt to other teams’ preferred communication tool. We observed challenges around interdependent user stories among the different teams and highlighted the problems that rise at the different boundaries. Keywords: agile information system development • inter-team communication • agile team boundary • communication • agile methods • cooperating agile team

Applied Agile Digital Mission Engineering for Cislunar Space Domain Awareness

In the backdrop of an expansion into cislunar space and a digital transformation, the author synthesizes a methodology from agile system development, DE, ME, and MBSE processes, methods, and tools to develop a basic RA and DT for cislunar SDA mission and system design. The Agile DME methodology is used to conduct basic requirements analysis, develop a concept, understand cislunar physics, study scenario geometries, and perform analyses and the DT implements, executes, and accelerates research by integrating a descriptive tool with analytical and simulation tools. This research demonstrates the value of automated Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis (MSA) work flows and how DE can aid in meeting the DoD\u27s vision to prioritize speed of delivery within rapidly changing operational environments, on limited budgets, and in short timelines using a model-analyze-build methodology

Overcoming team boundaries in agile software development

The usage of agile software development methods is increasing and so is the need for enhancing the collaboration between the different stakeholders. Thus, we chose to investigate the communication tools and challenges across the different boundaries and consequently deduce implications for practitioners. This research addresses inter-team communication by exploring the practitioners' perception on the different communication tools and the challenges faced at the three different boundaries, inter-team, team and customers, and geographically separated teams. We aim to enhance the productivity of software development through enhancing the communication between the different stakeholders. In this research, we use grounded theory approach to gather data from semi-structured open-ended interviews with practitioners in a geographically separated software development company. The findings observed three main inter-team communication means (Slack, Trello, face-to-face) used by practitioners, and how the preference differs among practitioners. This study also focuses on the different challenges faced, such as absence of communication during user story dependency, unclear customer requirements, and cultural differences, when implementing agile across different geographical locations. Our study discovers how team boundaries are overcome when team members adapt to other teams’ preferred communication tool and enhance the boundary spanners’ role. Furthermore, the study highlights how novice and mature teams require a transition time to adjust to the agile methods

Proposta de reestrutura??o do processo de estimativa de tarefas em projetos de software numa empresa que utiliza o m?todo ?gil Scrum

The success or failure of a project is associated with delivery on time, within the estimated budget,given the scope provided and with the expected quality. Preparing accurate estimates when planning is one of the key success factors to meet the deadline of the project. In agile software development, more specifically in the Scrum agile method, usually used estimation techniques just consider the experience of people, which contributes to the possibility of inaccuracy. This work presents a proposal to reestructure the task estimation process of software projects using as a case study a company that uses the Scrum agile method. In this new process is included the proposed construction of a historical base structure on estimates. To achieve the proposed objective a research methodology was structured consisting of three steps: systematic literature review, field research and restructuring process. Initially identified the factors that can interfere with the success of the estimates through systematic literature review and field research, then the current process carried out in company was mapped and was proposed restructuring of the process which takes into account the identified factors that affect the estimates.The evaluation of the proposed restructuring was held with members of the studied company development team which participated in the field research and will be members directly affected by the changes. By analyzing the validation results of proposal with team members is possible to conclude that the suggested changes will provide information that enables the staff to be more accurate in estimating tasks.O sucesso ou fracasso de um projeto est? associado com sua entrega no prazo, dentro do or?amento estimado, atendendo ao escopo previsto e com a qualidade esperada. A elabora??o de estimativas precisas no momento do planejamento ? um dos fatores chaves do sucesso para o cumprimento do prazo dos projetos. No desenvolvimento ?gil de software, mais especificamente no m?todo ?gil Scrum, geralmente as t?cnicas de estimativas utilizadas consideram somente a experi?ncia das pessoas, o que contribui para a possibilidade de imprecis?o. Este trabalho apresenta uma proposta de reestrutura??o do processo de estimativa de tarefas em projetos de software utilizando como estudo de caso uma empresa que utiliza o m?todo ?gil Scrum. Neste novo processo est? inclusa a proposta de constru??o de uma estrutura de base hist?rica de estimativas. Para alcan?ar o objetivo proposto foi estruturada uma metodologia de pesquisa que consiste em 3 etapas: revis?o sistem?tica da literatura, pesquisa de campo e reestrutura??o do processo. Inicialmente foram identificados os fatores que podem interferir no sucesso das estimativas atrav?s da revis?o sistem?tica da literatura e da pesquisa de campo, ap?s foi mapeado o processo atual realizado na empresa e proposto a reestrutura??o do processo, o qual considera os fatores identificados que interferem nas estimativas. A avalia??o da proposta de reestrutura??o foi realizada com os membros da equipe de desenvolvimento da empresa estudada, os quais participaram da pesquisa de campo e ser?o os membros diretamente afetados pelas mudan?as. Atrav?s da an?lise dos resultados da valida??o da proposta com os membros da equipe ? poss?vel concluir que as mudan?as sugeridas fornecer?o informa??es que possibilitem a equipe ser mais precisa na estimativa das tarefas

Формалізація і розв’язання задач оптимального планування робіт за наявності різної продуктивності пристроїв

Магістерська дисертація: 107 с., 12 рис., 10 табл., 7 додатків, 82 джерела. Актуальність. Планування виконання командою наявних завдань є важливим процесом в багатьох галузях, наприклад, у розробці програмного забезпечення. На сьогодні спостерігається зростання популярності покрокового (ітеративного) підходу до виконання робіт у різних сферах нашого життя. Скрам є одним із найбільш поширених гнучких підходів на сьогоднішній день. Ідея методології Скрам полягає у роботі за ітераціями, тобто за деякими фіксованими проміжками часу. У Скрамі ітерації називаються Спринтами. Для ітерації необхідно підібрати набір завдань, які може виконати за цей проміжок часу команда, причому саме такий набір, який принесе найбільшу цінність продуктові, що розробляється. Але обговорення завдань та вирішення, які саме завдання можна взяти на виконання з урахуванням різної продуктивності та досвідченості виконавців, є складним процесом, який займає досить багато часу. Саме тому актуальним є дослідження проблеми оптимального планування виконання завдань, формальна постановка якої призводить до складних оптимізаційних задач. В свою чергу це потребує розробки наближених алгоритмів розв’язування задачі виконання завдань виконавцями з різною для досягнення найбільшої сумарної цінності виконаної роботи. Враховуючи наявну в теорії складання розкладів термінологію та специфіку задачі, вживатимемо терміни “пристрої” та “виконавці” як взаємозамінні. Мета дослідження – підвищення ефективності виконання завдань декількома виконавцями (пристроями) з різною продуктивністю за рахунок зменшення витрат часу на планування їх виконання. Для досягнення мети необхідно виконати наступні завдання: - виконати огляд відомих результатів з поставленої задачі; - виконати формалізацію задачі планування роботи із врахуванням різної продуктивності пристроїв; - розробити наближені алгоритми для розв’язування поставленої задачі; 4 - розробити програмну реалізацію алгоритмів та моделей; - виконати аналіз отриманих результатів. Об’єкт дослідження – процес планування виконання завдань пристроями з різною продуктивністю. Предмет дослідження – методи планування виконання завдань пристроями з різною продуктивністю. Наукова новизна отриманих результатів полягає у формалізації задачі планування роботи на ітерацію у методології Скрам як задачі оптимального планування робіт за наявності різної продуктивності пристроїв; розробці алгоритму для її розв’язування шляхом розбиття на підзадачі; розробці жадібного алгоритму знаходження початкового розв’язку другої підзадачі, процедури генерації точок околу в просторі розв’язків та розробці алгоритмів на основі схеми алгоритмів локального пошуку. Публікації. Матеріали роботи опубліковані у міжнародному журналі «Науковий огляд», №3, 2018 [1, 2]. Зв'язок роботи з науковими програмами, планами, темами. Робота виконувалась у філії кафедри автоматизованих систем обробки інформації та управління Національного технічного університету України «Київський політехнічний інститут ім. Ігоря Сікорського» в рамках науково-дослідної теми Інституту кібернетики ім. В. М. Глушкова НАН України: «Розробити математичний апарат, орієнтований на створення інтелектуальних інформаційних технологій розв’язування проблем комбінаторної оптимізації та інформаційної безпеки» (шифр теми: ВФ.180.11).Master’s thesis: 107 pages, 12 figures, 10 tables, 7 appendix, 82 references. Relevance. Tasks scheduling for a team is an important process in many spheres like software development. Nowadays the iterative approach to work is gaining more and more recognition in different spheres. Scrum is one of the most used agile approaches today. The main idea of Scrum is splitting the work into iterations, where iterations are time spans of fixed length. In Scrum, these iterations are called Sprints. For each iteration, it is necessary to choose such a subset of tasks for the team that the work’s result will have the biggest possible value for the product. But tasks discussion and making decisions about which tasks to include in the current iteration in accordance with the different productivity and experience of team members is a sophisticated process that takes a lot of time. That’s why the research of the optimal scheduling problem formal model of which results in difficult optimization problems is relevant. That requires development of approximate algorithms for solving the scheduling problem with performers having different productivity with the goal of maximizing the work’s result value. Taking into account the terminology of scheduling problems sphere and the problem’s specifics we will use the terms “performer” and “machine” as synonyms. Purpose and objectives of the study. Increasing the effectiveness of tasks finishing by several unrelated performers(machines) by reducing the time spent on the planning of work. To achieve this purpose it is needed to complete these tasks: - perform a review of the known results for the problem that is considered; - perform formalization of the optimal scheduling problem for the unrelated machines; - develop approximate algorithms for solving the problem considered; - develop a software implementation of the algorithms and models; - perform the analysis of the results. 6 The object of study is the scheduling process for the unrelated machines with different productivity. The subject of study are scheduling methods for the unrelated machines with different productivity. Scientific novelty of the results. Formalization of the Sprint planning problem as a scheduling problem for machines with different productivity is performed, an approach to solving this problem based on splitting the problem into two subproblems is suggested; a greedy algorithm, local search algorithms and neighborhood generation procedure for the second subproblem are developed. Publications. Materials were published in the international journal “Naukoviy ohlyad”, №3, 2018 [1, 2]. Connection of the thesis with scientific programs, plans, topics. The thesis was written at the branch of The Department of Department of Computer-aided management and data processing systems of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” at the V. M. Glushkov Institute of Cybernetics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine under the topic “To develop a mathematical apparatus focused on the creation of intelligent information technologies for solving combinatorial optimization and information security problems”(the topic’s index is ВФ.180.11)

Generative Artificial Intelligence Assisting in Agile Project Pain Points : Empirical Study Using ChatGPT

Agile project management methods enable project work that aims to adapt to various changing conditions during the project and to control and produce the project's outputs in short iterations. In agile project management methods, the focus of traditional project management has shifted from management and administrative tasks to a kind of project coaching. Many factors influence the success of an agile project, and its various pain points must be managed. Intelligent project management can be thought of as automating its various areas in appropriate situations using artificial intelligence. In this case, especially Generative AI (GenAI) could serve as a helping hand when transitioning to intelligent project management and especially assist in managing the different pain points of projects. In this master's thesis, a literature review is used to determine what typical challenges various agile project management methods might pose. From these challenges, a theoretical pain point model is created. As remedies for these pain points, the use of GenAI is proposed for various practical challenges in project management. In the design science research section, the capabilities of an artificial intelligence program (ChatGPT) are utilized, and usage models of GenAI artificial intelligence are presented for managing different pain points. In addition, the reliability of the information produced by ChatGPT and its use as an example to assist in the different stages of fictional project tasks are assessed. As a result, various prompt patterns are presented on how ChatGPT could be instructed to assist in managing different pain points. As outcome, the study suggests that ChatGPT is a potential tool to assist in managing various pain points that arise in a project. Using it as a full replacement for a project manager is not yet sensible, but in suitable assisting, guiding, and inspiring tasks, generative artificial intelligence can facilitate work. The study also found that ChatGPT's knowledge of the challenges of agile methods and various frameworks is reliable. Therefore, it could be used in various project management pain points for review, preparation, and coaching. However, as a final note, it can be suggested that it might be wise to approach all material produced by ChatGPT with caution, and it is advisable to also use knowledgeable individuals to evaluate and review the content and reliability of the information produced by it

Dependency-Aware Software Requirements Selection using Fuzzy Graphs and Integer Programming

Software requirements selection aims to find an optimal subset of the requirements with the highest value while respecting the project constraints. But the value of a requirement may depend on the presence or absence of other requirements in the optimal subset. Such Value Dependencies, however, are imprecise and hard to capture. In this paper, we propose a method based on integer programming and fuzzy graphs to account for value dependencies and their imprecision in software requirements selection. The proposed method, referred to as Dependency-Aware Software Requirements Selection (DARS), is comprised of three components: (i) an automated technique for the identification of value dependencies from user preferences, (ii) a modeling technique based on fuzzy graphs that allows for capturing the imprecision of value dependencies, and (iii) an Integer Linear Programming (ILP) model that takes into account user preferences and value dependencies identified from those preferences to reduce the risk of value loss in software projects. Our work is verified by studying a real-world software project. The results show that our proposed method reduces the value loss in software projects and is scalable to large requirement sets.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2003.0480

Understanding Agile Software Development Assimilation Beyond Acceptance

Agile software development methods represent a departure from the heavily regimented and document-driven procedures of traditional, waterfall approaches. Despite the highly touted benefits of employing agile ISD methods and the growth of agile adoption rates over the past two decades, it is not clear why some organizations fail to routinize agile methods, while others do so and realize their promised benefits. Motivated by the need to understand the factors that influence agile routinization, this study empirically examines the deep contextual factors that impact the extent to which agile methods are proliferated throughout an organization. Findings indicate that project success from initial agile use does not translate to routine agile use. Instead, findings from the study suggest that organizational factors of organizational culture and structure play a pivotal role in the routinization of agile methods

Updating a web-based card game to teach programming, cybersecurity and software development life cycle concepts

Game-Based Learning (GBL) has been shown to be effective in teaching software engineering practices and principles. This research updates Program Wars, a web-based card game, to improve the support for learning concepts of various programming structures and concepts (i.e. variables, loop, method). Additionally, the game's support for learning cybersecurity practices and concepts was refined. A user study evaluated this new version of Program Wars, and it was found that the latest version performs better in terms of learning various programming components along with cybersecurity concepts than the older version. Finally, a new gaming mode was introduced to the newest version of the game to teach the Software Development Life Cycle and the Iterative Software Development Methodology. A separate user study is also proposed in this research work to evaluate this version of the gameplay

Hydrolink 2021/2. Artificial Intelligence

Topic: Artificial Intelligenc