Clients’ participation in software projects: comparative case study between an agile and a ‘traditional’ software company

One of the main characteristics of agile software development is the active and continuous participation and involvement of the clients throughout the project. According to agile proponents, this leads to building ‘the right’ product and to satisfied clients. In this paper we present a comparative study of two Dutch software development companies in respect to client participation and its impact on the project. One of the companies is purely agile while the other is following a traditional software development approach. Our study suggests that active clients’ participation is not an exclusive attribute of agile projects and that it can be successfully integrated (and implemented) in a traditional project as well. Further, the study shows that by involving clients, software companies have the chance to get higher customer satisfaction, regardless whether or not they implement agile software development processes. Although our study is not quantitative, we think that it is indicative about the impact of the factor “client’s participation” on the client’s satisfaction

Adaptive development and maintenance of user-centric software systems

A software system cannot be developed without considering the various facets of its environment. Stakeholders – including the users that play a central role – have their needs, expectations, and perceptions of a system. Organisational and technical aspects of the environment are constantly changing. The ability to adapt a software system and its requirements to its environment throughout its full lifecycle is of paramount importance in a constantly changing environment. The continuous involvement of users is as important as the constant evaluation of the system and the observation of evolving environments. We present a methodology for adaptive software systems development and maintenance. We draw upon a diverse range of accepted methods including participatory design, software architecture, and evolutionary design. Our focus is on user-centred software systems

Initial specification of the evaluation tasks "Use cases to bridge validation and benchmarking" PROMISE Deliverable 2.1

Evaluation of multimedia and multilingual information access systems needs to be performed from a usage oriented perspective. This document outlines use cases from the three use case domains of the PROMISE project and gives some initial pointers to how their respective characteristics can be extrapolated to determine and guide evaluation activities, both with respect to benchmarking and to validation of the usage hypotheses. The use cases will be developed further during the course of the evaluation activities and workshops projected to occur in coming CLEF conferences

A dynamic systems engineering methodology research study. Phase 2: Evaluating methodologies, tools, and techniques for applicability to NASA's systems projects

A study of NASA's Systems Management Policy (SMP) concluded that the primary methodology being used by the Mission Operations and Data Systems Directorate and its subordinate, the Networks Division, is very effective. Still some unmet needs were identified. This study involved evaluating methodologies, tools, and techniques with the potential for resolving the previously identified deficiencies. Six preselected methodologies being used by other organizations with similar development problems were studied. The study revealed a wide range of significant differences in structure. Each system had some strengths but none will satisfy all of the needs of the Networks Division. Areas for improvement of the methodology being used by the Networks Division are listed with recommendations for specific action

Development of the theory and method to manage organisation's intellectual capital

This thesis adopts a "managing-developing" rather than a "measuring" approach to the intellectual capital of organizations, demonstrating that the former is compatible to the knowledge creation process while the latter is not. In this basis, in the thesis the intellectual capital of an organization is defined as the combination of the intangible assets of an organization that add value to its effort to achieve its goal, referring to the skills, innovation, information, experience and employee attitudes an organization possesses. This thesis proposes a systemic, systematic and humanoriented approach to the management of intellectual capital which includes the participative development of systems to support the management of skills (learning systems), innovation (innovation systems) information (information systems), experience (organizational memory systems) and attitude (selection, reward, career development, retirement systems). The design of such systems needs to be based on organizational requirements and in this thesis a formal method of requirements definition is developed (ORDIC - Organizational Requirements Definition for Intellectual Capital management). The thesis presents a number of case studies of the application of this method in Mexican companies and international corporate groups that demonstrate how the methods can be applied and in particular show the role of users in the use of the component methods of ORDIC. The thesis provides evaluation evidence of the success of the methods in creating systems to manage intellectual capital

A goals/questions/metrics plan for monitoring user involvement and participation in ERP (...)

ERP implementation success is influenced by a large number of factors. User involvement and participation is one of the most cited critical success factors in ERP implementation projects, and one of the most critical ones for their satisfactory outcome. This study attempts to define a set of metrics for monitoring user involvement and participation within ERP implementation projects by using the Goals/Questions/Metrics method. First, a literature review is presented. Second, a framework for monitoring user involvement and participation in ERP implementation projects is proposed. And third, a Goals/Questions/Metrics preliminary plan is proposed to monitor and control user involvement.ERP, Involvement, Participation, Metrics, Goals, Questions