What Agile processes should we use in software engineering course projects?

Producción CientíficaWhile project-based software engineering courses aim to provide learning opportunities grounded in professional processes, it is not always possible to replicate every process in classrooms due to course constraints. Previous studies observed how students react to various processes and gave retroactive recommendations. In this study, we instead combine a field study on professional Agile (eXtreme Programming, XP) teams and an established team process taxonomy to proactively select team processes to incorporate in a project-based software engineering course. With collected knowledge from the field study, we choose three XP processes to augment the design of a mature software engineering project course. We choose processes that are 1) considered important by professionals, and 2) complete with respect to coverage of the taxonomy's main categories. We then compare the augmented course design with the original design in a case study. Our results suggest that 1) even without extra resources, adding these new processes does not interfere with learning opportunities for XP processes previously existing in the course design; 2) student teams experience similar benefits from these new processes as professional teams do, and students appreciate the usefulness and value of the processes. In other words, our approach allows instructors to make conscious choices of XP processes that improve student learning outcomes while exposing students to a more complete set of processes and thus preparing them better for professional careers. Course designers with limited resources are encouraged to use our methodology to evaluate and improve the designs of their own project-based courses.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Project TIN2017-85179-C3-2-R)Junta de Castilla y León (project VA257P18) by the European Commission under project grant 588438-EPP-1-2017-1-EL-EPPKA2- K

Extreme Programming in the University

This paper summarises our experiences teaching Extreme Programming to undergraduate students over a period of 8 years. We describe an approach in which students learn about the Extreme Programming (XP) method by using it on real software development projects. This experiential learning technique has been effective in helping students understand how XP works in practice and helped them to develop the skills to reflect on their current approaches to software development and critically evaluate agile methods. Problems, including a steep learning curve for some XP practices and difficulties scheduling pair-programming time in a university environment are also Identified

An agile based integrated framework for software development.

Doctor of Philosophy in Management. University of KwaZulu-Natal. Durban, 2018.Software development practice has been guided by practitioners and academics along an evolutionary path that extends from a Waterfall approach, characterised as highly prescriptive, to an approach that is agile, embracing the dynamic context in which software is developed. Agile Methodology is informed by a set of generic principles and agile methods that are customised by practitioners to meet the requirements of the environment in which it is used. Insight into the customisation of agile methods is pivotal to uphold the evolutionary trajectory of software development methodology. The study adopted a ‘socio-technical’ orientation to enhance the implementation of Agile Methodology. The social component of the study was aligned to the role played by organisational culture in the adoption of software development methodology. The amorphous concept of organisational culture has been operationalised by implementing the Competing Values Framework to develop a model that aligns organisational culture to an optimal methodology for software development. The technical component of the study has a software engineering focus. The study leveraged experiential knowledge of software development by South African software practitioners to develop a customised version of a prominent agile software development method. The model has been developed so that it is compatible with a variant of organisational culture that is aligned with agile methodology. The study implemented a sequential research design strategy consisting of two phases. The first phase was qualitative consisting of a phenomenological approach to develop the study’s main models. The second phase was quantitative, underpinned by technology acceptance theory, consisting of a survey based approach to determine South African software practitioners’ acceptance of the agile-oriented technical model that was developed in the study. The results from the survey indicated an 80% acceptance of the model proposed in study. Structural Equation Modelling was used to demonstrate that the inclusion of organisational culture as an independent construct improved the predictive capacity of technology acceptance theory in the context of software development methodology adoption. The study’s overall theoretical contribution was to highlight the significance of organisational culture in the implementation of agile methodology and to extend the evolutionary path of software development methodology by proposing an agile oriented model that scales the software process to an organisational infrastructure level

Design Ltd.: Renovated Myths for the Development of Socially Embedded Technologies

This paper argues that traditional and mainstream mythologies, which have been continually told within the Information Technology domain among designers and advocators of conceptual modelling since the 1960s in different fields of computing sciences, could now be renovated or substituted in the mould of more recent discourses about performativity, complexity and end-user creativity that have been constructed across different fields in the meanwhile. In the paper, it is submitted that these discourses could motivate IT professionals in undertaking alternative approaches toward the co-construction of socio-technical systems, i.e., social settings where humans cooperate to reach common goals by means of mediating computational tools. The authors advocate further discussion about and consolidation of some concepts in design research, design practice and more generally Information Technology (IT) development, like those of: task-artifact entanglement, universatility (sic) of End-User Development (EUD) environments, bricolant/bricoleur end-user, logic of bricolage, maieuta-designers (sic), and laissez-faire method to socio-technical construction. Points backing these and similar concepts are made to promote further discussion on the need to rethink the main assumptions underlying IT design and development some fifty years later the coming of age of software and modern IT in the organizational domain.Comment: This is the peer-unreviewed of a manuscript that is to appear in D. Randall, K. Schmidt, & V. Wulf (Eds.), Designing Socially Embedded Technologies: A European Challenge (2013, forthcoming) with the title "Building Socially Embedded Technologies: Implications on Design" within an EUSSET editorial initiative (www.eusset.eu/

Software Development and CSCW:Standardization and Flexibility in Large-Scale Agile Development

Identifying which agile methods and processes are most effective depends on the goals and aims of an organisation. Agile development promotes an environment of continuous improvement and trust within self-organising teams. Therefore, it is important to allow teams to have the flexibility to customize and tailor their chosen methods. However, in a large-scale agile deployment, there needs to be a degree of process standardization across the organisation; otherwise, different teams will not be able to effectively share knowledge and best practices. This paper addresses this classic CSCW issue of the tensions that arise between process standardization and flexibility in a large-scale agile deployment at the BBC

Teaching the future marketers through experiential client-based projects : marketing knowledge and skills in the context of early phases of service and product development

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The Final Neolithic-Early Bronze Age transition in Phaistos, Crete: an investigation of continuity and change in ceramic manufacture

The Final Neolithic and Early Bronze Age periods in Crete are considered as times of transformation in settlement pattern, of the emergence of complex architecture and related innovative material culture, which presage the social changes of later phases. The change in ceramic repertoire has been used to argue for a technological and cultural ‘revolution’ at the beginning of the Bronze Age, perhaps even of the influx of new population. The site of Phaistos in Southern Crete offers great potential for examining the Final Neolithic-Early Bronze Age transition in Crete and to investigate the degree of continuity and change, on account of the completeness of its stratigraphy, as well as the abundance of the ceramic material. This study critically examines the production technology of ceramics during the Final Neolithic and Early Minoan I at Phaistos, addressing issues of technological change in this period of transition and discussing how the reconstruction of ceramic manufacture can be related to the changes occurring over time at the site. The investigation of technological variation within the ceramic assemblages is performed by integrating macroscopic observation and an integrated analytical programme involving thin section petrography, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffractometry, in order to reconstruct technological choices on raw material choice and manipulation, surface treatment and firing practice. This is combined with the information available on forming techniques and shape. The chaîne opératoire interpretative framework is adopted as a means to reconstruct the operational sequence of pottery manufacture, and to embed such an understanding within the social context of the communities of the Mesara Plain. By examining the significance of technological choices in pottery making within the context of Phaistos, the study demonstrates a complex picture of continuity and change over the period of study, which belies recent conjecture of a single-phase transformation at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age. Furthermore, it suggests that in some of the phases considered changes in the organisation and practice of pottery production can be related to changes in consumption at this special site, which saw an array of activities before construction of the later court-centred building

Modelling the interaction of tidal range power systems for renewable energy conversion

Tidal range power plants (TPPs) have the potential to provide a reliable and long-term source of renewable power. The inherent predictability and operation flexibility of TPPs presents opportunities regarding the phasing of energy supply. However, TPPs can notably impact the surrounding coastal system. These benefits and challenges could be magnified in scenarios where a national energy system incorporates multiple schemes. This thesis investigates interactions between TPPs that are sited within the same geographical region, with regards to their combined energy supply phasing and impacts. Depth-averaged coastal models are applied in characterising the ambient tidal resource. Techniques for numerically parameterising the presence, operation and power output of TPPs are established. Particular focus is granted to methods for optimising operation characteristics. A model of Ramsey Sound is employed in investigating common numerical model configuration choices. An extended model domain, to include the entire west coast of Great Britain, is then configured. Benefits and challenges associated with how multiple TPPs interact are explored: - A system of TPPs sited across the Bristol Channel and Irish Sea regions is implemented in the model, with their designs based on existing proposals. Operation control schedules targeting continuous power generation are optimised. The notable tidal phase difference between the two regions permits cumulative continuous supply for approximately half of the year during periods around spring tides. Financial incentives associated with reliable, baseload supply are proposed. - Combinations of seven consistently designed TPPs in the Bristol Channel and Irish Sea are investigated regarding their hydro-environmental and energy resource impacts. Scheme design consistency provides a basis to focus solely on impacts associated with development sites, by minimising differences in impacts that occur from TPP design variations. Results indicate that the more constrained geometry of the Bristol Channel contributes to higher individual and cumulative impacts than TPP developments in the Irish Sea.Open Acces