Scaling agile on large enterprise level – systematic bundling and application of state of the art approaches for lasting agile transitions

International audienceOrganizations are looking for ways of establishing agile and lean process for delivery. Many approaches exist in the form of frameworks, methods and tools to setup an individual composition for a best fit. The challenge is that large organizations are heterogeneous and diverse, and hence there is no "one size fits all" approach. To facilitate a systematic implementation of agile and lean, this article proposes a transition kit based on abstraction. This kit scouts and bundles state of the art methods and tools from the agile and lean community to align them with governance and compliance aspects of the specific enterprise. Coaching of the application of the transition kit ensures an adequate instantiation. The instantiation handles business domain specific aspects and standards. A coaching governance ensures continuous improvement. An example of the systematic application of the transition approach as well as its scaling is demonstrated through its application in the Volkswagen Group IT

An automated framework to support agile adoption coaching

This dissertation aims to assist Agile champions in their organisations with their Agile adoption journey. Such a journey typically starts with identifying the Agile challenges and then determining how to address these challenges in their unique context (Hajjdiab & Taleb, 2011a:9). This study provides a manual together with an automated framework to showcase a list of prioritised Agile challenges and their corresponding possible solutions. Before reaching this automated framework, the research presented a comprehensive list of Agile adoption challenges, possible solutions and a mapping between them. The automated framework, also named Agile Adoption Coach (AAC), is in the form of an online tool: www.agilesense.coza/aac. The critical quantitative contribution to this study was the evaluation of the AAC by Scrum Masters and Agile coaches to determine the acceptability of the tool. The research has shown that there is, on average, an 86% acceptability rating for this tool in South Africa.School of ComputingM. Sc. (Computing

A Model-Driven Approach for Business Process Management

The Business Process Management is a common mechanism recommended by a high number of standards for the management of companies and organizations. In software companies this practice is every day more accepted and companies have to assume it, if they want to be competitive. However, the effective definition of these processes and mainly their maintenance and execution are not always easy tasks. This paper presents an approach based on the Model-Driven paradigm for Business Process Management in software companies. This solution offers a suitable mechanism that was implemented successfully in different companies with a tool case named NDTQ-Framework.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TIN2010-20057-C03-02Junta de Andalucía TIC-578

Digital transformation and business model innovation : a multiple case study of retail chains in Germany

This thesis examines how the digital revolution has affected German grocery stores in particular and the country's retail sector as a whole. This study illuminates the connection between digital transformation and business model innovation in the retail industry using various qualitative research techniques, including expert interviews with Company A and Company B and a thorough literature analysis. The findings draw attention to the enabling elements, which include strong leadership commitment, successful change management, engagement with external partners, availability of resources and competencies, and a customer-centric emphasis. Legacy systems, talent shortages, poor IT infrastructure, and cultural barriers are a few of the reported difficulties. By evaluating these elements, the study offers valuable perceptions and suggestions for retail businesses seeking to negotiate the challenges and take advantage of the advantages of digital transformation and business model innovation. The study adds to the body of knowledge by providing actual data and case studies that deepen the comprehension of how business model innovation in the retail sector interacts with digital transformation. This thesis offers concrete solutions to improve operations and preserve competitiveness in the constantly changing consumer products industry. It is an invaluable resource for retail organizations looking to stimulate business model innovation and drive digital transformation.Esta tese analisa a forma como a revolução digital afectou as mercearias alemãs, em particular, e o sector retalhista do país como um todo. Este estudo ilustra a ligação entre a transformação digital e a inovação do modelo empresarial no sector do retalho, utilizando várias técnicas de investigação qualitativa, incluindo entrevistas a especialistas da Empresa A e da Empresa B e uma análise exaustiva da literatura. As conclusões chamam a atenção para os elementos facilitadores, que incluem um forte empenhamento da liderança, uma gestão da mudança bem sucedida, o envolvimento com parceiros externos, a disponibilidade de recursos e competências e uma ênfase centrada no cliente. Os sistemas herdados, a escassez de talentos, as deficientes infra-estruturas de TI e as barreiras culturais são algumas das dificuldades comunicadas. Ao avaliar estes elementos, o estudo oferece percepções e sugestões valiosas para as empresas de retalho que procuram enfrentar os desafios e tirar partido das vantagens da transformação digital e da inovação do modelo empresarial. O estudo contribui para o corpo de conhecimento ao fornecer dados reais e estudos de caso que aprofundam a compreensão de como a inovação do modelo de negócio no sector do retalho interage com a transformação digital. Esta tese oferece soluções concretas para melhorar as operações e preservar a competitividade na indústria de produtos de consumo em constante mudança. É um recurso inestimável para as organizações de retalho que procuram estimular a inovação do modelo empresarial e impulsionar a transformação digital

Adapting Agile in Regulated (Pharmaceutical) Environment

Pharmaceutical software industries practice traditional approach for years, and when it comes to a change they are struggling to adapt new software methodologies such as agile; which is most commonly used by IT industries. The most significant factor required for successful agile adaptation is to make sure new practices should be aligned with the pharmaceutical regulations and the process should be validated and properly documented as per the guidelines. Apart from this, there are few challenges that Pharmaceutical companies are facing to adopt new changes. Those challenges mentioned in various research articles are highlighted in this research paper. This research paper also mentions the possibility to overcome those challenges while adapting the agile practices for regulated software developments projects. This research contains the proposal of actionable items to make transition easier by making changes to traditional approach. The adaption plan will be developed by using findings from Diagnostic Grifols successful adaptation plan. This research paper highlights the insights of agile approach and the way to customizing the agile activities to meet safety and regulatory needs. Besides, QA activities and its contribution will be explored to ease adaptation processes

The Role of Regret and Its Applications in IS Decision Making

Although IS studies have begun to recognize the role of emotion in decision making, the research in this area is still in its infancy. The exploration of IS decision making phenomena through the lens of regret can offer rich implications to both research and practice. The presence of regret, for instance, can explain how and why IS decision makers choose a certain option. Motivated by the gap in the literature, the three papers in this dissertation investigate the role of regret in decision making in IS contexts. Specifically, the three projects investigate the following: IT real options decision in the context of RFID investment in libraries, whistle-blowing decision in the context of violations of heath information privacy, and process documentation decision in the context of investment in process improvement initiatives in an IT project. The contributions and implications of the three studies are presented further

Continuous and secure integration framework for smart contracts

En tiempo reciente, el desarrollo de contratos inteligentes ha tenido un auge debido al interés generado por criptomonedas en la tecnología de blockchains. Investigadores han encontrado diferentes usos para los contratos inteligentes gracias a este interés. Debido a esto, se ha logrado evidenciar los problemas de seguridad que se han presentado con múltiples contratos y los problemas que pueden llegar a ocasionarse. Por tanto, decidimos evaluar los esquemas de DevOps actual para buscar adaptarlo a un modelo de trabajo compatible con los contratos inteligentes. Siguiendo múltiples investigaciones realizadas por otros investigadores en fases específicas, logramos identificar las falencias de DevOps en contratos inteligentes. Considerando la información que recolectamos, trabajamos en definir las fases y actividades que deben ir en estas. El resultado es haber logrado proponer un framework adaptable con todos los pasos a considerar durante el desarrollo de contratos inteligentes. Además, dicho framework es probado utilizando tecnologías para demostrar su viabilidad.MaestríaMagister en Ingeniería de Sistemas y Computació

Insights into software development approaches: mining Q &A repositories

© 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Context: Software practitioners adopt approaches like DevOps, Scrum, and Waterfall for high-quality software development. However, limited research has been conducted on exploring software development approaches concerning practitioners’ discussions on Q &A forums. Objective: We conducted an empirical study to analyze developers’ discussions on Q &A forums to gain insights into software development approaches in practice. Method: We analyzed 13,903 developers’ posts across Stack Overflow (SO), Software Engineering Stack Exchange (SESE), and Project Management Stack Exchange (PMSE) forums. A mixed method approach, consisting of the topic modeling technique (i.e., Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA)) and qualitative analysis, is used to identify frequently discussed topics of software development approaches, trends (popular, difficult topics), and the challenges faced by practitioners in adopting different software development approaches. Findings: We identified 15 frequently mentioned software development approaches topics on Q &A sites and observed an increase in trends for the top-3 most difficult topics requiring more attention. Finally, our study identified 49 challenges faced by practitioners while deploying various software development approaches, and we subsequently created a thematic map to represent these findings. Conclusions: The study findings serve as a useful resource for practitioners to overcome challenges, stay informed about current trends, and ultimately improve the quality of software products they develop.Peer reviewe