Enterprise Experience into the Integration of Human-Centered Design and Kanban

he integration of Human-Centered Design (HCD) and Agile Software Development (ASD) promises the development of competitive products comprising a good User Experience (UX). This study has investigated the integration of HCD and Kanban with the aim to gain industrial experiences in a real world context. A case study showed that requirements flow into the development process in a structured manner by adding a design board. To this end, the transparency concerning recurring requirements increased. We contribute to the body of knowledge of software development by providing practical insights into Human-Centered Agile Development (HCAD). On one hand, it is shown that the integration of HCD and Kanban leads to a product with a good UX and makes the development process more human-centered. On the other hand, we conclude that a cross-functional collaboration speeds up product development.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3-3-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-71938-RED

Identifying Agile Requirements Engineering Patterns in Industry

Agile Software Development (ASD) is gaining in popularity in today´s business world. Industry is adopting agile methodologies both to accelerate value delivery and to enhance the ability to deal with changing requirements. However, ASD has a great impact on how Requirements Engineering (RE) is carried out in agile environments. The integration of Human-Centered Design (HCD) plays an important role due to the focus on user and stakeholder involvement. To this end, we aim to introduce agile RE patterns as main objective of this paper. On the one hand, we will describe our pattern mining process based on empirical research in literature and industry. On the other hand, we will discuss our results and provide two examples of agile RE patterns. In sum, the pattern mining process identifies 41 agile RE patterns. The accumulated knowledge will be shared by means of a web application.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3-3-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2016-76956-C3-2-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-71938-RED

On the Interface Between Operations and Human Resources Management

Operations management (OM) and human resources management (HRM) have historically been very separate fields. In practice, operations managers and human resource managers interact primarily on administrative issues regarding payroll and other matters. In academia, the two subjects are studied by separate communities of scholars publishing in disjoint sets of journals, drawing on mostly separate disciplinary foundations. Yet, operations and human resources are intimately related at a fundamental level. Operations are the context that often explains or moderates the effects of human resource activities such as pay, training, communications and staffing. Human responses to operations management systems often explain variations or anomalies that would otherwise be treated as randomness or error variance in traditional operations research models. In this paper, we probe the interface between operations and human resources by examining how human considerations affect classical OM results and how operational considerations affect classical HRM results. We then propose a unifying framework for identifying new research opportunities at the intersection of the two fields

Towards an Improved Software Project Monitoring Task Model of Agile Kanban Method

Agile Kanban method recently is gaining increasing attention and popularity in software development organizations (SDOs). This method has numerous advantages that make it performs better than other Agile methods in terms of managing software projects. However, different studies revealed that this method has significant challenges that negatively impact the scheduling of the development process. Therefore, late delivery of software projects may occur, thus the rate of projects failures will be increased. In response, this paper aims to explicate the current challenges in progress monitoring task of Agile Kanban method. Accordingly, the results gave insights to bridge that gap by developing an improved software project monitoring task model of Agile Kanban method. To do so, we identified the components and criteria that affect software project monitoring task, and then an initial model has proposed. The initial model consists of three main components, which are (1) extending progress tracking, (2) generating optimum WIP limits, and (3) visualizing useful insights for workflow. Further research can be focused on developing and evaluating the proposed model through discussion with the knowledge and domain experts

The hidden pitfalls of Kanban in software development

ABSTRACT: Objectives of the Study: The objective of this thesis is to explore the hidden pitfalls of Kanban in software development. The aim is to discover the reasons behind the pitfalls and actions that nourish Kanban's failure. Academic background and methodology: Software development industry has been shifting towards more iterative, responsive and people-oriented development methods, which present the values of lean and agile thinking. Being characterized as the antidote for bureaucracy, the shift towards agile development methodologies has been one of the most significant factors affecting the software industry. Kanban as an agile change management framework has been perceived as the fairy godmother of software development making the reasons behind struggling Kanban projects particularly interesting. Thesis interviews five agile experts in the software development and studies their experiences of unsuccessful Kanban implementations. Emphasis is given to similar experiences and perceptions on how Kanban fails to redeem its value proposition. Findings: The primary finding of the study is that an organization that is unable to change its mindset to support Kanban is a pitfall affecting the whole project, inevitably causing Kanban to fail. This is a challenge that all agile methods have in common. Agile can flourish only when agile values are being appreciated. The secondary finding is that many software teams claiming to be using Kanban have implemented only a shallow imitation of the real method thus creating a superficial implementation, which prevents achieving Kanban induced benefits. Thus, creating a superficial implementation, which prevents achieving Kanban induced benefits. Furthermore, the erroneous human interpretation of what Kanban really is and how to apply it correctly is a key factor contributing to the emerge of the pitfalls. Keywords: Kanban, software development, pitfall, agile, change management, framewor

An Empirical Study of Scrumban Formation based on the Selection of Scrum and Kanban Practices

Scrumban is a combination of practices from Kanban and Scrum practices to manage the development of software based on different project situations. Scrumban practices formation can differ based on different projects and team members. However, since each method has its own pros and cons, inappropriate formation of Scrumban practices may lead to increased waste and time of development, and decreased quality, which in turn, affect the Agile organizations and cause inefficient and ineffective development. Practitioners of Kanban and Scrum are convinced that a combination of both methods is better than the use of one and thus, practitioners should be guided in their decision making. This study aims to show how Scrumban method is formed based on a combination of Kanban and Scrum methods. Scrumban formation and the identification of the factors, which assist in the combination of Kanban and Scrum were conducted through a review of the previous work and semi-structured interviews with 7 Agile experts, after which, content analysis was conducted to analyse the gathered data. Different factors - the method prescription, roles and responsibilities, adoption time, team size, batch size, requirements prioritization, feature size, lead time, technical practices, cost and quality, assist Agile team members in the formation of Scrumban by combining appropriate Kanban and Scrum practices. In addition, Scrumban were found to be more appropriate than Scrum or Kanban in saving time, improving quality and minimizing waste

The impact of lean practices on inventory turnover

Lean manufacturing (LM) is currently enjoying its second heyday. Companies in several industries are implementing leanpractices to keep pace with the competition and achieve better results. In this article, we will concentrate on how companies can improve their inventoryturnover performance through the use ofleanpractices. According to our main proposition, firms that widely apply leanpractices have higher inventoryturnover than those that do not rely on LM. However, there may be significant differences in inventoryturnover even among lean manufacturers depending on their contingencies. Therefore, we also investigate how various contingency factors (production systems, order types, product types) influence theinventoryturnoveroflean manufacturers. We use cluster and correlation analysis to separate manufacturers based onthe extent of their leanness and to examine the effect of contingencies. We acquired the data from the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS) in ISIC sectors 28–35

Card-based systems: systematic literature review of new systems and proposal of a list of soft factors for systems implementation

Although Production Control Systems are considered a mature topic in literature, up to now, the focus of literature has been on optimizing the operating parameters of each system, assigning little importance to factors related to human influence (soft factors). Implementation, however, remains a complex problem. This paper aims to reduce this gap by proposing, through a combination of research methods, a list of soft factors critical to success in implementing card-based systems, which which are the most studied and implemented and which share as a characteristic a strong human influence on their functioning. However, to achieve this goal, it was initially necessary to identify which systems are based on cards. Although for systems such as Kanban and CONWIP there is a large literature available, systems developed after POLCA proposal in 1998 were little explored. Therefore, this dissertation initially performs a systematic literature review identifying 13 systems developed between 1999 and 2018, such as COBACABANA, DDMRP, Redutex, B-CONWIP, BK-CONWIP, among others. Briefly, it presents how each system works, its characteristics, current research stage and environments in which it has been proved to be useful, aiming to increase researches about them. The systems are also compared in relation to six variables defined in the literature, identifying that many of the new systems are card-based. The soft factors proposed for the implementation of card-based systems are based on the analysis of problems cited in the literature as well as difficulties identified through a longitudinal case study. This list was validated by experts as well as a group of employees from the focus company that participated in the implementation of kanban. This dissertation also proposes a soft factor house for the implementation of card-based systems, in which the factors are classified as exclusive to this theme or classic management factors, as well as in relation to the organizational level in which it operates (organization, implementation group, or individual). This house aims to assist managers in implementing card-based systems, increasing success rates in this process. In addition, by reviewing recent production control systems, this dissertation aims to increase the repertoire of managers on existing systems, enabling the implementation of more appropriate options for the productive environment in which they are located.Não recebi financiamentoEmbora os Sistemas de Coordenação de Ordens sejam considerado um tópico maduro na literatura, o foco da literatura até o momento recaiu especialmente sobre a otimização dos parâmetros de funcionamento de cada sistema, atribuindo pouca importância aos fatores relacionados a influência humana (soft factors). A implementação, contudo, continua a ser um problema complexo. Esse trabalho visa reduzir essa lacuna, propondo, através de uma combinação de métodos de pesquisa, uma lista de fatores soft críticos para o sucesso na implementação de sistemas baseado em cartão, os quais são os mais estudados e implementados e que compartilham como característica uma forte influência humana em seu funcionamento. Contudo, para realização desse objetivo, inicialmente foi necessário identificar quais são os sistemas baseados em cartão. Embora para sistemas como o Kanban e o CONWIP exista uma grande literatura disponível, sistemas desenvolvidos após a proposta do POLCA em 1998 foram pouco explorados. Assim, essa dissertação inicialmente realiza uma revisão sistemática de literatura identificando 13 sistemas desenvolvidos entre 1999 e 2018, tais como COBACABANA, DDMRP, Redutex, B-CONWIP, BK-CONWIP, dentre outros. Brevemente, é apresentado o funcionamento, características, estágio atual de pesquisa e ambientes propícios para cada sistema, visando aumentar as pesquisas sobre eles. Os sistemas são também comparados em relação a seis variáveis, identificando-se que muitos dos novos sistemas são baseados em cartão. Os fatores soft propostos para a implementação de sistemas baseado em cartão se baseiam na análise de problemas citados na literatura bem como de dificuldades identificadas através de um estudo de caso longitudinal. Essa lista foi validada por especialistas assim como por um grupo de colaboradores da empresa foco que participou da implementação do kanban. Nessa dissertação é proposta também uma casa de fatores soft para a implementação de sistemas baseados em cartão, nas quais os fatores são classificados como exclusivos dessa temática ou fatores clássicos de administração, bem como em relação ao nível organizacional em que atua. (organização, grupo de implementação ou indivíduo). Essa casa tem como objetivo auxiliar os gerentes na implementação de sistemas baseados em cartão, aumentando as taxas de sucesso nesse processo. Além disso, através da revisão de sistemas de coordenação de ordens recentes, essa dissertação visa aumentar o repertório dos gerentes sobre os sistemas existentes, possibilitando a implementação de opções mais adequadas para o ambiente produtivo em que se encontram