Agile Requirements Engineering: A systematic literature review

Nowadays, Agile Software Development (ASD) is used to cope with increasing complexity in system development. Hybrid development models, with the integration of User-Centered Design (UCD), are applied with the aim to deliver competitive products with a suitable User Experience (UX). Therefore, stakeholder and user involvement during Requirements Engineering (RE) are essential in order to establish a collaborative environment with constant feedback loops. The aim of this study is to capture the current state of the art of the literature related to Agile RE with focus on stakeholder and user involvement. In particular, we investigate what approaches exist to involve stakeholder in the process, which methodologies are commonly used to present the user perspective and how requirements management is been carried out. We conduct a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) with an extensive quality assessment of the included studies. We identified 27 relevant papers. After analyzing them in detail, we derive deep insights to the following aspects of Agile RE: stakeholder and user involvement, data gathering, user perspective, integrated methodologies, shared understanding, artifacts, documentation and Non-Functional Requirements (NFR). Agile RE is a complex research field with cross-functional influences. This study will contribute to the software development body of knowledge by assessing the involvement of stakeholder and user in Agile RE, providing methodologies that make ASD more human-centric and giving an overview of requirements management in ASD.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3-3-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-71938-RED

SKI: A New Agile Framework that supports DevOps, Continuous Delivery, and Lean Hypothesis Testing

This paper explores the need for a new process framework that can effectively support DevOps and Continuous Delivery teams. It then defines a new framework, which adheres to the lean Kanban philosophy but augments Kanban by providing a structured iteration process. This new Structured Kanban Iteration (SKI) framework defines capability-based iterations (as opposed to Kanban-like no iterations or Scrum-like time-based sprints) as well as roles, meetings and artifacts. This structure enables a team to adopt a well-defined process that can be consistently used across groups and organizations. While many of SKI’s concepts are similar to those in found in Scrum, SKI’s capability-based iterations can support the demands of product development as well as operational support efforts, and hence, is well suited for DevOps and Continuous Delivery. SKI also supports lean hypothesis testing as well as more traditional software development teams where capability-based iterations are deemed more appropriate than time-based sprints

SAFe metodologian vaikutus kommunikaatioon ja yhteistyöhön

Nowadays, with the influence of global economy large corporations use global software development to utilise advantages of geographically decentralised organisations and global outsourced software development. Through distributed organisations the work can be done around the clock. Global software development is impacted by three distance dimensions: time distance, geographical distance, and socio-cultural distance, which all bring some challenges. At the same time agile way of working has become more and more popular method in software development. As agile practises are created for co-located teams there is a demand for having working online solutions for communication and collaboration in distributed teams. Corporations use scaled agile way of working to support software develop-ment of large initiatives and projects. Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is the most popular among the scaled agile methods. This thesis was conducted as a case study in a multinational corporation. Objective of the case study was to research effectiveness of scaled agile methodology SAFe on communication and collaboration in teams and agile release trains. The case study included two parts: a web-survey and interviews. The results of the analyses of the case study support findings from the literature in the field. The results indicate the importance of communication and collaboration in agile practices and the significance of the online tools that support it

Aplicação de SAFe® a um Projecto de Manutenção de Aviões

Maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) operations have a great impact on the life cycle of an aircraft (A/C). MROs organizations address various challenges on planning activities to ensure the maximum reliability of an A/C, given the amount of unscheduled maintenance. Subcontracting MRO activities by airline companies, has been continuously increasing as an alternative of performing the heavy maintenance themselves, adding a constraint on this type of industries which is to manage the customer demands. Considering the main issues, it is required to select the most suitable approach to plan and manage A/C maintenance projects. Agile Project Management (PM) could be a solution to overcome the main difficulties in this sector, managing the uncertainty throughout the project, providing customer visibility and control over the service. This work arises in a real-life case of a subcontracted MRO program in a multinational A/C manufacture enterprise, which also suffers from significant challenges of planning and managing maintenance activities throughout the project life cycle. The program has experimented agile methodologies that revealed a positive impact. In order to the whole program embrace agility and overcome the identified main problems, it was proposed the usage of an elaborate and well-defined agile framework. Scaled Agile Framework for enterprises (SAFe®) is an online knowledge base that implements diverse agile techniques to support businesses, develop and deliver solutions, achieving business agility. As SAFe® was mainly developed for software industries, due to the characteristics of the project and the type of industry where it is inserted, the application of this framework needed to be customized. Accordingly to the particularities of the project, the most suitable PM approach is a hybrid approach, where initially the scope of the project is delineated, with a contingency plan, supported by SAFe® to manage the issues that arise throughout the project. The agile methodologies allow customer centred attention, more communication channels, and by iterating over the product, planning the unscheduled work focusing on high priority tasks. Lastly, a framework in the core of the appearance of the issues was developed, to define the interconnection between the whole SAFe® concepts and to provide an extended view of how the project will progress with the new approach.As operações de manutenção, reparação e revisão produzem grande impacto no ciclo de vida de uma aeronave. As organizações que operam neste setor enfrentam vários desafios no planeamento das atividades que garantem a máxima confiabilidade de uma aeronave, dada a quantidade de manutenção não programada. A subcontratação deste tipo de atividades, por parte das companhias aéreas, tem crescido continuamente como uma alternativa à realização da própria manutenção pesada, adicionando um constrangimento para este tipo de indústrias: gerir as exigências dos clientes. Considerando os principais problemas, é necessário selecionar a abordagem mais adequada para planear e gerir projetos de manutenção de aviões. A gestão ágil de projetos poderá ser uma solução para superar as principais dificuldades deste setor, gerindo as incertezas ao longo do projeto, proporcionando visibilidade ao cliente e controlo sobre o serviço. Este trabalho surge num caso real de um programa subcontratado numa empresa multinacional de fabrico de aviões, que também sofre de desafios significativos no planeamento e gestão de atividades de manutenção ao longo do ciclo de vida do projeto. O programa experienciou metodologias ágeis que revelaram um impacto positivo. Para que todo o programa adote a agilidade e supere os principais problemas identificados, foi proposto o uso de uma elaborada e bem definida estrutura ágil. O Scaled Agile Framework para empresas é uma base de conhecimento online que implementa diversas técnicas ágeis para apoiar as empresas no desenvolvimento e entrega de soluções, alcançando a agilidade nos negócios. O SAFe® foi desenvolvido principalmente para indústrias de software, devido às características do projeto e ao tipo de indústria em que está inserido, a aplicação desta estrutura necessitou de ser personalizada. De acordo com as particularidades do projeto, a abordagem de gestão de projetos mais adequada é uma abordagem híbrida, onde inicialmente o projeto é delineado, com um plano de contingência, apoiado pelo SAFe® para gerenciar os problemas que surgem ao longo do projeto. As metodologias ágeis permitem centrar a atenção no cliente, mais canais de comunicação e, ao iterar sobre o produto, planear o trabalho não programado com foco em tarefas de alta prioridade. Por fim, foi desenvolvido um framework no cerne do surgimento dos problemas, de forma a definir as interligações entre todos os conceitos do SAFe® e fornecer uma visão ampliada de como o projeto irá progredir com a nova abordagem

Management Methods for Complex Projects

This freely available project management eBook is the start of your journey in the field of complex project management methodologies, introducing you to some of the core methods, processes and tools as recognised by the project management discipline. This eBook lays out methodologies such as XP, Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Six Sigma, PRINCE2, Waterfall, PRiSM, Soft Systems Methodology as well as introducing Project Design as a method so you can leverage the right project management approach. This eBook will be of value to students, practitioners, and businesses in Australia and overseas seeking professional development in the field of project management methodologies

Agile Testing: Improving the Process : Case Descom

The thesis was assigned by Descom, a marketing and technology company based in Jyväskylä. The aim of the thesis was to research the current state of testing inside the organization, and to improve on the existing processes and practices. The thesis was carried out as a design research (applied action research), because the focus was improving already existing processes inside a company. The theory base contains a wide range of subjects from agile development models, the testing process, and process improvement models to agile testing. Without a solid base of multiple aspects it would have been impossible to understand how the testing works as a process and how it could have been improved. As Descom uses agile development it was necessary to follow the same principles throughout the writing of the thesis and on results. As a result information was provided for the company about the current state of testing procedures at Descom and how to improve the testing and processes in the future. The documentation already existing for testing such as the test plan and test report were updated. New documents such as a process improvement plan based on Critical Testing Processes, test strategy and testing policy were also created. Figures of the testing process, and the processes for all test types in use were created to be used as a visual aid for understanding the testing as whole at Descom.Opinnäytetyön toimeksianto tuli Descomilta, joka on Jyväskylästä lähtöisin oleva markkinointi ja teknologia yritys. Työn tavoitteena oli tutkia testauksen tilaa organisaatiossa ja kehittää olemassa olevia prosesseja ja käytäntöjä. Tutkimusmenetelmäksi valikoitui kehittämistutkimus, koska painotus oli olemassa olevien prosessien kehityksessä yrityksen sisällä. Teoriapohjassa käsiteltiin monia aiheita ketterästä sovelluskehityksestä, testausprosessista ja prosessi kehityksestä aina ketterään testaukseen asti. Ilman kattavaa pohjaa monille osa-alueille, olisi ollut mahdotonta ymmärtää miten testaus toimii prosessina ja miten sitä pystyy kehittämään. Descom toimii ketterän sovelluskehityksen mukaisesti projekteissaan, joten oli tärkeää seurata samoja ketteriä periaatteita läpi opinnäytetyön kirjoittamisen ja tuloksissa. Tuloksena saatiin tietoa yritykselle, siitä miten testaus on toiminut Descomilla ja kuinka testausta ja prosesseja tulisi kehittää tulevaisuudessa. Myös aiemmin olemassa olleet testausdokumentit päivitettiin. Uusina dokumentteina laadittiin suunnitelma prosessikehitykseen, joka perustui Critical Testing Processes –malliin, testausstrategia ja testauspolitiikka. Prosessikuvaus tehtiin kaavioita käyttäen, joilla kuvattiin prosessi kokonaisuutena sekä käytettävät testaustasot

Project Management in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Beer production project

El objetivo de este documento es encontrar soluciones a los problemas de gestión de proyectos que surgen como consecuencia de la cuarta revolución industrial, que está cambiando la industria tal y como la conocemos y nos sitúa en un punto crítico de adaptación a una nueva realidad que traerá consigo grandes oportunidades y también grandes riesgos. Además, la gestión de los nuevos proyectos 4.0 supondrá un reto de comunicación entre expertos en tecnologías y lenguajes informáticos muy diferentes, por lo que este documento destaca los elementos a tener en cuenta en la revolución tecnológica y estudia cómo gestionar un proyecto en una Smart factory.The aim of this document is to find solutions to the project management problems that arise as a result of the fourth industrial revolution, which is changing industry as we know it and places us at a critical point of adaptation to a new reality that will bring great opportunities as well as great risks. In addition, the management of new 4.0 projects will pose a challenge for communication between experts in very different technologies and computer languages, which is why this document highlights the elements to be taken into account in the technological revolution and studies how to manage a project in a Smart factory.Hochschule Albstadt-SigmaringenGrado en Ingeniería en Organización Industria

An Exploration of the Use of Gamification in Agile Software Development

Although Project Management has existed for many millennia, software project management is relatively new. As a discipline, software project management is considered difficult. The reasons for this include that software development is non-deterministic; opaque and delivered under ever-increasing time pressure in a volatile environment. Evolving from Incremental and Iterative Development (IID), Agile methodologies have attempted to address these issues by focusing on frequent delivery; working closely with the customer; being responsive to change and preferring working software to extensive documentation. This focus on delivery rather than documentation has sometimes been misrepresented as no documentation, which has led to a shortfall in project metrics. Gamification has its roots in motivation. The aim of gamification is to persuade users to behave in a manner set out by the designer of the gamification. This is achieved by adding game mechanics or elements from games into non-game applications. This dissertation examines the use of gamification in Agile projects and includes an empirical experiment that examines the use of gamification on Agile project tracking. Project tracking is an element of software engineering that acts as a de-motivator for software engineers. Software Engineers are highly motivated by independence and growth, while project tracking is seen as boring work. The dissertation experiment identifies a methodology for applying gamification experiments and then implements an experiment. The result was an overall improvement in project tracking. The experiment needs to be expanded to be run over a longer period of time and a more varied group of development teams

Development of a continuous improvement process for agile software development teams

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Industrial Engineering and ManagementThe fast growth of the technology market has triggered the highest levels of competitiveness and globalization in the current business environment. The present VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) world and the continuous pursuit for new products and services has increased customer's demands, requiring the companies to be more flexible than ever by delivering software with quality, in time and within budget while in search of excellence and success. To reach this purpose, many software organizations have been adopting Agile Methodologies combined with Continuous Improvement projects, in order to achieve an improvement in customer satisfaction, providing products with higher quality, lower costs and in shorter time to the market. The ENG-P department at Bosch Braga, had a track record of some practices of Scrum but it was recognized that most teams were inefficient in taking advantage of the improvement opportunities that arose during the Sprint Retrospective ceremonies and transform them into improvements for the team. The objective of this dissertation project was to design a process for the inception of Continuous Improvement (CI) in one team of the ENG-P department, that could define the actions that needed to be taken after the Retrospective ceremony, in order to make the most out of the suggestions given by the team. By combining the Scrum cycle and the Lean philosophy, this CI process helped the team analyze problems or improvement opportunities and proceed to their prioritization, planning, implementation and evaluation, making the team more effective in problem-solving, more motivated and, consequently, more productive. The first step was to define which CI strategy would be implemented. Between analytical and benchmark approaches, the PDCA was the one selected to serve as foundation for the CI process due to its application to improve processes, products or services in any organization. After the implementation and standardization of the CI process in the daily work of the team, the final results showed that this new method doubled the suggestions implementation rate when compared with the previous results obtained by only performing the Retrospective ceremony. In addition, the accumulation of small improvements throughout time were responsible for substantial changes in the team. The level of motivation, involvement, empowerment and teamwork increased, there was a better visual task and time management, the communication improved, and a mindset of continuous improvement was built within the team.O rápido crescimento do mercado tecnológico despoletou os mais altos níveis de competitividade e globalização no atual ambiente de negócios. O presente mundo VUCA (volátil, incerto, complexo e ambíguo) e a procura contínua por novos produtos e serviços levou a um aumento das exigências dos clientes, obrigando as empresas a tornarem-se mais flexíveis e a fornecer software com qualidade, atempadamente e dentro do orçamento, enquanto procuram alcançar a excelência e o sucesso próprio. Com foco neste objetivo, muitas empresas de desenvolvimento de software têm recentemente adotado metodologias ágeis em simbiose com projetos de melhoria contínua, com a finalidade de obterem uma maior satisfação do cliente, fornecendo produtos com maior qualidade e custos mais baixos. O departamento ENG-P da Bosch Braga já possuía no seu histórico algumas práticas de Scrum, mas reconheceu-se que a maioria das equipas eram ineficientes no aproveitamento das oportunidades de melhoria que surgiam durante a cerimónia Retrospetiva e transformá-las em melhorias para a equipa. O objetivo deste projeto de dissertação foi projetar um processo para a implementação de uma estratégia de Melhoria Contínua numa equipa do departamento ENG-P. Este definiu as ações a serem tomadas após a Retrospetiva, de forma a aproveitar ao máximo as sugestões dadas pela equipa. A combinação entre o ciclo Scrum e a filosofia Lean auxiliou a equipa na análise de problemas ou oportunidades de melhoria, na sua priorização, planeamento, implementação e avaliação. Estas ações permitiram que a equipa se tornasse mais motivada e eficaz na resolução de problemas e, consequentemente, mais produtiva. A primeira etapa consistiu na definição da estratégia de melhoria contínua a ser implementada. Entre abordagens de benchmark e analíticas, o ciclo PDCA foi a técnica selecionada como base ao processo devido à sua aplicabilidade na melhoraria de processos, produtos ou serviços. Após a implementação e padronização do processo no trabalho diário da equipa, os resultados demostraram que a sua adoção duplicou a taxa de implementação de sugestões da equipa, quando comparado a resultados obtidos apenas com realização da Retrospetiva, aumentando a capacidade de resolução de problemas da equipa. Além disso, pequenas melhorias alcançadas ao longo do tempo trouxeram grandes mudanças para a equipa. O nível de motivação, envolvimento e teamwork aumentou, existiu uma melhor gestão visual das tarefas e do tempo, a comunicação melhorou e foi construída uma mentalidade de melhoria contínua dentro da equipa