Reflecting on Evidence-Based Timelines

Project retrospectives can be powerful tools for project teams to collectively identify communication gaps and practices to improve for future projects. However, even if project members take the time for a retrospective, it can be hard to correctly remember and jointly discuss past events in a constructive way. Fact-based timelines that visualize a project's events offer a possible solution

An analysis on key factors of Agile Project Management

Agile software development is a new method for developing and implementing software. It depends more on ad hoc approaches to planning and control in favor of the more organic processes of teamwork and mutual education. After reviewing several case studies of business initiatives, this chapter defines and describes agile project management. It discusses the historical context of the shift from conventional management's emphasis on top-down supervision and process standardization to agile's emphasis on self-managing teams, with all of the advantages and complications it entails. In this section, you will study the four cornerstones of agile project management: minimal critical specification, self-organizing teams, redundancy, and feedback and learning

Job Satisfaction in Agile Development Teams: Agile Development as Work Redesign

Agile software-development advocates claim that an important value proposition of agile methods is that they make people more motivated and satisfied with their jobs. While several studies present anecdotal evidence that agile methods increase motivation and satisfaction, research has not theoretically explained or empirically examined how agile development practices relate to team members’ feelings about their work. Drawing on the management and software-development literature, we articulate a model of job design that connects agile development practices to perceptions of job characteristics and, thereby, improve agile team members’ job satisfaction. Using data collected from 252 software-development professionals, we tested the model and found a positive relationship between agile project-management and software-development practices and employees’ perceptions of job characteristics. Further, we found direct effects between agile development-practice use and job satisfaction. Finally, we found interaction effects between the use of agile project-management and software-development approaches and the perception of job autonomy. With this study, we contribute to the literature by theoretically explaining and directly evaluating agile development practices’ impact on individuals’ perceptions about their job characteristics and on their job satisfaction

Building Stronger Bridges: Strategies for Improving Communication and Collaboration Between Industry and Academia in Software Engineering

Background: The software engineering community has expressed growing concern regarding the need for more connections between research and practice. Despite the large amount of knowledge researchers generate, its impact on real-world practice is uncertain. Meanwhile, practitioners in industry often struggle to access and utilize relevant research outcomes that could inform and enhance their work. Collaboration between industry and academia is seen as a potential solution to bridge this gap, ensuring that research remains relevant and applicable in real-world contexts.Objective: This research aims to explore challenges in communication and collaboration between industry and to design, evaluate, and implement strategies that foster this collaboration. Methodology: The design science paradigm inspires this research, as we aim to obtain knowledge about industry-academia communication and collaboration by studying challenges and solutions in context. The thesis includes case studies; some are exploratory, while others focus on evaluating specific strategies.Results: In terms of problem understanding, we identified challenges that impact communication and collaboration, such as different expectations, perspectives, and ways of working. Furthermore, we pinpointed factors facilitating communication, including long-term projects, research relevance, and practitioners' involvement.Regarding how to improve communication and collaboration, we investigated two strategies. The first strategy involves using the SERP-taxonomy approach in a project on software vulnerability management in IoT systems. The second strategy involves the proposal of interactive rapid reviews, conducted in close collaboration with practitioners. We share the lessons from conducting two reviews (one in testing machine learning systems and the other in software component selection). The benefits of conducting interactive rapid reviews include mutual understanding, the development of networks, and increased motivation for further studies.Conclusion: The thesis emphasizes the importance of industry-academia collaboration as a key aspect in closing gaps between research and practice. The strategies discussed provide tools to understand industry-academia partnerships better and support future collaborations

Scrum project framework: exploring Agile project management in a non-ITC organisation

This study used the Agile modality Scrum to investigate practitioners’ perceptions of the Scrum project framework and evaluated the frequency, mode and tools of communication in successful projects using the Scrum framework, whilst identifying any problems arising from the introduction of Scrum. A review of the literature highlighted the effectiveness of Scrum in studies that applied Agile project management in an IT environment. The literature identified that small cross-functional teams, frequent communication, quality communication, clear project goals and project transparency are effective for project management success. This research investigated five projects, as a case study, using Scrum as the project management framework, within small cross-functional teams in the non-ITC environment. This case study analysed the post-Scrum project team retrospective meetings to identify common themes in the participants feedback relating to the effectiveness of Scrum as a project management framework. Common themes identified were communication tools, project clarity, participant accountability and project momentum. These identified themes were used to create a survey artefact to investigate the legitimacy of the identified themes. The legitimacy of the retrospective common themes was confirmed by the survey responses through qualitative and supporting quantitative analysis, indicating Scrum as an effective project management framework outside the software development arena. Participant responses indicated the efficacy of daily communication frequency through the stand-up meetings, and project clarity and individual accountability through the use of Scrum board. Findings of the survey indicated the daily stand-up meeting was most effective communication mode and tool to facilitate interaction and exchange of information during the projects. The study identified a problem of perceived harassment, relating to the level of accountability/transparency of the Scrum process

Ladder to Success – Eliciting Project Managers’ Perceptions of IS Project Success Criteria

The traditional approach to assess information system (IS) project success is adherence to planning (ATP) – meeting budget, schedule, and requirements targets. Today, scholars agree that ATP is insufficient to adequately assess IS project success, but an agreed-on set of success criteria is still missing. Many works on this topic are based on theoretical considerations rather than empirical inquiries. We analyze practitioners’ subjective perspectives by investigating what criteria IS project managers consider relevant for IS project success assessment. We interview eleven experienced project managers in Germany, applying Repertory Grid and Laddering to minimize potential biases. Our results yield eight success criteria, indicating that criteria like process efficiency and stakeholder satisfaction must be considered in addition to ATP. Scholars can use our findings to apply the identified success criteria in future studies. Practitioners gain insights into the expert perspective on project success and might rethink the way of assessing success in their projects

Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP 2022, which was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in June 2022. XP is the premier agile software development conference combining research and practice. It is a unique forum where agile researchers, practitioners, thought leaders, coaches, and trainers get together to present and discuss their most recent innovations, research results, experiences, concerns, challenges, and trends.  XP conferences provide an informal environment to learn and trigger discussions and welcome both people new to agile and seasoned agile practitioners. This year’s conference was held with the theme “Agile in the Era of Hybrid Work”. The 13 full papers and 1 short paper presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 40 submissions. They were organized in topical sections named: agile practices; agile processes; and agile in the large

Agile adoption best practices in Canadian banking

This thesis examines agile software development adoption challenges in large Canadian banks. Canadian banks have adopted agile methods with varying success. The aim of the thesis is to develop an agile adoption framework, using a mixed methods research approach. Research on agile adoptions in financial firms and other regulated industries was reviewed. The result was a list of best practice and challenges that firms experience in their agile transformations. These factors, along with data gathered from interviews, surveys and observations were triangulated to produce a list of best practices. The research used mixed methods, treating the Canadian banking industry as a single case. Qualitative data were elicited through interviews and observation. Additional data was collected through an internet based survey. Chain referral sampling was used to increase the sample size. The population sampled consisted of executives responsible for agile adoptions, agile coaches and project managers involved in banking agile projects. Seven participants were interviewed and twenty seven completed surveys were received. A pilot study was conducted to test the methodology and research instruments prior to the main study. The data was analyzed using the framework method to synthesize the best practices from the literature with the primary data. The result of the research is a set of best practices and a framework for agile adoption in banking. A validation study of the framework was conducted and indicated it was suitable for banking. The analysis concluded that agile practices and adoption strategies used in non-bank industries, with some exceptions, were equally applicable to large banks. The analysis also demonstrated that a phased adoption framework was well suited to the banking culture for facilitating an agile transformation rather than a holistic companywide adoption. The theoretical contribution of this research is the identification of agile best practices and challenges experienced by practitioners within the Canadian banking industry. It is one of the first academic studies to be conducted on agile adoption in Canadian banks and contributes knowledge to the literature on agile adoptions. The practical application of the research is the proposed framework which provides a disciplined foundational roadmap for leaders initiating agile transformations in their own banks

Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming: 18th International Conference, XP 2017, Cologne, Germany, May 22-26, 2017, Proceedings

agile software development; lean development; scrum; project management; software developmen

Management Strategies for Adopting Agile Methods of Software Development in Distributed Teams

Between 2003 and 2015, more than 61% of U.S. software development teams failed to satisfy project requirements, budgets, or timelines. Failed projects cost the software industry an estimated 60 billion dollars. Lost opportunities and misused resources are often the result of software development leaders failing to implement appropriate methods for managing software projects. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies software development managers use in adopting Agile methodology in the context of distributed teams. The tenets of Agile approach are individual interaction over tools, working software over documentation, and collaboration over a contract. The conceptual framework for the study was adapting Agile development methodologies. The targeted population was software development managers of U.S.-based companies located in Northern California who had successfully adopted Agile methods for distributed teams. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with 5 managers and a review of project-tracking documentation and tools. Data analysis included inductive coding of transcribed interviews and evaluation of secondary data to identify themes through methodological triangulation. Findings indicated that coaching and training of teams, incremental implementation of Agile processes, and proactive management of communication effectiveness are effective strategies for adopting Agile methodology in the context of distributed teams. Improving the efficacy of Agile adoption may translate to increased financial stability for software engineers across the world as well as accelerate the successful development of information systems, thereby enriching human lives