The XP customer team: A grounded theory

The initial definition of XP resulted in many people interpreting the on-site customer to be a single person. We have conducted extensive qualitative research studying XP teams, and one of our research questions was “who is the customer”? We found that, rather than a single person, a customer team always exists. In this paper we outline the different roles that were typically on the team, which range from the recognized “Acceptance Tester” role to the less recognized roles of “Political Advisor” and “Super-Secretary”

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

Applying Normalization Process Theory to Explain Large-Scale Agile Transformation

Given the prevalence and effectiveness of agile methods at a team level, large organizations are now attempting to mimic this success at large-scale by adopting large-scale methods such as Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Spotify, and Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS). However, compared to insights on traditionally small-scale methods, the extant literature provides sparse coverage on theories to examine large-scale agile transformations. In this article, we focus on the challenge of normalizing large-scale agile transformations and apply Normalization Process Theory (NPT) to support theorize about this process. We present our initial case study findings and outline future research on the application of NPT for large-scale transformations. From a research and practice perspective, we explain how NPT can be adopted to focus on the processes of embedding and sustaining practices – activities which are very often ignored, yet central to the success or failure of transformations

Limb bone scaling in hopping diprotodonts and quadrupedal artiodactyls

Bone adaptation is modulated by the timing, direction, rate, and magnitude of mechanical loads. To investigate whether frequent slow, or infrequent fast, gaits could dominate bone adaptation to load, we compared scaling of the limb bones from two mammalian herbivore clades that use radically different high-speed gaits, bipedal hopping and quadrupedal galloping. Forelimb and hindlimb bones were collected from 20 artiodactyl and 15 diprotodont species (body mass M 1.05 - 1536 kg) and scanned in clinical computed tomography or X-ray microtomography. Second moment of area (Imax) and bone length (l) were measured. Scaling relations (y = axb) were calculated for l vs M for each bone and for Imax vs M and Imax vs l for every 5% of length. Imax vs M scaling relationships were broadly similar between clades despite the diprotodont forelimb being nearly unloaded, and the hindlimb highly loaded, during bipedal hopping. Imax vs l and l vs M scaling were related to locomotor and behavioural specialisations. Low-intensity loads may be sufficient to maintain bone mass across a wide range of species. Occasional high-intensity gaits might not break through the load sensitivity saturation engendered by frequent low-intensity gaits

The complexity of scaling up an mHealth intervention: the case of SMS for Life in Tanzania from a health systems integration perspective

BACKGROUND: SMS for Life was one of the earliest large-scale implementations of mHealth innovations worldwide. Its goal was to increase visibility to antimalarial stock-outs through the use of SMS technology. The objective of this case study was to show the multiple innovations that SMS for Life brought to the Tanzanian public health sector and to discuss the challenges of scaling up that led to its discontinuation from a health systems perspective. METHODS: A qualitative case-study approach was used. This included a literature review, a document review of 61 project documents, a timeline of key events and the collection and analysis of 28 interviews with key stakeholders involved in or affected by the SMS for Life programme. Data collection was informed by the health system building blocks. We then carried out a thematic analysis using the WHO mHealth Assessment and Planning for Scale (MAPS) Toolkit as a framework. This served to identify the key reasons for the discontinuation of the programme. RESULTS: SMS for Life was reliable at scale and raised awareness of stock-outs with real-time monitoring. However, it was discontinued in 2015 after 4 years of a national rollout. The main reasons identified for the discontinuation were the programme's failure to adapt to the continuous changes in Tanzania's health system, the focus on stock-outs rather than ensuring appropriate stock management, and that it was perceived as costly by policy-makers. Despite its discontinuation, SMS for Life, together with co-existing technologies, triggered the development of the capacity to accommodate and integrate future technologies in the health system. CONCLUSION: This study shows the importance of engaging appropriate stakeholders from the outset, understanding and designing system-responsive interventions appropriately when scaling up and ensuring value to a broad range of health system actors. These shortcomings are common among digital health solutions and need to be better addressed in future implementations

Early Validation of High-Tech Start-ups by Using Big Data

Source at https://circulareconomy.europa.eu/platform/en/news-and-events/all-events/ispim-innovation-conference-2023.Majority of the start-ups fail in the early stage of the development due to lack of validation. This paper focuses on high-tech start-ups and investigates the use of data and/or big data at this stage. The study found that early-stage start-ups fail because they create products or services not needed in the market. Early validation through an agile approach can help these young companies to manoeuver through a turbulent external environment. The results show that big data or data can act as a support at this stage. However, there are various barriers that need to be addressed for successful data adoption. The paper proposes an early validation user guide (EVU) to overcome these barriers and make data adoption easier. The EVU can provide start-ups the tools to use big data or data as a support for early validation based on the market context of the start-ups