Model of Critical Factors for Outsourcing Agile Development

Companies are beginning to combine outsourcing with Agile software engineering techniques with the goal of receiving the benefits of both – faster time to market, greater quality, and smaller costs. Since Agile was originally developed to work principally with small collocated teams, scalability of Agile to the enterprise, and simultaneous use of Agile and outsourcing are questions concerning applicability of Agile techniques to global business environments. This paper first summarizes current experience studies and research in Agile, enterprise Agile and Agile outsourcing, to identify factors likely to affect success on Agile projects. It then extends a model originally developed by Chow and Cao (2007) to account for these factors. Finally it outlines an experiment whose goal is to determine which of these factors drives successful projects that use both Agile and outsourcing

Communication Issues in Agile Software Development

Scrum framework is a growing trend in software industry to companies that are looking for development agile ways. In their early days, this methodology required that the working team members were established in a unique room, because it is necessary to have great communication and working together. However, it is a common increasingly practice that the teams are in geographically dispersed places, which means that it is necessary to adapt and/or look for the way that this methodology is suitable in these contexts. There are many experiences in the industry where we can see communication issues due to this kind work. In this paper we will briefly explain the Scrum framework definition, the Global Software Development (GSD) context, and the practices used in different case studies to solve the issues when applying Scrum in GSD.XIII Workshop Ingeniería de Software (WIS).Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Redesigning SDLC for HTG

The Hanover Technology Group (HTG) develops software applications for Hanover Insurance internally. They currently use a waterfall methodology that is very document oriented and inhibits HTG\u27s speed to market. This project explored process redesign opportunities to increase the speed of HTG\u27s delivery process by increasing flexibility. We collected data through staff interviews, document analysis, and research on current SDLC methodologies. We developed redesign recommendations for Scrum and hybrid methodology with guidelines to measure success after implementation

Overcoming cultural barriers to being agile in distributed teams

Context: Agile methods in offshored projects have become increasingly popular. Yet, many companies have found that the use of agile methods in coordination with companies located outside the regions of early agile adopters remains challenging. India has received particular attention as the leading destination of offshoring contracts due to significant cultural differences between sides of such contracts. Alarming differences are primarily rooted in the hierarchical business culture of Indian organizations and related command-and-control management behavior styles. Objective: In this study, we attempt to understand whether cultural barriers persist in distributed projects in which Indian engineers work with a more empowering Swedish management, and if so, how to overcome them. The present work is an invited extension of a conference paper. Method: We performed a multiple-case study in a mature agile company located in Sweden and a more hierarchical Indian vendor. We collected data from five group interviews with a total of 34 participants and five workshops with 96 participants in five distributed DevOps teams, including 36 Indian members, whose preferred behavior in different situations we surveyed. Results: We identified twelve cultural barriers, six of which were classified as impediments to agile software development practices, and report on the manifestation of these barriers in five DevOps teams. Finally, we put forward recommendations to overcome the identified barriers and emphasize the importance of cultural training, especially when onboarding new team members. Conclusions: Our findings confirm previously reported behaviors rooted in cultural differences that impede the adoption of agile approaches in offshore collaborations, and identify new barriers not previously reported. In contrast to the existing opinion that cultural characteristics are rigid and unchanging, we found that some barriers present at the beginning of the studied collaboration disappeared over time. Many offshore members reported behaving similarly to their onshore colleagues.acceptedVersio

Bringing self-initiated expatriates and companies together

The purpose of this study is to examine how, if at all, firms use what has been discovered about the motivations of self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) to attract, hire, develop and retain highvalue individuals from foreign countries. In order to do this, multiple research goals and hypotheses were formulated through a literature review. These cover the main motivations of SIEs to expatriate; which of these motivations companies are interested in; what SIE programs and policies companies have; to what extent these motives are integrated into the strategies; and how human resource professionals critically evaluate these. Then interviews were conducted with eleven organizations based primarily in Germany, with a focus on answering these questions. With these findings, it was possible to verify whether the research questions and therefore hypotheses were supported or not. I conclude that Human Resource Management (HRM) professionals can identify some (but not all) motivations of SIEs, that there are SIE motivations and personality traits which interest companies, that organizations have some SIE strategies which are for the most part focused on the essentials, that expatriates’ motives are generally integrated into HRM policies and programs, and lastly that companies are generally aware that they do not have properly established policies specifically targeted towards SIEs. They identify a lack of resources as the main reason for this but have ideas for implementing better strategies in the future. Finally, I note the implications which the findings can have in practical terms, the study’s limitations and future research topics.O objectivo deste estudo é examinar como, se de fato, empresas utilizam o que foi descoberto sobre as motivações dos expatriados auto-iniciados (EIE) para atrair, contratar, desenvolver e reter indivíduos de alto valor provenientes de países estrangeiros. Para este fim, foram formulados múltiplos objectivos e hipóteses de investigação através de uma revisão bibliográfica. Estes abrangem as principais motivações dos EIE para expatriar; em quais destas motivações as empresas estão interessadas; quais são os programas e políticas de empresas para EIE; quanto estes motivos estão integrados nas estratégias; e como os profissionais de recursos humanos os avaliam criticamente. Foram realizadas entrevistas com onze organizações sediadas principalmente na Alemanha para responder a estas questões. Com estas conclusões, foi possível verificar se as questões de investigação e, portanto, as hipóteses foram apoiadas ou não. Concluo que os profissionais de Gestão de Recursos Humanos (GRH) podem parcialmente identificar as motivações dos EIE, que existem motivações e traços de personalidade dos SIE que interessam às empresas, que as organizações têm algumas estratégias de SIE que estão, na sua maioria, centradas no essencial, que os motivos dos expatriados são geralmente integrados nas políticas e programas de GRH, e por último que empresas geralmente têm consciência de que não têm políticas devidamente estabelecidas especificamente orientadas para EIE. Identificam a falta de recursos como a principal razão para tal, mas têm ideias para implementar melhores estratégias no futuro. Finalmente, registro as implicações que as conclusões podem ter em prática, as limitações do estudo e tópicos de futuras investigações

Sherpany: should I stay or should I go; successful IT nearshoring of a tech startup

The sun slowly sinks into the Atlantic Ocean, casting its last golden rays onto the aggressively breaking waves below the Cabo da Roca. Their fury and power is not lost on Tobias Häckermann, the CEO of Sherpany. The idyllic scene in front of him has come to symbolize his Portuguese adventure - beautiful and rewarding. The Swiss CEO paused in the striking sunset for a moment of reflection. The events of the last year (2014) had been remarkable. Sherpany, his invention and a technology company providing solutions for boardroom communication, was gaining traction. Sales were now in the millions of Euros.1 Demand for services was high and the future was bright. This success story is not the result of just good fortune but rather the culmination of many strategic milestones. Häckermann’s hometown of Zurich (Switzerland) is one of the most expensive cities in the world (see Exhibit 1). It was impossible to enlist IT talent and exorbitant fixed operating costs threatened the viability of his business model. In short, Sherpany faced the classic “valley of death” scenario2a that every startup must overcome. In Häckermann’s case, the need for a fast and cost-effective way to securely grow the company and keep ahead of the competition forced him to nearshore a significant part of his operations - to Portugal. In hindsight, it all seemed so logical: a short flight from Zurich, great weather, 1-hour time difference, lower costs of labour, and abundant local IT talent looking for international opportunities, and all under the security blanket of the EU

Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP 2020, which was planned to be held during June 8-12, 2020, at the IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the conference was postponed until an undetermined date. XP is the premier agile software development conference combining research and practice. It is a hybrid forum where agile researchers, academics, practitioners, thought leaders, coaches, and trainers get together to present and discuss their most recent innovations, research results, experiences, concerns, challenges, and trends. Following this history, for both researchers and seasoned practitioners XP 2020 provided an informal environment to network, share, and discover trends in Agile for the next 20 years. The 14 full and 2 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 37 submissions. They were organized in topical sections named: agile adoption; agile practices; large-scale agile; the business of agile; and agile and testing

The interplay between the sociomaterial, cognitive and paradox views in the field of strategy as practice : "How can we know what we think until we see what we do"

The strategy-as-practice research has grown noticeably in recent years to emphasize the micro-level activities in strategy. Whilst previous research have acknowledged the importance of sociomaterial, cognitive, and paradoxical perspectives in strategy, studies combining these approaches have been missing. This dissertation seeks to contribute to the strategy as practice (SAP) literature and aims to “make sense of the interplay between the sociomaterial, cognitive, and paradox views in the field as strategy as practice”. The empirical part of the thesis comprises five articles from three different datasets collected both public and private organizations. The results of the study illustrate the interplay of different views and the complexity of strategy work, and suggest that cognitive structures frame organizational strategy work. Furthermore, the findings suggest that sociomaterial practices facilitate strategy work by both enabling and structuring the strategic discussions and the process of strategy work. Finally, sociomaterial practices provide means how to balance between paradoxes faced during strategy work and strategic change situations. The present study creates a framework to increase our understanding about the interplay between the sociomaterial, cognitive, and paradox views in the research field of strategy as practice.Mikrotasoisiin strategisiin käytäntöihin painottuva strategia käytäntönä -tutkimus on kasvanut merkittävästi viime vuosina. Vaikka strategia käytäntönä -tutkimus on tutkinut sosiomateriaalisten, kognitiivisten ja paradoksaalisten näkökulmien merkitystä strategiassa, aiemmat tutkimukset eivät ole tutkineet näiden lähestymistapojen keskinäistä vuorovaikutusta. Tämä väitöskirja pyrkii omalta osaltaan tuomaan uutta strategia käytäntönä -kirjallisuuteen ja ymmärtämään sosiomateriaalisen, kognitiivisen, ja paradoksinäkökulman vuorovaikutusta strategia käytäntönä -tutkimusalalla. Väitöskirjan empiirinen osa koostuu viidestä tutkimusartikkelista, jotka pohjautuvat julkisesta ja yksityisistä organisaatioista kerättyihin aineistoihin. Tutkimustulokset havainnollistavat eri näkökulmien keskinäistä vuorovaikutusta ja kompleksisuutta strategiatyössä, jossa kognitiiviset rakenteet määrittelevät organisaation strategiatyötä. Tulokset tuovat esiin sosiomateriaalisten käytäntöjen mahdollistavan roolin organisaation strategiatyössä: sosiomateriaaliset käytännöt mahdollistavat ja luovat rakennetta sekä strategiakeskusteluille että strategiatyölle. Lisäksi sosiomateriaaliset käytännöt tarjoavat keinoja tasapainoilla strategiatyössä ja strategisessa muutoksessa esiin nousevien paradoksien kanssa. Tämä tutkimus luo viitekehyksen lisäämään ymmärrystä sosiomateriaalisen, kognitiivisen ja paradoksinäkökulmien keskinäisestä vuorovaikutuksesta strategia käytäntönä -tutkimusalalla.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed