A grounded theory of requirements documentation in the practice of software development

This thesis is concerned with the concept of a “ good enough” requirements document. It takes the position, based on empirical observations, that standard prescriptive approaches have failed to identify the necessary and sufficient characteristics of a good requirements document, because what is good enough in one situation may not be desirable or acceptable in another. Therefore, no single set o f criteria can define “a good requirements document”. The thesis presents a grounded theory which attempts to explain the diversity of styles of requirements documents found in practice, in relation to the variety of situations in which software products and systems are developed. It identifies the factors that might be useful to categorise situations from the point of view of requirements documentation. Requirements documents are widely used in software development, an activity typically carried out in an organisational context. Organisational theory suggests that the best approach in any situation depends on the factors that affect that situation. In the research, it was found that experienced practitioners employ a wide variety of constituent elements, structures, and styles when documenting requirements. This is in contrast with much of the literature on requirements engineering. The contribution o f this research is in three parts (a) an analysis o f requirements documents as texts, (b) a scheme for classifying system development situations with respect to the requirements documentation process, and (c) a framework matching typical requirements documents with the types o f situations identified in (a). As a grounded theory, it is the result of a detailed and systematic investigation into the role of requirements documents in the practice of software development Its status as a theory implies that it is tentative and provisional. An outline of how the theory might be validated for its usefulness, applicability, and generality is presented in the concluding chapter

Cost estimation in agile development projects

One of the key measures of the resilience of a project is its ability to reach completion on time and on budget, regardless of the turbulent and uncertain environment it may operate within. Cost estimation and tracking are therefore paramount when developing a system. Cost estimation has long been a difficult task in systems development, and although much research has focused on traditional methods, little is known about estimation in the agile method arena. This is ironic given that the reduction of cost and development time is the driving force behind the emergence of the agile method paradigm. This study investigates the applicability of current estimation techniques to more agile development approaches by focusing on four case studies of agile method use across different organisations. The study revealed that estimation inaccuracy was a less frequent occurrence for these companies. The frequency with which estimates are required on agile projects, typically at the beginning of each iteration, meant that the companies found estimation easier than when traditional approaches were used. The main estimation techniques used were expert knowledge and analogy to past projects. A number of recommendations can be drawn from the research: estimation models are not a necessary component of the process; fixed price budgets can prove beneficial for both developers and customers; and experience and past project data should be documented and used to aid the estimation of subsequent projects

Towards building a theory of Lean implementation in healthcare

Includes bibliographical references.Lean, a management system based on the Toyota Production System, is increasingly being applied to healthcare contexts with mixed outcomes. While there are many case studies reporting on the outcomes of Lean implementation, there is little empirical evidence indicating which factors influence Lean implementation. Furthermore, there is an absence of critical and theory building research of Lean implementation. This study specifically addressed these gaps by identifying some of the enablers and inhibitors of Lean implementation, using empirical methods

A Swarm of Innovators: Information, Leadership and Innovation

We study the interplay between innovation, communication in an organization and leadership. Although a firm requires both strong leadership and sufficient communication in order to innovate, we posit that frequent communication – particularly amongst strong leaders and in larger firms – can lead to disagreement and innovation breakdown. Using a survey of 3000 French firms we find that, on their own, firm size, regular communication and result-oriented leadership are all positively associated with innovation. However, there is a negative relationship between successful innovation and: (i) frequent communication in larger firms; and (ii) frequent communication with result-oriented leadership

A knowledge sharing framework to support rapid prototyping in collaborative automotive supply chain

In today’s global economy, competition is increasingly driven by a high rate of product renewal. In this context, with market demands for the development of high quality products at lower costs, highly customisable and with short life cycles, new technologies have been adopted by the automotive manufacturers in the move away from a local economy towards the global economy. The continuous evolution of this technology often requires the updating and integration of existing systems within new environments, in order to avoid technological obsolescence. To allow companies to compete in the global market, they (the companies) can no longer be seen acting as standalone entities and are having to reconsider their organisational and operational structure. This thesis presents a Knowledge Sharing Framework Design Roadmap to support rapid prototyping in the automotive and collaborative supply chain. IranKhodro Diesel (IKD) is the automotive company and CarGlass Company (Iran) is the supplier and sponsor of this research study. These two companies will be used to develop and test the Knowledge Sharing Framework Design Roadmap (KSFDR) methodology. An industrially based case study was conducted in IKD and CarGlass to identify key elements in the Knowledge Sharing Framework and provide the focus for this study. The study itself drew on empirical sources of data, including interviews with IKD personnel via an internal company survey. The absence of mechanisms to make information accessible in a multilingual environment and its dissemination to geographically dispersed NPD project team members was identified along with the lack of explicit information about the knowledge used and generated to support first stage rapid prototyping in the product development process with respect to reduction of costs and lead times. The Knowledge Sharing Framework Design Roadmap was tested between IKD and CarGlass. The business objectives in both IKD and CarGlass are the main drivers of knowledge system development. The main novel point from this research study is that this particular framework can be used to capture and disseminate information and knowledge. This was supported by positive feedback from a series of interviews with NPD practitioners. The Knowledge Sharing Framework Design Roadmap (KSFDR) methodology, however, can also be applied in other manufacturing and business environments. Further testing of the framework is strongly advised to minimise any minor flaws, which remain

Work Groups and Teams in Organizations: Review Update

This review chapter examines the literature on work team effectiveness. To begin, we consider their nature, define them, and identify four critical conceptual issues—context, workflow, levels, and time—that serve as review themes and discuss the multitude of forms that teams may assume. We then shift attention to the heart of the review, examining key aspects of the creation, development, operation, and management of work teams. To accomplish objectives of breadth and integration, we adopt a lifecycle perspective to organize the review. Topics involved in the team lifecycle include: (1) team composition; (2) team formation, socialization, and development; (3) team processes, effectiveness, and enhancements; (4) team leadership and motivation; (5) and team continuance and decline. We characterize representative theory and research, identify thematic limitations, and highlight work that is beginning to push the boundaries on our critical conceptual issues. We also address application concerns where possible. Finally, we close with a discussion that reflects back on the topics, considers the state of progress regarding our critical conceptual themes, and suggests directions for new research to foster continued progress and development

Exploring social collaborative e-learning in higher education: a study of two universities in Uganda

The emerging social collaborative technologies such as Facebook and Twitter are greatly influencing the evolution of e-learning in higher education. As these technologies become more easily available to students and lecturers, the approach to e-learning continues to evolve leading to a social collaborative e-learning (SoCeL) model. SoCeL involves social interactions and collaborations among students and lecturers in order to make it easy for them to construct and share knowledge. They exchange ideas and share their own digital products using these technologies to facilitate learning. Studies have however, shown that using social collaborative technologies in the learning process has not always had definite success. This may be attributed to lack of a framework to guide effective integration. The perceived absence of suitable frameworks is addressed in this work by developing frameworks to guide effective integration of SoCeL. This empirical study follows the requirements engineering process and uses a mixed methods approach involving case study and human-computer interaction ethnography to explore the environment in which social collaborative technologies are adopted in two universities in Uganda. Data were analysed using qualitative and quantitative approaches to establish requirements for SoCeL effective integration. The findings of this study are grouped in two broad areas: learning environment and adoption of social collaborative technologies. Based on these findings, the SoCeL environment framework and SoCeL adoption frameworks were developed. These provide the basis on which important recommendations are made. In conclusion, the thesis argues that SoCeL can be effectively integrated in higher education if the learning environment focuses on an integrated design. The design should bring together: informal learning, social networking and learning management

A Prototype Method and Tool to Facilitate Knowledge Sharing in the New Product Development Process

New Product Development (NPD) plays a critical role in the success of manufacturing firms. Activities in the product development process are dependent on the exchange of knowledge among NPD project team members. Increasingly, many organisations consider effective knowledge sharing to be a source of competitive advantage. However, the sharing of knowledge is often inhibited in various ways. This doctoral research presents an exploratory case study conducted at a multinational physical goods manufacturer. This investigation uncovered three, empirically derived and theoretically informed, barriers to knowledge sharing. They have been articulated as the lack of an explicit definition of information about the knowledge used and generated in the product development process, and the absence of mechanisms to make this information accessible in a multilingual environment and to disseminate it to NPD project team members. Collectively, these barriers inhibit a shared understanding of product development process knowledge. Existing knowledge management methodologies have focused on the capture of knowledge, rather than providing information about the knowledge and have not explicitly addressed issues regarding knowledge sharing in a multilingual environment. This thesis reports a prototype method and tool to facilitate knowledge sharing that addresses all three knowledge sharing barriers. Initially the research set out to identify and classify new product development process knowledge and then sought to determine what information about specific knowledge items is required by project teams. Based on the exploratory case findings, an ontology has been developed that formally defines information about this knowledge and allows it to be captured in a knowledge acquisition tool, thereby creating a knowledge base. A mechanism is provided to permit language labels to be attached to concepts and relations in the ontology, making it accessible to speakers of different languages. A dissemination tool allows the ontology and knowledge base to be viewed via a Web browser client. Essentially, the ontology and mechanisms facilitate a knowledge sharing capability. Some initial validation was conducted to better understand implementation issues and future deployment of the prototype method and tool in practice