User-Centred Design Methods, Time to Market and Minimum Viable Product in Startup Development Practices

This study aimed to answer the question whether time to market and competition pressure are important issues for new companies with a software products and whether they affect the development process and decision-making regarding releasing or the product. The study is based on the literature data and interviews with six technology startup companies. It investigated how the concept of minimum viable product is used by the companies for testing the product-market fit and how they apply principles of user-centred design for providing a good user experience of their products. I found that innovative products helped the companies escape direct competition. The development cycle was mostly defined by the industry standards and concrete customer needs rather than the competition pressure. User-centred design practices are widely implemented by the startups, but they are not always complete. In today's software market, the experience that the customers are provided with new products seems to be more important for the startups than formalisation of the development process and the product's time to market

Using Impact Mapping in Agile Software Product Management

Autor töötab tehnoloogiafirmas tooteomaniku ning väletreenerina ning omab tarkvaratoodetega üle 10 aasta kogemust. Aastate jooksul on tööstusharu trendid nihkunud väleda ja timmitud praktikate kasuks. Scrum raamistikus on defineeritud tooteomaniku mõiste, kuid selle rolli vastutusalad ei ole üheselt defineeritud. Selleks, et olla erineva taustaga toodete ja äridega edukas, peab selle rolli täitja kiirelt kohanduma ja valdama erinevaid tehnikaid. Käesolevas töös uuritakse strateegilise planeerimise tehnikat, mida nimetatakse mõju vastendamiseks ning lugejale esitletakse ainulaadne kombinatsioon esialgsest ning hilisemast materjalist. Seejärel analüüsitakse mõju vastendamise tehnikat lähtuvalt tooteomaniku probleemidest aastal 2016 ning tehakse järeldusi mõju vastendamise rakendamise kohta sõltuvalt keskkonnapiirangutest.The author of this thesis has over 10 years of experience working with software products and is currently working as product owner (PO) and agile coach in a technology company. During the years industry trends have shifted towards Lean and Agile practices. The role of the PO defined by Scrum framework has emerged but the responsibilities for the role have not been unambiguously defined. To succeed with products and businesses from various backgrounds PO needs to vastly adapt and master different techniques. In this work, an inquiry on a strategic planning technique called Impact Mapping is performed and a unique combination of initial and follow-up materials is introduced to the reader. The technique is then analyzed through the problems that a PO faces in 2016, and conclusions are made on its compliance with the role and environment constraints

Automotive OBDII Simulator

As automobiles have become more complicated, they have included more complicated computer systems to help manage a growing list of functions. Part of that computer system is the diagnostic subsystem that is responsible for monitoring the status of the vehicle\u27s various systems and providing automotive professionals with the information they need to deal with these complex systems. OBD provides human readable translations of the complex codes the system outputs, allowing professionals to quickly and efficiently diagnose and repair problems

Toward implementing a fully automated truck guidance system at a seaport: identifying the roles, costs and benefits of logistics stakeholders

The seaport-hinterland access infrastructures become more saturated leading to extra unpredictable costs for logistics operators. To keep their services competitive, infrastructure managers (such as port authorities) seek new approaches in managing and delivering information to their users. Starting from existing technological advancements and exploring the declared opportunities enabled by (near) future ones, a range of solutions (e.g. real-time information platforms, dynamic information boards or digital on-request notification solutions) can be pursued. This research investigates how an advanced truck guidance system (TGS) leverages on technology and leads to more efficient resource (infrastructure, equipment and labour) usage. The current paper merges two perspectives. The first conducts interviews with representatives of different logistics stakeholders to highlight their data needs. The second perspective is given by a review of information communication technology (ICT) innovative trends. These two perspectives provide an up-to-date overview of both needs (demand) and opportunities (supply) that challenge logistics stakeholders. This study proposes a TGS architecture that merges the two perspectives and identifies a stepwise approach to implement it. Therefore, the roles, costs and benefits brought to the logistics stakeholders are highlighted for each step. The key findings of this study show that road transport operators would benefit from operational savings and increased performance, while the other supply chain stakeholders can benefit from setting up a more reliable planning, better managing their infrastructure and developing added-value services for clients. To enable these benefits, the port administration could take the facilitator role and cover the TGS’s development costs

TechNews digests: Jan - Nov 2009

TechNews is a technology, news and analysis service aimed at anyone in the education sector keen to stay informed about technology developments, trends and issues. TechNews focuses on emerging technologies and other technology news. TechNews service : digests september 2004 till May 2010 Analysis pieces and News combined publish every 2 to 3 month

The impact of industry 4.0 on supply chains

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, known as Industry 4.0 (I4.0), is fundamentally changing the way businesses operate from product development to sales. Yet, research usually focuses on its impact on production or logistics alone and little research has been done on how the supply chains (SC) of the future will look like. In this work project, an analysis of the impact of I4.0 on SC was developed from the review of published literature, with the inclusion of small case studies that served as concrete examples of this impact. From this, a vision for the future of SC was developed

Supply Chain (micro)TMS development

Project Work presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Information Systems and Technologies ManagementThe rise of technology across many verticals has necessitated the company’s move to digitalization. Despite “XPTO” company a well know player on the retail and success on e‐commerce internal market, they aimed at the strategy of continuous innovation to drive business growth and strengthen their position as a premium brand. They decided to move forward into digitalism inside cloud based solutions to get all the advantages of microservices architecture: optimize logistics and supply chain management, speed up the workflow and maximize service efficiency. An agile organization is not achieved purely by shifting the focus from traditional functional/ technological oriented organizations. The new way to organize teams must reflect all the principles and right segregations of roles, which will be the most immediate and visible disruption and cutover from the traditional way of managing the IT. In this project we aim to use agile framework with development based in house cloud microservice solution for a (micro)TMS solution/system that address the immediate needs imposed by the market in order to use it has competitive advantage