Are Product Owners communicators? A multi-method research approach to provide a more comprehensive picture of Product Owners in practice

Product Owners have an important role in the agile and hybrid software development process. While this role is supposed to maximize the value of a product, there seem to be several scattered results on how they achieve this, as well as what actually constitutes this role in practice. To consolidate current research results and to further analyze the key attribute of Product Owners, we conducted a multi-method research approach spanning a systematic mapping study and a consecutive case study in a hybrid development environment. The results of the mapping study states that Product Owners are communicators. We further investigated on this and used the shadowing technique to observe three Product Owners' communication activities. The results support that statement, as the gained data reveal that Product Owners spend 65% of their time in meetings. But rather than just providing the team with the necessary requirements for the product under development, Product Owners need this time to synchronize and align their work, streamline the agile process of large-scale Scrum, discuss team-based topics, and to solve upcoming issues addressed by the team. These results contribute to draw a more comprehensive picture of the important but yet complex role of Product Owners in practice. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

How product owner teams scale agile methods to large distributed enterprises

Software development teams in large scale offshore enterprise development programmes are often under intense pressure to deliver high quality software within challenging time contraints. Project failures can attract adverse publicity and damage corporate reputations. Agile methods have been advocated to reduce project risks, improving both productivity and product quality. This article uses practitioner descriptions of agile method tailoring to explore large scale offshore enterprise development programmes with a focus on product owner role tailoring, where the product owner identifies and prioritises customer requirements. In globalised projects, the product owner must reconcile competing business interests, whilst generating and then prioritising large numbers of requirements for numerous development teams. The study comprises eight international companies, based in London, Bangalore and Delhi. Interviews with 46 practitioners were conducted between February 2010 and May 2012. Grounded theory was used to identify that product owners form into teams. The main contribution of this research is to describe the nine product owner team functions identified: groom, prioritiser, release master, technical architect, governor, communicator, traveller, intermediary and risk assessor. These product owner functions arbitrate between conflicting customer requirements, approve release schedules, disseminate architectural design decisions, provide technical governance and propogate information across teams. The functions identified in this research are mapped to a scrum of scrums process,and a taxonomy of the functions shows how focusing on either decision-making or information dissemination in each helps to tailor agile methods to large scale offshore enterprise development programmes

Supporting the tailoring of the product owner role to hybrid development environments

Product Owners have an important role in the agile software development process. While the description of the Product Owner role heavily depends on its particular agile framework, the application of a single development framework is seldom in practice. In fact, customized hybrid development approaches, where frameworks/methods are tailored or combined with others, are state of the art. Although it is common knowledge that processes need to be tailored to project needs, as they become, otherwise, a project risk - the tailoring of the Product Owner role has been neglected in research so far. Consequently, there is a lack of knowledge about how to tailor the Product Owner role to hybrid development environments. As this knowledge gap can put projects in a hybrid environment to a risk, the goal of this thesis is to close this gap. To achieve this, a knowledge-base of Product Owner peculiarities needs to be established and consolidated with knowledge from the area of Software Process Tailoring. To generate the knowledge-base of the Product Owner peculiarities, a number of case studies as well as a systematic mapping study was conducted to identify Product Owner tasks, characteristics and structures in hybrid development environments. This resulted in the identification of 13 frequently conducted tasks, 6 favorable characteristics and 12 different structures of Product Owners that apply in hybrid development environments. From the area of Software Process Tailoring, 14 influencing factors on the Product Owner role were extracted along with its respective action items. The consolidation of this knowledge results in a catalog which combines the influencing factors, the Product Owner tasks, characteristics & structures as well as the respective implications on the Product Owner role according to the research results of this thesis. Based on this catalog, any project environment can be assessed and distinct recommendations for a tailored Product Owner role can be deduced. Overall, this thesis generated 84 different recommendations on how to tailor the Product Owner role to a particular hybrid development. With this, so far missing knowledge was gained to systematically support the tailoring of the Product Owner role to hybrid development environments and thus, to support projects to complete successfully. To share the gained knowledge to other researchers as well as practitioners, this thesis also provides an expert system in the form of a proof of concept web-application. The so-called Hybrid Product Owner (short: HyPrO) Expert System represents the research results of this thesis. Its user-friendly interface enables the user to assess the project environment and displays the respective recommendations. The HyPrO Expert System validated the results of this thesis, as it surpassed human experts by providing more comprehensive recommendations in a comparative case study

User experience design and agile development : integration as an on-going achievement in practice

This research investigates how Agile development is combined with User Experience (UX) design. Agile development and UX design have roots in different disciplines and practitioners have to reconcile their perspectives on developing software if they are to work together. To date, there has been no sustained academic study on how Agile developers and UX designers work together in practical settings on a day-to-day basis. The ethnographically-informed research in this dissertation consists of three studies of teams in organisational settings, combined with an analysis of accounts of Agile development and UX design practice found in the literature. Together, they provide evidence for the complex, multifaceted nature of the work that integrates Agile development with UX design. The studies of day-to-day practice conducted for this research, found the work of the Agile developers and UX designers to be localised, contingent and purposeful. Agile devolopment and UX design integration, as it was achieved in the teams studied, was negotiated and achieved on a day-to-day basis between the developers and designers. The findings from the analysis of accounts of practice from the literature show that integration is achieved with the right tools, techniques and processes that coordinate between the tasks of the developers and designers and establish a focus on usability and on releasing working software. However, the accounts contain little and conflicting evidence for what constitutes the day-to-day work of Agile developers and UX designers in practical settings and as a result the utility of tools, techniques and processes for practice is not clear. Informed by the findings from the accounts in the literature and the studies of practice, five facets emerged as integral to an understanding of how the integration of Agile development and UX design is an on-going achievement in practice. These facets are (1) focus and coordination, (2) mutual awareness, (3) expectations about acceptable behaviour, (4) negotiating progress and (5) engaging with each other. The extent to which these facets enable integration, depend on contextual values concerning the combination of Agile development and UX design endorsed in the organisation. These findings serve to establish conditions which can constrain and enable Agile developers and UX designers in their integration work, while being sympathetic to the values embedded in the settings in which they work

CUSTOMER ORIENTED IDEATION AND ITS IMPACT ON CUSTOMER ADOPTION OF NEW SOLUTIONS

Customer adoption of new solutions is critical for the development of the modern business environment, and both academics and practitioners have been investigating this notion to uncover the customer adoption patterns to progress business and withstand competition. Despite the variety of marketing research techniques and practices commonly used to obtain customer data it has been said that the customers that “talk the talk” do not always “walk the walk” of innovation adoption. The challenge remains unchanged: making innovation accessible and easy to adopt in consumers’ everyday lives. This thesis is looking into the processes of creating new solutions to identify the key drivers within the ideation processes that facilitate adoption. The research inquiry is supported by the tendencies in the industry, where, despite the increasing number of new technologies and approaches aimed to develop better products, the success-to-failure ratios remain quite low. The aim of the study is to design an integrative theoretical framework, explaining the drivers of ideation, the impact of customer orientation within ideation, and the influence it has on innovation adoption. The author used integrated methodology, combining the best practices of the deductive approach, commonly applied in conceptual works, and qualitative research methodology, where further insights were uncovered via interviews and a focus group. In this research project, the integrated methodology has been applied to combine the strengths of each of the research techniques and uncover insights into the complex notions and relationships under investigation. The findings include the introduction of COI and the three-dimensional model, facilitating the solutions development practice, aiming to help achieve a more sustainable growth within the service industries. The author has introduced a novel notion of Customer Oriented Ideation (COI) that focuses on the use of customer insights within the solutions development process and its impact on the market success. The author has also developed a questionnaire for further quantitative investigation of the framework, and further refined it via a pilot study

Produktägarens roll i Scrumprojekt

Vår undersökning utgår från produktägaren som är en av de tre roller som innefattas i Scrum. Produktägaren beskrivs som en komplex roll och studien syftar till att identifiera egenskaper, kompetenser och ansvar för rollen så väl som vilken betydelse rollen har för ett lyckat projektresultat. Granskning av litteratur har gett en teoretisk bakgrund som visat en oenig bild av hur produktägarrollen bör tillämpas. Vidare har en kvalitativ ansats använts i studien där semistrukturerade intervjuer legat som grund för insamling av empiriskt material. Informanterna som valts ut har god erfarenhet inom området och utgörs av produktägare så väl som Scrummasters. Vi har i undersökningen funnit en kontrovers inom hur produktägarrollen tillämpas i praktiken jämfört med hur den beskrivs teoretiskt av informanterna. Egenskaper och kompetenser som ansågs viktiga innefattar engagemang, god kommunikationsförmåga och en teknisk förståelse. Rollen beskrevs av samtliga tillfrågade som viktig för ett lyckat projektresultat. Undersökningen visar däremot att tillämpningen av produktägarrollen är relativt bristfällig då rollen underskattas i tidsåtgång och ansvar. Flera informanter är ovilliga att släppa från sig ansvaret till produktägaren och förminskar istället rollen till att enbart vara en beställare. I de fall där produktägarrollen helt har uteslutits finns en märkbar försämring i projektresultat. Vi kan inte generalisera vårt resultat till att vara allmängiltigt, men vi menar att undersökningen kan ses som en indikation på komplexiteten som finns runt produktägarens roll

Transformación de técnicas de usabilidad relacionadas con las actividades de la ingeniería de requisitos para su incorporación en los procesos de desarrollo ágil

Contexto: En la última década ha crecido el interés por la integración del proceso de desarrollo de software ágil (PDSA) y el diseño centrado en el usuario (DCU). Sin embargo, existen pocos trabajos que estudien como un todo el tema, y determinen el estado actual de tal integración. Además, no existen propuestas formalizadas para la incorporación de técnicas de usabilidad en el PDSA ni guías generalizadas que se puedan seguir para su aplicación adecuada por la comunidad ágil. Esta incorporación debe realizarse desde las actividades tempranas de los PDSA. Por tanto, es necesario investigar técnicas de usabilidad que puedan ser incorporadas en las actividades de Ingeniería de Requisitos de los PDSA. Objetivos: Los objetivos de este trabajo consisten en identificar el estado del arte de la integración de los PDSA y DCU, y el estado de la usabilidad en los procesos ágiles, así como también incorporar técnicas de usabilidad relacionadas con las actividades de la Ingeniería de Requisitos en el PDSA. Para ello, es necesario determinar las condiciones desfavorables que dificultan el uso de técnicas de usabilidad en el PDSA y sus transformaciones asociadas. En detalle, se analizan las transformaciones que deben realizarse a la técnica Investigación Contextual y a la técnica Personas para poder ser incorporadas en el PDSA. Además, validamos la viabilidad de incorporar estas técnicas de usabilidad en un proyecto de desarrollo de software ágil real. Método: A través de un Systematic Mapping Study (SMS) se han determinado las técnicas de usabilidad usadas ocasionalmente en el PDSA. Para el análisis de las técnicas de la Interacción Persona Ordenador (IPO) se ha utilizado un catálogo de técnicas recopilado por investigadores en el área de la Ingeniería del Software (IS) para mejorar la usabilidad. Posteriormente, en este trabajo se analizan las condiciones de las técnicas que dificultan su uso en PDSA, y se estudian las técnicas utilizadas por PDSA para determinar cómo han sido incorporadas en sus desarrollos y así definir las adaptaciones propuestas en el contexto de desarrollo ágil. A continuación, se transforman las técnicas Investigación Contextual y Personas para su incorporación en PDSA, y por medio de un estudio de caso, se validan estas transformaciones. Resultados: Este trabajo formaliza una propuesta de incorporación de técnicas de usabilidad en PDSA de gran interés para la comunidad ágil. Esta propuesta realiza adaptaciones sistematizadas, con guías generalizadas que se pueden seguir en las actividades de Ingeniería de Requisitos de los PDSA. Para estas técnicas se llevan a cabo adaptaciones según las características y el modo de desarrollo ágil. Se transforman las técnicas Investigación Contextual y Personas y se evalúa la viabilidad de su aplicación en un proceso Scrum con un equipo de desarrollo perteneciente a una compañía ecuatoriana, obteniendo resultados positivos al generar historias de usuario mejoradas con requisitos de usabilidad derivados del conjunto de técnicas transformadas. Conclusiones: Esta investigación brinda una visión general e integrada de la literatura existente acerca de la integración de los PDSA y DCU, y define un marco de incorporación de técnicas de usabilidad en las actividades de Ingeniería de Requisitos de los PDSA. Las técnicas Investigación Contextual y Personas transformadas pueden ser utilizadas directamente por los desarrolladores ágiles en sus proyectos de software.Context: Interest in the integration of the agile software development process (ASDP) and user-centred design (UCD) has grown over the last decade. However, there are not many papers on the subject as a whole, and determine the current state of such integration. In addition, there are no formalized proposals for incorporating usability techniques in the ASDP or generalized guidelines that can be followed for the proper implementation by the agile community. This incorporation should be done in the early activities of ASDP. it is therefore necessary to research about usability techniques that can be incorporated in the Engineering Requirements activities of ASDP. Objective: The objectives of this study consists of identifying the current state of the integration of ASDP and UCD, and the state of usability in agile processes and also incorporate Requirements Engineering related usability techniques in ASDP. It is therefore necessary to determine the conditions that are adverse to the use of usability techniques in ASDP and its associated transformations. In detail, this study analyzed the transformation that must be done to techniques such as Contextual Inquiry and Personas so they can be incorporated in ASDP. In addition, we validate the feasibility of incorporating these usability techniques in a real agile software development project. Research Method: Through a Systematic Mapping Study (SMS), it has been determined usability techniques used occasionally in the PDSA. The techniques were analyzed from an existing catalogue of human-computer interaction (HCI) techniques compiled by researchers in the field of Software Engineering (SE) to improve usability. Later in this study, the conditions that pose an obstacle to the use of the techniques in ASDP were then examined, and the techniques used by ASDP were studied to determine how they have been adopted in development projects and define the adaptations in the context of ASDP. Then, Contextual Inquiry and Personas techniques were transformed for incorporation into ASDP, and through a case study, these transformations are validated. Results: This study formalizes a proposal for incorporating usability techniques in ASDP that are of great interest to the agile community. This proposal makes systematic adaptation, with generalized guidelines that can be followed in the Engineering Requirements activities of ASDP. For these techniques adaptations are conducted according to the way of agile development. The Contextual Inquiry and Personas techniques are transformed and the feasibility of its application is evaluated in a Scrum process with a development team belonging to an Ecuadorian company, with positive results generating enhanced user stories with usability requirements derived from the set of transformed techniques. Conclusions: This study provides a comprehensive and integrated vision of the existing literature on integration of ASDP and UCD and defines a framework for incorporating Requirements Engineering related usability techniques in ASDP. Contextual Inquiry and Personas transformed can be used directly by the agile developers