1,402 research outputs found

    Non-Technical Individual Skills are Weakly Connected to the Maturity of Agile Practices

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    Context: Existing knowledge in agile software development suggests that individual competency (e.g. skills) is a critical success factor for agile projects. While assuming that technical skills are important for every kind of software development project, many researchers suggest that non-technical individual skills are especially important in agile software development. Objective: In this paper, we investigate whether non-technical individual skills can predict the use of agile practices. Method: Through creating a set of multiple linear regression models using a total of 113 participants from agile teams in six software development organizations from The Netherlands and Brazil, we analyzed the predictive power of non-technical individual skills in relation to agile practices. Results: The results show that there is surprisingly low power in using non-technical individual skills to predict (i.e. explain variance in) the mature use of agile practices in software development. Conclusions: Therefore, we conclude that looking at non-technical individual skills is not the optimal level of analysis when trying to understand, and explain, the mature use of agile practices in the software development context. We argue that it is more important to focus on the non-technical skills as a team-level capacity instead of assuring that all individuals possess such skills when understanding the use of the agile practices.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur

    How Lean Six Sigma and Agile principles optimize ITIL-based processes

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    Imagine the potential implications of an organization whose business and IT processes are well aligned and are capable of reactively and proactively responding to the external and internal changes. The Philips IT Infrastructure and Operations department (I&O) is undergoing a series of transformation activities to help Philips business keeping up with the changes. I&O would serve a critical function in any business sectors; given that the I&O’s strategy switched from “design, build and run” to “specify, acquire and performance manage”, that function is amplified. In 2013, I&O’s biggest transforming programme I&O Futures engaged multiple interdisciplinary departments and programs on decommissioning legacy processes and restructuring new processes with respect to the Information Technology Internet Library (ITIL), helping I&O to achieve a common infrastructure and operating platform (CI&OP). The author joined I&O Futures in the early 2014 and contributed to the CI&OP release 1, during which a designed model Bing Box and its evaluations were conducted through the lens of six sigma’s structured define-measure-analyze-improve-control (DMAIC) improvement approach. This Bing Box model was intended to firstly combine business and IT principles, namely Lean IT, Agile, ITIL best practices, and Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) into a framework. Secondly, the author implemented the modularized optimization cycles according to the defined framework into Philips’ ITIL-based processes and, subsequently, to enhance business process performance as well as to increase efficiency of the optimization cycles. The unique of this thesis is that the Bing Box model not only provided comprehensive optimization approaches and principles for business process performance, but also integrated and standardized optimization modules for the optimization process itself. The research followed a design research guideline that seek to extend the boundaries of human and organizational capabilities by creating new and innovative artifacts. The Chapter 2 firstly reviewed the current research on Lean Six Sigma, Agile, AOP and ITIL, aiming at identifying the broad conceptual bases for this study. In Chapter 3, we included the process of constructing the Bing Box model. The Chapter 4 described the adoption of Bing Box model: two-implementation case validated by stakeholders through observations and interviews. Chapter 5 contained the concluding remarks, the limitation of this research work and the future research areas. Chapter 6 provided the references used in this thesis.Master's thesissiirretty Doriast

    Building a boundaryless manufacturing organisation through HITOP method

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    There is little empirical research to support the allegation that ‘leagile’ manufacturing organisations thrive in hostile environments, nor has it been demonstrated that organisation processes (referred to as enablers) actually support ‘leagile’ performance. This study tests the statistical significance of five selected HITOP (highly integrated technology, organisation and people) ‘leagile’ enablers. This was accomplished by using a mail survey instrument to measure the presence of ‘leagile enablers’ in a sample of companies taken from best factory award winners in UK, US and Japan. [Continues.

    Design of a Framework to Measure the Degree of Live Virtual Constructive (LVC) Simulation Interoperability

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    Accomplishment of the Live, Virtual and Constructive simulation interoperability has been a major goal and a challenge in the Modeling and Simulation (M&S) community. There have been efforts to interoperate individual Live, Virtual and Constructive simulations within a common synthetic environment through suitable technologies such as interface specifications, protocols, and standard middleware architectures. However, achieving interoperability of LVC simulation is a technologically complex since it is affected by multiple factors, and the characteristics are not yet satisfactorily defined and studied. A proper method is absent to measure the potential interoperability degree of LVC simulation. Therefore, there should be an appropriate systematic approach to measure the potential LVC simulation interoperability which includes technical, conceptual and organizational domains. This research aims to design a preliminary systematic approach to measure the potential interoperability degree of an individual Live, Virtual and Constructive simulation and a relevant organization which plans to use the simulation system for simulation interoperability. Specifically, a framework that contains components such as a) LVC simulation interoperability domains, b) interoperability domain factors, c) interoperability maturity levels, d) interoperability determination method is proposed. To accomplish the goal, a set of factors that determine the interoperability degree in LVC simulation environment are identified, and the factors are used to build the key elements of the framework. The proposed methodology for the framework design is based on systematic literature reviews and a survey involving a number of relevant domain experts. A case study is demonstrated to prove the validity and effectiveness of the developed framework. The case study illustrates how the interoperability levels of a simulation system and a relevant organization are effectively measured. This research potentially contributes by providing an understanding of the factors that determine the interoperability degree of LVC simulation, improvement of the LVC simulation interoperability measurement process, and consequently, accomplishment of more effective LVC simulation interoperability

    Analysis of relationship between software metrics and process models

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    This thesis studies the correlation between software process models and software metrics. To support our studies we have defined a Process - Metric Evaluation Framework and derived an evaluation template from it. The template served as a basic tool in studding the relationships between various process models, artifacts and software metrics. We have evaluated a number of process models according to our template and have identified suitable software metrics. We have also recommended a root cause analysis approach at various points of the process models. The suggested software metrics can be derived from various product and process artifacts. They can be used to curb the risks generated at each phase of the development process, identify issues, and do better planning and project management. The evaluation template can also be used to evaluate other models and identify effective metrics

    Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming

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    This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP 2022, which was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in June 2022. XP is the premier agile software development conference combining research and practice. It is a unique forum where agile researchers, practitioners, thought leaders, coaches, and trainers get together to present and discuss their most recent innovations, research results, experiences, concerns, challenges, and trends.  XP conferences provide an informal environment to learn and trigger discussions and welcome both people new to agile and seasoned agile practitioners. This year’s conference was held with the theme “Agile in the Era of Hybrid Work”. The 13 full papers and 1 short paper presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 40 submissions. They were organized in topical sections named: agile practices; agile processes; and agile in the large
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