Scaling Agile: Approach for Defining Key Aspects of Multiteam Agile Software Delivery Systems (Research in Progress)

The need to scale agile approaches for software delivery within larger organizations and larger projects has led to a proliferation of agile scaling frameworks. Anecdotal evidence of the resultant implementation of these scaling frameworks shows varying degrees of success. Missing from this discourse is a holistic, framework-independent understanding of scaling agility. This research proposes an approach for defining key aspects of agile scaling. Using a Delphi method, we will work with an international panel of agilists representing the major scaling frameworks to determine challenges for scaling agile. These results will then be compared to the existing agile scaling research to determine convergence and identify gaps within the existing research. We will also compare the results to the emerging research that uses multiteam systems to help explain the agile scaling phenomenon. These comparisons will provide a means to gauge the relevance of existing literature to practitioner identified needs. The results of the study will provide practitioners a framework-independent understanding of agile scaling for large organizations and projects and provide scholars a clear direction to support future research

An Approach Toward Implementing Continuous Security In Agile Environment

Traditionally, developers design software to accomplish a set of functions and then later add—or do not add—security measures, especially after the prevalence of the agile software development model. Consequently, there is an increased risk of security vulnerabilities that are introduced into the software in various stages of development. To avoid security vulnerabilities, there are many secure software development efforts in the directions of secure software development lifecycle process. The purpose of this thesis is to propose a software security assurance methodology and integrate it into the Msg Life organization’s development lifecycle based on security best practices that fulfill their needs in building secure software applications. Ultimately, the objective adhered to increasing the security maturity level according to the suggested security assurance roadmap and implemented partly in the context of this thesis.Tradicionalmente, os desenvolvedores projetam o software para realizar um conjunto de funções e, posteriormente, adicionam - ou não - medidas de segurança, especialmente após a prevalência do modelo de desenvolvimento ágil de software. Consequentemente, há um risco aumentado de vulnerabilidades de segurança que são introduzidas no software em vários estágios de desenvolvimento. Para evitar vulnerabilidades de segurança, existem muitos esforços no desenvolvimento de software nas direções dos processos do ciclo de vida desse mesmo software. O objetivo desta tese é propor uma metodologia de garantia de segurança de software e integrá-la ao ciclo de vida de desenvolvimento da Msg Life Company, com base nas melhores práticas de segurança que atendem às suas necessidades na criação de aplicativos de software seguros. Por fim, o objetivo aderiu ao aumento do nível de maturidade da segurança de acordo com o roteiro sugerido de garantia de segurança e implementado parcialmente no contexto desta tese

The impact of education and training in large-scale agile transformation

Abstract. Large-scale agile has become a very popular approach for big companies in the past ten years. There are many different frameworks on how to handle large product development units in an agile way. Many companies have divided their units geographically to several countries and multiple development teams may work together with the same product. Due to the complexity of these large companies, organizations have implemented large-scale agile frameworks to help and make processes coherent. Transformation process in large-scale agile companies is long-term and time-consuming process. It is a long process where management must proceed multiple actions to get the large-scale agile framework to work in the organization. One of these actions is training the employees of the organization. This thesis literature review is based on prior research of agile software development, large-scale agile transformation, and Scaled Agile Framework. Literature review based on these three topics gives core to the research part. There was one case organization in this study which was in the middle of the transformation process during this study. This research studies the case organization’s training processes and competence of the employees related to large-scale agile. This research used the case study approach. Baseline data was collected from the case organization’s employees by using quantitative questionnaires and qualitative interviews. This study provided answers for the case organization on how the training can be handled during the transformation process. Study produced proposals on how to improve employees’ training paths in the case organization. Training plays a crucial part in the transformation process. Managers must prepare, plan, and set clear goals for the training paths. Every employee must get the large-scale agile training during the transformation process. With proper planning organizations can avoid transformation failures

Scaling Agility in Incumbent Firms: A Literature Review

Scaling agility as a process of applying agile concepts to more extensive parts of the organization promises incumbent firms to achieve the same benefits as their digital competitors. However, copying digital-born companies\u27 approaches seems problematic, as incumbent firms are distinct from their digital competitors. Thus, this research aims to consolidate what we know about scaling agility in incumbent firms. To answer this question, I conduct a structured literature review to understand scaling agility for incumbent firms better, resulting in the four dimensions of structure, methodology, governance, and dependencies with nine themes: coordination, processes, roles, effectiveness, risk management, budgeting, measurement, architecture, and culture/mindset. Moreover, the review develops six avenues for future research. With this, the literature review provides an integrative picture of scaling agility, enhances conceptual clarity, and helps practitioners by providing an overview to use in their efforts to scaling agility in incumbent firms

The Role of Early User Participation in Discovering Software – A Case Study from the Context of Smart Glasses

Smart glasses facilitate advanced user interaction and increase workplace efficiency through innovation. Yet, their capabilities rely on user-driven discovery of new software that harnesses its benefits. This study investigates user participation during the discovery of new software, leveraging this emergent technology. We investigate user participation during software product discovery, i.e. during early activities that precede classical development and design activities, through an in-depth longitudinal case study with two representative user organizations. The results suggest an evolutionary perspective toward the benefits of different types of user participation: 1) user as a source of information, 2) user as a co-creator, and 3) user as an innovator. Practitioners benefit from our lessons learned, validation and extension of software discovery toward the emergent technology, and recommendations to apply user-driven software discovery. We distill three lessons: evolving types of user participation, enhancing desirability through user participation, and carefully discovering software products for emergent technologies

Finnish Enterprise Agile Transformations : A Survey Study

Peer reviewe

A review: Requirements prioritization criteria within collaboration perspective

The attributes or criteria used in the requirements prioritization process become an essential reference in calculating priorities. Most of the techniques are used to increase the value impacting business success. On the contrary, there are limitations on cost, time, and resources for developing software. Therefore, the requirements prioritization process often requires collaboration from the perspectives involved. So far, the pattern and basis have not been seen in the criteria used in the requirements prioritization process. Consequently, there need to be other factors that become a reference so that the selection of criteria is appropriate. This study identifies criteria based on the categorized perspectives of requirements prioritization. A systematic literature review presents criteria for prioritizing requirements from multiple collaborative perspectives. Findings show that the criteria in requirements prioritization can be classified into beneficial and non-beneficial, where business value and development cost are the most frequently used criteria. Furthermore, the involvement of multiple perspectives in requirements prioritization focuses on the client’s and developer’s perspectives. The findings also reveal that some of the challenges in the requirements prioritization process are biases by stakeholders, reducing pairwise comparison, and scalability. In the future, it will be investigated whether the selection of criteria correlated with stakeholder perspectives will increase the accuracy of priorities. Thus, the contribution of this paper is to recommend criteria from stakeholders’ perspectives