Towards Agile Academia: An Approach to Scientific Paper Writing Inspired by Software Engineering

The construction of scientific papers is performed in service of the greater scientific community. This iterative process is, in effect, an academic economy, where all members benefit from well-written papers. However, many published scientific papers are poorly written; they often lack sufficient detail to allow replication, there is improper usage of citations or a lack of regard to relevant work, reporting is vague or without linked empirical data to allow verification, figures do not correspond to text or are non-sensical, literary elements, e.g., bulleted lists, are used ineffectively, formatting renders certain sections unreadable, and grammatical errors abound. The issues of paper quality are widespread and of varying concern. Similarly, the development of software systems is rife with many processual issues, from high-level architectural flaws to small developer errors, e.g., setting a Boolean value to true instead of false, which can be disastrous in large systems. As an answer to these longstanding concerns, software development methods have emerged over decades, most notably, the Waterfall and Agile approaches. These methods have established software engineering as a professional discipline backed by rigorous, empirical evaluation on many systems. A scientific paper is, conceptually, a system to be developed, much like a software system: it has a name, particular sections codified for different purposes, e.g., as the abstract summarizes and the conclusion concludes, it has an author or authors, it goes through several iterations of refinement, it may reference outside systems and it is eventually released to the public, and possibly maintained in future versions. It is posited that, due to the relatively small nature of most scientific papers (4-20 pages), the Agile method of software development can be used to produce more reliable scientific papers, in a more efficient manner and with better availability to readers, by employing the principles of open-source software, and a version control system, e.g., Git. Agile methods consistently provide deliverables of higher quality; this work intends to demonstrate that Agile can be adapted to streamline the scientific writing process and improve publication quality

Leadership in Agile Software Development: A Systematic Literature Review

Effective leadership is deemed essential for successful projects and teams. However, leadership in agile software development projects and teams is a challenge in practice, and the research literature provides no general agreement on what constitutes effective leadership in this environment. To address this issue and give the agile community a comprehensive overview of the research on agile leadership we report the results of a systematic literature review (SLR). The SLR identified 33 studies in the Scopus database published from 2000-2019 that contribute to agile leadership knowledge. The results indicate that whilst some studies apply leadership theories to explore and explain the role of agile leadership other studies propose alternative approaches to leadership within agile software teams and projects. The results suggest that agile leadership research needs further attention and that more empirical studies are needed to better understand agile leadership in general and in the various agile information systems development environments

ARE YOU READY FOR DEVOPS? REQUIRED SKILL SET FOR DEVOPS TEAMS

In order to react quickly to changing environments and build a customer-centric setup, more and more organizations are deciding to work with the agile IT software development approach. But for the fast delivery of new software features in very short time, other parts of the IT department are necessary as well. Hence, the DevOps concept appears and connects development to IT operations activities within service-centric IT teams. To date, there has been very little empir-ical research on the skills required for the successful setup of a DevOps-oriented IT team. This study addresses this gap by conducting a multi-perspective research. We have collected data with the help of a workshop and interviews with IT experts. Seven skill categories—full-stack development, analysis, functional, decision-making, social, testing, and advisory skills—with 36 concrete skills were identified. Our study highlights that a combination of distinct development, operations, and management skills is necessary to successfully work within a DevOps team. This research explains core DevOps skill categories and provides a deeper understanding of the skill set of an ideal DevOps team setting. We describe these skills and skill categories and list their implications for research and practice

Software Development with Scrum: A Bibliometric Analysis and Profile

Introduction of the Scrum approach into software engineering has changed the way software is being developed. The Scrum approach emphasizes the active end-user involvement, embracing of change, and /iterative delivery of products. Our study showed that Scrum has different variants or is used in combination with different methods. Some tools not normally used in the conventional software approaches, like gamification, content analysis and grounded theory are also employed. However, Scrum like other software development approach focuses on improvement of software process, software quality, business value, performance, usability and efficiency and at the same time to reduce cost, risk and uncertainty. Contrary to some conventional approaches it also strives to boost soft factors like agility, trust, motivation, responsibility and transparency. The bibliometric synthetic scoping study revealed seven main research themes concerned with the Scrum research

Information systems project management practice in Portugal - looking at the past to perspective the future

The study of Information Systems Project Management (ISPM) practice is fundamental for developing knowledge in this field. Over the past few years, several studies have been conducted in organizations by professionals and academics to identify approaches, processes, tools, and techniques, among other relevant aspects of project management practice. The use of these practices can be related to various factors, such as trends in the world of work or even the cultural context. In this way, an insight into the context of a given region can support actions to improve ISPM practice and raise success rates in information systems projects. This paper presents the results of a systematic literature review that seeks to synthesize how project management on information systems is practiced in Portugal and identify opportunities for developing the project management body of knowledge

Fostering Cooperative Learning with Scrum in a Semi-Capstone Systems Analysis and Design Course

Agile methods such as Scrum that emphasize technical, communication, and teamwork skills have been practiced by IT professionals to effectively deliver software products of good quality. The same methods combined with pedagogies of engagement can potentially be used in the setting of higher education to promote effective group learning in software development classrooms. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to integrate both Scrum and cooperative learning guidelines into a systems analysis and design classroom to promote the skills of teamwork, communication, and problem-solving while learning systems analysis and design methods. This integration was implemented in a sophomore, semi-capstone design course where students were engaged in collaborative classroom activities. Two different approaches – overlapped approach and delayed approach – were used in two different semesters for this implementation. Based on the analysis of student performance in the course, student reflections on their team performance, and student overall perceptions of the teaching approach, this study suggests that the integration of cooperative learning and Scrum serves as guidance for students to effectively analyze and design software solutions, as well as to reflect on their team performance and learning process. In addition, a delayed approach for Scrum implementation appears to effectively support student learning by providing better and earlier feedback

A mapping study on documentation in Continuous Software Development

Context: With an increase in Agile, Lean, and DevOps software methodologies over the last years (collectively referred to as Continuous Software Development (CSD)), we have observed that documentation is often poor. Objective: This work aims at collecting studies on documentation challenges, documentation practices, and tools that can support documentation in CSD. Method: A systematic mapping study was conducted to identify and analyze research on documentation in CSD, covering publications between 2001 and 2019. Results: A total of 63 studies were selected. We found 40 studies related to documentation practices and challenges, and 23 studies related to tools used in CSD. The challenges include: informal documentation is hard to understand, documentation is considered as waste, productivity is measured by working software only, documentation is out-of-sync with the software and there is a short-term focus. The practices include: non-written and informal communication, the usage of development artifacts for documentation, and the use of architecture frameworks. We also made an inventory of numerous tools that can be used for documentation purposes in CSD. Overall, we recommend the usage of executable documentation, modern tools and technologies to retrieve information and transform it into documentation, and the practice of minimal documentation upfront combined with detailed design for knowledge transfer afterwards. Conclusion: It is of paramount importance to increase the quantity and quality of documentation in CSD. While this remains challenging, practitioners will benefit from applying the identified practices and tools in order to mitigate the stated challenges

Benefitting from the Grey Literature in Software Engineering Research

Researchers generally place the most trust in peer-reviewed, published information, such as journals and conference papers. By contrast, software engineering (SE) practitioners typically do not have the time, access or expertise to review and benefit from such publications. As a result, practitioners are more likely to turn to other sources of information that they trust, e.g., trade magazines, online blog-posts, survey results or technical reports, collectively referred to as Grey Literature (GL). Furthermore, practitioners also share their ideas and experiences as GL, which can serve as a valuable data source for research. While GL itself is not a new topic in SE, using, benefitting and synthesizing knowledge from the GL in SE is a contemporary topic in empirical SE research and we are seeing that researchers are increasingly benefitting from the knowledge available within GL. The goal of this chapter is to provide an overview to GL in SE, together with insights on how SE researchers can effectively use and benefit from the knowledge and evidence available in the vast amount of GL

Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming – Workshops

This open access book constitutes papers from the 5 research workshops, the poster presentations, as well as two panel discussions which were presented at XP 2021, the 22nd International Conference on Agile Software Development, which was held online during June 14-18, 2021. 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. The 18 papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from overall 37 submissions. They stem from the following workshops: 3rd International Workshop on Agile Transformation 9th International Workshop on Large-Scale Agile Development 1st International Workshop on Agile Sustainability 4th International Workshop on Software-Intensive Business 2nd International Workshop on Agility with Microservices Programmin