Supervision of master theses based on scrum: a case study

The success rate of a master program on Information Systems and Computer Engineering (MEIC) in a Portuguese university is very unsatisfactory, showing that less than half of the students complete the assigned work in their first term. However, the success rate of a group of students that were supervised based on the Scrum framework was much higher. So, in this study we assess the current situation and identify the benefits of using Scrum to manage master’s theses. Evidence suggests that this approach increases the number of students successfully completing their projects. So, this paper discusses the issues at stake and reports on a qualitative study with focus on the actual practices and benefits reported by students in the master program. We found that some methods in the Scrum framework can address existing problems in the development of theses with very positive results.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Opiskelijoiden valmistaminen työelämään yliopiston sisäisen ohjelmisto-startupin avulla

Tertiary education aims to prepare computer science students for the working life. While much of the technical principles are covered in lower-level courses, team-based capstone projects are a common way to provide students hands-on experience and teach soft skills. Although such courses help students to gain some of the relevant skills, it is difficult to simulate in a course context what work in a professional software engineering team really is about. Our goal is to understand ways tertiary education institutions prepare students for the working life in software engineering. Firstly, we do this by focusing on the mechanisms that software engineering capstones use to simulate work-life. A literature review of 85 primary studies was conducted for this overview. Secondly, we present a more novel way of teaching industry-relevant skills in an university-lead internal software startup. A case study of such a startup, Software Development Academy (SDA), is presented, along with the experiences of both students and faculty involved in it. Finally, we look into how these approaches might differ. Results indicate that capstone courses differ greatly in ways they are organized. Most often students are divided in teams of 4–6 and get assigned with software projects that the teams then develop from an idea to a robust proof-of-concept. In contrast, students employed in the SDA develop production-level software in exchange for a salary for university clients. Students regarded SDA as a highly relevant and fairly irreplaceable educational experience. Working with production-quality software and having a wide range of responsibilities was perceived integral in giving a thorough skill set for the future. In conclusion, capstones and the internal startup both aim to prepare students for the work-life in software engineering. Capstones do it by simulating professional software engineering in a one-semester experience in a course environment. The internal startup adds a touch of realism to this by being actual work in a relatively safe university context

Improving the performance of student teams in project-based learning with Scrum

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effectiveness of Scrum for project and team management in PBL teams in higher education. To attain this goal, a study was carried out to analyze students’ perceptions about Scrum as an effective method for PBL teams. Based on two different editions of PBL that used the Scrum method with different characteristics in each approach, this paper aims to identify the best practices for effective team and project management and draw recommendations for successful use of scrum in PBL approaches. The authors used an exploratory case study carried out within an engineering program at the University of Minho, Portugal. The research design was based on an explorative quantitative and qualitative approach. Implementing Scrum in PBL teams helps students to keep the project running smoothly and draws greater awareness on how to manage the project and teams in a more effective way. Findings show that task assignment, performance monitoring, visual management and regular feedback were considered the main advantages of using Scrum in PBL teams, which had a positive impact on student performance. However, for the success of Scrum, students recognize the role of the Scrum Master and Project Owner as vital to guide the teams in a sustainable way. Research on the application of Scrum in Education is scarce and mostly exploratory. This paper is among the very few empirical studies consolidating knowledge on the implementation of Scrum approaches to improve learning in higher education. More specifically, it brings a valuable contribution on how to improve specifically team performance in PBL teams with the use of agile approaches such as Scrum

Proposta de um conjunto de competências para um Scrum Master

Monografia (graduação)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade UnB Gama, Curso de Engenharia de Software, 2014.O Scrum é um framework em que pessoas podem tratar e resolver problemas complexos. Consiste em um time associado a papéis, eventos, artefatos e regras no qual cada componente serve para um propósito específico e essencial para o uso do mesmo. O Guia Scrum e outros artigos descrevem as atividades a serem desempenhadas por cada um dos papéis existentes, dentre eles o do Scrum Master. Entretanto não descrevem em detalhes quais são as competências necessárias para o exercício de cada um dos papeis. Diante disso, este Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso propõe e valida um conjunto de competências para um Scrum Master. Para se obter essas competências foram realizadas uma revisão sistemática de literatura e uma revisão bibliográfica sobre o assunto a fim de se localizar as características inerentes ao papel do Scrum Master. Além disso, o conceito de competência foi caracterizado para que se pudesse fundamentar este trabalho. Dada à importância do Scrum Master dentro do framework Scrum foram detalhadas suas atividades dentro das cerimônias bem como suas responsabilidades sobre os artefatos gerados durante o desenvolvimento. Um questionário foi utilizado para avaliar a importância de cada uma das competências levantadas. Por fim, foi produzido como resultado um ranking de competências pelo seu grau de importância, sendo constituído por 20 competências.Scrum is a framework where people can process and resolve complex problems and consists of a Scrum team associated with roles, events, artifacts and rules where each component serves a specific and essential purpose for using the Scrum. The Scrum Guide and other articles describes the activities to be performed by each of the existing roles, including the Scrum Master, but do not describe in details which are the competencies for this role. Given this issue, this Work of Course’s Conclusion propose and validate a set of competencies for a Scrum Master. To obtain these competencies a systematic literature review and a literature review on the subject in order to find the characteristics inherent in the role of Scrum Master and characterize the concept of competence so that they could support this work were performed. Given the importance of the Scrum Master within the Scrum framework detailed activities were within the ceremonies and responsibilities of the artifacts generated during development. A survey was used to evaluate the importance of each of the proposed competencies and as a result has produced a ranking of competencies by their level of importance, being composed for 20 competencies

Proposta de um conjunto de competências para um Product Owner

Monografia (graduação)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade UnB Gama, Curso de Engenharia de Software, 2014.A importância da área de TI cresce cada vez mais tanto no contexto público quanto no privado. A partir da divulgação do Manifesto Ágil em 2001, juntamente com esse crescimento, há a disseminação da utilização de metodologias ágeis em ambos os contextos, sobretudo do framework Scrum, que traz nova logística, atividades e papéis para o desenvolvimento de um software. Um desses novos papéis é o Product Owner (PO), que possui diversas responsabilidades. Porém, para que ele consiga executar suas atribuições com êxito, é necessário que a pessoa que desempenha esse papel possua competências específicas. Este Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso possui como objetivo propor e validar um conjunto de competências iniciais para um Product Owner que esteja alinhado com as responsabilidades que este papel possui e as atividades que desempenha de modo a potencializar os fatores de sucesso e minimizar os fatores de fracasso de um projeto referentes ao PO. Um questionário foi elaborado para efetuar a validação das competências e produziu como resultado um ranqueamento das competências com base na importância dada pelos respondentes a cada uma delas. ______________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTThe importance of IT grows increasingly both in the public and private context. From the release of the Agile Manifesto in 2001, along with this growth, occurs the spread of the use of agile methodologies in both contexts, especially the Scrum framework, which brings new logistics, activities and roles for the software development. One of these roles is the Product Owner (PO), who has many responsibilities. However, so the PO can execute his/her tasks successfully it is necessary that the person who performs this role has specific competences. The objective of this Work of Course’s Conclusion is to propose and validate a set of preliminary skills for a Product Owner that is aligned with the responsibilities that this role has and the activities it performs, in order to maximize the success factors and minimize the failure ones of a project related to the PO. A questionnaire was designed to perform the validation of the skills and produced results in a ranking of competences based on the importance given by the respondents for each of them