Sustaining Agile Beyond Adoption

Agile approaches are adopted in industry to improve outcomes from software development, and are increasingly the subject of research studies. However, adoption is not the end of the story. Agile requires on-going change and commitment in order to become sustainable and embedded within teams and organisations. This study explores current perceptions of post-adoptive agility. We asked 50 practitioners ‘what does agile sustainability mean to you?’. Analysis of practitioner comments identified four themes: being completely agile, independent, focused on business value and need, and consistent across time. Post-adoptive agile is an under-researched area, there is inconsistent use of terminology, and there is a gap between practitioners’ and researchers’ perceptions about what is important for sustaining agile

Applying Normalization Process Theory to Explain Large-Scale Agile Transformation

Given the prevalence and effectiveness of agile methods at a team level, large organizations are now attempting to mimic this success at large-scale by adopting large-scale methods such as Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Spotify, and Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS). However, compared to insights on traditionally small-scale methods, the extant literature provides sparse coverage on theories to examine large-scale agile transformations. In this article, we focus on the challenge of normalizing large-scale agile transformations and apply Normalization Process Theory (NPT) to support theorize about this process. We present our initial case study findings and outline future research on the application of NPT for large-scale transformations. From a research and practice perspective, we explain how NPT can be adopted to focus on the processes of embedding and sustaining practices – activities which are very often ignored, yet central to the success or failure of transformations

Applications of lean thinking: a briefing document

This report has been put together by the Health and Care Infrastructure Research and Innovation Centre (HaCIRIC) at the University of Salford for the Department of Health. The need for the report grew out of two main simple questions, o Is Lean applicable in sectors other than manufacturing? o Can the service delivery sector learn from the success of lean in manufacturing and realise the benefits of its implementation?The aim of the report is to list together examples of lean thinking as it is evidenced in the public and private service sector. Following a review of various sources a catalogue of evidence is put together in an organised manner which demonstrates that Lean principles and techniques, when applied rigorously and throughout an entire organization/unit, they can have a positive impact on productivity, cost, quality, and timely delivery of services

Agile Usage: Refining a Theoretical Model

Agile methodologies (AM), which emphasize iterative and incremental development with just-in-time processes and documentation, have been adopted by an increasing number of organisations. Despite this progress there is lack of clarity on their effective use after initial adoption. While there is much research on the use of various agile methods and practices, there is very limited understanding on the critical factors that impact their continued and effective usage. To address this gap, an integrated model called the Agile Usage Model (AUM) was developed, by coalescing insights from organisational level Information Systems implementation, traditional innovation diffusion models, and post-adoptive agile usage. The objective of this study is to use multiple data collection methods to further evaluate and refine the AUM. The final refined conceptual model of Agile Usage is presented along with implications for research and practice

The development of service provider's BPO-IT framework

Purpose The decision to operate BPO-IT organisational model by a business process outsourcing (BPO) service provider has far reaching benefits. The purpose of this paper is to develop a service provider’s BPO-IT framework that provides in-house IT function (software) required to process client services. Design/methodology/approach The multi-case study adopted an exploratory sequential mixed method research approach. In the first instance, seven BPO service provider organisations were investigated in the qualitative phase and 156 in the quantitative phase, respectively. Findings The adoption of the developed framework indicates that it could reduce failures in BPO relationships through reduced turnaround time in processing client services, improved quality of service, reduced cost, improved client and provider’s competitiveness, and confidentiality of client operations. Outsourcing clients could lay the foundation for a successful relationship by adopting a selection process that could choose the right provider. Originality/value The paper reveals BPO-IT organisation’s operation towards in-house provision of software required to process client services. A research exploring BPO service providers from a top outsourcing destination like India could provide offshore outsourcing clients the information to move towards onshore outsourcing. </jats:sec