Understanding Agile Software Development Assimilation Beyond Acceptance

Agile software development methods represent a departure from the heavily regimented and document-driven procedures of traditional, waterfall approaches. Despite the highly touted benefits of employing agile ISD methods and the growth of agile adoption rates over the past two decades, it is not clear why some organizations fail to routinize agile methods, while others do so and realize their promised benefits. Motivated by the need to understand the factors that influence agile routinization, this study empirically examines the deep contextual factors that impact the extent to which agile methods are proliferated throughout an organization. Findings indicate that project success from initial agile use does not translate to routine agile use. Instead, findings from the study suggest that organizational factors of organizational culture and structure play a pivotal role in the routinization of agile methods

Internal Strategies for Assessing Organizational Communication Channel Effectiveness

Evolving communication technology, the increased volume of information needed by businesses, and the intensified competitive environment have made internal company communication more critical to business success. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies used by managers and leaders of 3 law firms in the Commonwealth of Virginia for assessing the effectiveness of their organization\u27s internal communication channels. The participating firms were recognized by their peers as being exceptionally well-managed. Data from interviews and company documents were analyzed through the conceptual lens of the channel expansion theory and the use of software coding to identify patterns and themes. Three important themes emerged: informal assessment strategies, indirect assessment strategies, and efficient versus timely assessments. The first theme suggested the effectiveness of an informal assessment strategy, depending on the size and complexity of the organization. The second theme reflected the effectiveness of an indirect assessment for organizations that lack the resources to support a more direct and specific assessment process. The third theme reflected the participants\u27 perceptions of informal and indirect assessments may be more efficient, the feedback from the assessments are often less timely. Managers may consider these themes in formulating communication policies. The findings of this case study may have implications for positive social and economic change. Small professional service firms, such as legal firms, provide important services to individuals, families, and businesses in their community

Knowledge management in agile software development : techniques and factors that promote knowledge creation

Orientador: Ivan Luiz Marques RicarteDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de ComputaçãoResumo: O processo de desenvolvimento de software pode ser considerado um processo intensivo de criação de conhecimento. Os membros de equipes ágeis de desenvolvimento de software são trabalhadores que compartilham intensivamente seus conhecimentos tácitos e explícitos para a construção de software inovadores. Esse conhecimento, inicialmente distribuído nas mentes dos programadores, deve ser gerenciado por meio de técnicas e ferramentas que apoiem a aprendizagem organizacional, a criação, a construção e a avaliação de software. Nesse sentido, este trabalho objetivou identificar e compreender as técnicas utilizadas pelas equipes ágeis e os fatores capacitadores que auxiliem a criação de conhecimento em equipes de desenvolvimento de software. Para atingir aos propósitos desta pesquisa, primeiro, foi feita uma revisão de literatura, que seguiu os princípios de revisões sistemáticas, para compreender o Estado da Arte e identificar técnicas das metodologias ágeis e fatores que promovem a criação de conhecimento no desenvolvimento ágil de software. Segundo, para o percurso metodológico dois estudos de caso foram conduzidos por meio de entrevistas e analisados qualitativamente por meio da Teoria Fundamentada em Dados. Como resultados, dois fenômenos centrais emergiram dos dados analisados. O Fenômeno 1 mostra que as equipes ágeis estabelecem técnicas que apoiam a aprendizagem organizacional, a criação e a construção de software. O Fenômeno 2 indica que as equipes ágeis promovem fatores capacitadores que alinham a cultura organizacional e as características pessoais dos colaboradores e essas equipes são gerenciadas mediante uma inteligência coletivaAbstract: The software development process can be considered as an intensive process of knowledge creation. The members of agile software development teams are workers that intensively share their tacit and explicit knowledge to build innovative software. This knowledge, initially distributed in programmer¿s minds, should be managed by means of techniques and tools that support the organizational learning, the creation, the construction and the evaluation of software. Therefore, this study aimed to identify and understand the techniques and the enabling factors that support the creation of knowledge. To achieve the purposes, first, a literature review was made, which followed the principles of systematic reviews, not only to understand the state of the art but also to identify techniques and factors of the agile methodologies that promote the creation of knowledge. Second, two case studies were conducted as a methodology research through interviews whose data was qualitatively analyzed using the Grounded Theory. As results, two main phenomena emerged from the data analyzed. The first phenomenon shows that agile teams establish techniques that support the organizational learning, the creation and the construction of software. The second phenomenon indicates that teams promote enabling factors that align organizational culture and the employees¿ personal characteristics and the team is managed by a collective intelligenceMestradoEngenharia de ComputaçãoMestre em Engenharia ElétricaCAPE