Roles and responsibilities in agile ICT for development

This paper examines the different roles in designing interactive software in a ICT for development context. Using experiences from a participatory action research project, in which we used agile methods to design and deploy an system to support ‘agricultural information flow’ for a co-operative of small farmers in rural India, we identify points of difference between the roles in standard descriptions of agile software methods and the roles as they emerged in our project. A key finding is the critical role played by a ‘Development Project Manager’ in facilitating dialogue, orchestrating the activities of other actors and in building the capabilities and confidence of all the participants in joint action

Empirical Investigation on Agile Methods Usage: Issues Identified from Early Adopters in Malaysia

Agile Methods are a set of software practices that can help to produce products faster and at the same time deliver what customers want. Despite the benefits that Agile methods can deliver, however, we found few studies from the Southeast Asia region, particularly Malaysia. As a result, less empirical evidence can be obtained in the country making its implementation harder. To use a new method, experience from other practitioners is critical, which describes what is important, what is possible and what is not possible concerning Agile. We conducted a qualitative study to understand the issues faced by early adopters in Malaysia where Agile methods are still relatively new. The initial study involves 13 participants including project managers, CEOs, founders and software developers from seven organisations. Our study has shown that social and human aspects are important when using Agile methods. While technical aspects have always been considered to exist in software development, we found these factors to be less important when using Agile methods. The results obtained can serve as guidelines to practitioners in the country and the neighbouring regions

Applied business analytics approach to IT projects – Methodological framework

The design and implementation of a big data project differs from a typical business intelligence project that might be presented concurrently within the same organization. A big data initiative typically triggers a large scale IT project that is expected to deliver the desired outcomes. The industry has identified two major methodologies for running a data centric project, in particular SEMMA (Sample, Explore, Modify, Model and Assess) and CRISP-DM (Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining). More general, the professional organizations PMI (Project Management Institute) and IIBA (International Institute of Business Analysis) have defined their methods for project management and business analysis based on the best current industry practices. However, big data projects place new challenges that are not considered by the existing methodologies. The building of end-to-end big data analytical solution for optimization of the supply chain, pricing and promotion, product launch, shop potential and customer value is facing both business and technical challenges. The most common business challenges are unclear and/or poorly defined business cases; irrelevant data; poor data quality; overlooked data granularity; improper contextualization of data; unprepared or bad prepared data; non-meaningful results; lack of skill set. Some of the technical challenges are related to lag of resources and technology limitations; availability of data sources; storage difficulties; security issues; performance problems; little flexibility; and ineffective DevOps. This paper discusses an applied business analytics approach to IT projects and addresses the above-described aspects. The authors present their work on research and development of new methodological framework and analytical instruments applicable in both business endeavors, and educational initiatives, targeting big data. The proposed framework is based on proprietary methodology and advanced analytics tools. It is focused on the development and the implementation of practical solutions for project managers, business analysts, IT practitioners and Business/Data Analytics students. Under discussion are also the necessary skills and knowledge for the successful big data business analyst, and some of the main organizational and operational aspects of the big data projects, including the continuous model deployment

The Relationship Between Leadership Style and Cognitive Style to Software Project Success

Project managers can be change agents providing direction and motivation for subordinates to meet and exceed goals; however, there is a lack of information about the soft skills needed to achieve project success. Understanding the relationship between cognitive style and transformational leadership to software project outcomes is important. This study describes the lived experiences of software project managers by focusing on their attitudes towards, perceptions of, and behaviors related to using transformational leadership and cognitive styles in agile software development environments. Husserlian phenomenological design was used to identify the structure of participants\u27 experiences. The naturalistic decision-making model and the theory of constraints were a framework for the study. Software project managers identified as transformational leaders were selected from government agencies and commercial companies. Prior to being interviewed, individuals completed the Cognitive Style Indicator. In-depth, semistructured interviews and member checking were used for data collection. Qualitative, phenomenological analysis was used to code the interview data and identify thematic response categories. Results indicated that transformational leaders possessing a planning or creating cognitive style stimulate an environment with an uplifting work atmosphere in which team members are fulfilled and product development outcomes are successful. The implications for positive social change include broadening project managers\u27 leadership and decision making regarding overall project success and leading executives to reexamine the leadership and decision-making styles of their managers resulting in their organizations\u27 prosperity, employee effectiveness, and cost containment

Project Management Tools as Boundary Objects in Agile Software Development

In agile software development (ASD) teams, it is essential to overcome knowledge boundaries to prevent product delays. The theory of boundary objects suggests that using the objects can help bridging knowledge boundaries within ASD teams in collaborations. Although prior research has reported that the use of boundary objects within traditional software development (TSD) teams is helpful, this topic in agile background still needs more exploration. Additionally, findings on the effects of boundary objects in bridging knowledge gaps are mixed. In this in-progress study, we conceptually explored the role of project management tools as boundary objects in ASD teams. Empirical study was conducted by using eight student teams, each consisting of four to five team members, which were asked to deliver a software using project management tools. Preliminary data analysis showed that PMTs indeed have positive influence in agile context

BEYOND BUDGETING AND AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT OF AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TEAMS

Around the same time as the emergence of agile methods as a formalized concept, the management accounting literature introduced the concept of Beyond Budgeting as a performance management model for changing business environments. Both concepts share many similarities with both having a distinctly agile or adaptive perspective. The Beyond Budgeting model promises to enable companies to keep pace with changing business environments, quickly create and adapt strategy and empower people throughout the organization to make effective changes. This research in progress paper attempts to develop the Beyond Budgeting model within the context of agile software development teams. The twelve Beyond Budgeting principles are discussed and a research framework is presented. This framework is being used in two case studies to investigate the organizational issues and challenges that affect the performance of agile software development teams