1,104 research outputs found

    Understanding the Role of Requirements Artifacts in Kanban

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    User stories are a well-established way to record requirements in agile projects. They can be used as such to guide the daily work of developers or be split further into tasks, which usually represent more technical requirements. User stories and tasks guide communication and collaboration in software projects. However, there are several challenges with writing and using user stories in practice that are not well documented yet. Learning about these challenges could raise awareness for potential problems. Understanding how requirements artifacts are used for daily work could lead to better guidelines on writing stories that support daily work tasks. Moreover, user stories may not be appropriate to capture all kinds of requirements that are relevant for a project. We explore how to utilize requirements artifacts effectively, what their benefits and challenges are, and how their scope granularity affects their utility. For this, we studied a software project carried out in the Software Factory at the Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki. We investigated the requirements artifacts and then interviewed the developers and the customer about their experiences. Story and task cards have helped the participants throughout the project. However, despite having a Kanban board and rich communication within the team, some requirements were still too implicit, which also led to misunderstandings. This and other challenges revealed by the study can guide future in-depth research.Peer reviewe

    Enterprise Experience into the Integration of Human-Centered Design and Kanban

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    he integration of Human-Centered Design (HCD) and Agile Software Development (ASD) promises the development of competitive products comprising a good User Experience (UX). This study has investigated the integration of HCD and Kanban with the aim to gain industrial experiences in a real world context. A case study showed that requirements flow into the development process in a structured manner by adding a design board. To this end, the transparency concerning recurring requirements increased. We contribute to the body of knowledge of software development by providing practical insights into Human-Centered Agile Development (HCAD). On one hand, it is shown that the integration of HCD and Kanban leads to a product with a good UX and makes the development process more human-centered. On the other hand, we conclude that a cross-functional collaboration speeds up product development.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3-3-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-71938-RED

    Identifying Agile Requirements Engineering Patterns in Industry

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    Agile Software Development (ASD) is gaining in popularity in today´s business world. Industry is adopting agile methodologies both to accelerate value delivery and to enhance the ability to deal with changing requirements. However, ASD has a great impact on how Requirements Engineering (RE) is carried out in agile environments. The integration of Human-Centered Design (HCD) plays an important role due to the focus on user and stakeholder involvement. To this end, we aim to introduce agile RE patterns as main objective of this paper. On the one hand, we will describe our pattern mining process based on empirical research in literature and industry. On the other hand, we will discuss our results and provide two examples of agile RE patterns. In sum, the pattern mining process identifies 41 agile RE patterns. The accumulated knowledge will be shared by means of a web application.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3-3-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2016-76956-C3-2-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-71938-RED

    Scrum2Kanban: Integrating Kanban and Scrum in a University Software Engineering Capstone Course

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    Using university capstone courses to teach agile software development methodologies has become commonplace, as agile methods have gained support in professional software development. This usually means students are introduced to and work with the currently most popular agile methodology: Scrum. However, as the agile methods employed in the industry change and are adapted to different contexts, university courses must follow suit. A prime example of this is the Kanban method, which has recently gathered attention in the industry. In this paper, we describe a capstone course design, which adds the hands-on learning of the lean principles advocated by Kanban into a capstone project run with Scrum. This both ensures that students are aware of recent process frameworks and ideas as well as gain a more thorough overview of how agile methods can be employed in practice. We describe the details of the course and analyze the participating students' perceptions as well as our observations. We analyze the development artifacts, created by students during the course in respect to the two different development methodologies. We further present a summary of the lessons learned as well as recommendations for future similar courses. The survey conducted at the end of the course revealed an overwhelmingly positive attitude of students towards the integration of Kanban into the course

    Agile Requirements Engineering: A systematic literature review

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    Nowadays, Agile Software Development (ASD) is used to cope with increasing complexity in system development. Hybrid development models, with the integration of User-Centered Design (UCD), are applied with the aim to deliver competitive products with a suitable User Experience (UX). Therefore, stakeholder and user involvement during Requirements Engineering (RE) are essential in order to establish a collaborative environment with constant feedback loops. The aim of this study is to capture the current state of the art of the literature related to Agile RE with focus on stakeholder and user involvement. In particular, we investigate what approaches exist to involve stakeholder in the process, which methodologies are commonly used to present the user perspective and how requirements management is been carried out. We conduct a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) with an extensive quality assessment of the included studies. We identified 27 relevant papers. After analyzing them in detail, we derive deep insights to the following aspects of Agile RE: stakeholder and user involvement, data gathering, user perspective, integrated methodologies, shared understanding, artifacts, documentation and Non-Functional Requirements (NFR). Agile RE is a complex research field with cross-functional influences. This study will contribute to the software development body of knowledge by assessing the involvement of stakeholder and user in Agile RE, providing methodologies that make ASD more human-centric and giving an overview of requirements management in ASD.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3-3-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-71938-RED

    Exploring Which Agile Principles Students Internalize When Using a Kanban Process Methodology

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    This paper reports on a case study of the Agile Kanban project methodology, which while growing in popularity, has had far less analysis on its usefulness in the classroom as compared to other frameworks such as Agile Scrum. Our study provides insight into why the Kanban methodology is useful by mapping student comments about the methodology to the twelve principles laid down in the Agile Manifesto. Our analysis identified two key agile principles that help to explain the value of Kanban. Specifically, we found that the students focused on self-organizing teams and reflection at regular intervals, and that these two principles led to improved team communication and coordination. Our findings are useful for those looking to use or define a process management methodology for student teams as well as others exploring the more general challenge of incorporating agile into the classroom

    AN AGILE METHODOLOGY FOR MANAGING BUSINESS PROCESSES IN AN IT COMPANY

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    Agile methodologies embrace project management methods, techniques and tools that seek to continuously improve products; ensure the agility of project scope, performance of self-organizing teams and the release of quality products. Scrum and Kanban are two of the most popular agile methodologies which IT companies use to develop software products and improve the management of their business processes. The aim of this paper is to suggest an agile methodology that combines Scrum and Kanban elements and techniques. The methodology has been deployed in the Customer Service Department of an IT company in order to improve team management and optimize the performance of the department. In result of employing the suggested agile methodology to the management of business processes in the department, a high degree of awareness about the progress of ongoing tasks has been achieved

    Visual Management in Brazilian Construction Companies: Taxonomy and Guidelines for Implementation

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    Visual management (VM) is the managerial strategy of consciously integrating visual tools in workspaces with the aim of increasing transparency on construction sites. Several VM tools and approaches that had been originally developed in the manufacturing context were implemented in construction. However, research on the application of VM in construction as a managerial strategy is scarce. This paper aims to investigate and classify the types of visual devices that can be used in construction sites through multiple case studies carried out in nine construction companies actively implementing VM. It also discusses strategies for the implementation of VM in construction. The main contributions of this investigation are: (1) a VM tools taxonomy that can be used to identify VM application opportunities, providing a basis for evaluating the level of VM implementation in construction; and (2) identification of critical factors for the implementation and various features of the VM strategy in construction

    Agile project management in engineering, procurement and construction projects: A case study of ABB Grid Integration Finland

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    This thesis is commissioned by ABB Grid Integrations Finland. The case organization was interested in finding out if agile project management (APM) and particularly the Scrum framework could improve the management of their projects. The research problem of this study is formulated as follows: could agile project management be used to improve project management in the case organization during the initial phases of its EPC projects?. In addition to providing guidance to the practitioners in the case organization, the study also aims to make a relevant academic contribution. It became apparent early on in the research process that while there were many academic studies on the use of APM in software development projects, the research on APM in non-software development projects is limited. This study helps fill a gap in the academic literature by making a contribution to this emerging research field. The thesis presents theory on agile project management and its use in non-software development projects. Theory on the Scrum framework and its use in an EPC project is also presented. The study is a qualitative case study. Empirical data is gathered through semi-structured theme interviews (fin: teemahaastattelu) and observations in connection to these interviews. The three interviews with Scrum practitioners working with hardware and software projects within ABB provided an extensive material for analysis. During the research process a pilot project started in the case organization. In this project a hybrid method consisting of Scrum, Kanban and traditional project management practices was piloted. The initial experiences from this pilot project also contribute to the findings of the present study. The results from the study indicate that APM could be implemented in the case organization during the initial phases of its EPC projects, and such an implementation could be beneficial and improve project management. Initial evidence from the pilot project indicates that the benefits which the case organization was hoping to gain from using APM could be achieved. It remains unclear however if the case organization has become more agile through the implementation of APM in the pilot project.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format
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