Green ICT Adoption Survey Focused on ICT Lifecycle from the Consumer’s Perspective (SMEs)

This article examines the extent to which the initiatives determined as Green ICT are reflected in the lifecycle of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in Czech Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The research model is based on the ICT Lifecycle viewpoint that from the perspective of non-ICT businesses consists of three phases – ICT procurement, ICT use and End of ICT use. The results of our research conducted via questionnaire survey among 61 respondents indicate a significant potential among businesses for improvement in all ICT lifecycle phases. The utilization of this potential can increase their competitiveness not only by achieving cost savings in the operation of ICT, but also by contributing to their sustainable development

Product Owner’s Journey to SAFe®—Role Changes in Scaled Agile Framework®

As agile software development methods are spreading through the industry, they are no longer sufficient in their original design. With the increasing adoption by various types and sizes of organizations, these methods are scaled and tailored. The most popular framework for scaling Agile is the Scaled Agile Framework®, registered trademark of Scaled Agile, Inc. Boulder, USA. Some roles originating from the agile methods, such as Product Owner, are part of the framework and are impacted by scaling and tailoring. A Product Owner role is critical to the success of projects in agile environments. This paper aims to describe and discuss the evolution of and changes in Product Owner activities since Agile started to spread in the industry until the current concept of the Product Owner role in the Scaled Agile Framework. By identifying the activities typical of Product Owners outside of the Scaled Agile Framework context and mapping these activities to the Product Owner role description in Scaled Agile Framework, the changes in Product Owner role with respect to time and role specifics in the Scaled Agile Framework are revealed. It was identified that some of the activities previously described for Product Owner are distributed between various roles in the Scaled Agile Framework. In fact, the Product Owner loses the real product ownership in Scaled Agile Framework. The loss of ownership seems connected with the fact that, in the large environments that the Scaled Agile Framework is designed for, it is impossible to cover all required activities by one role using the hierarchical structures with a top-down approach in the Scaled Agile Framework

Examining the Usage of Scaled Agile Methods in the Czech Republic

For the purpose of gathering data about the current usage of agile software development methods in the Czech Republic, a survey among the Czech agile practitioners was conducted. The research was based on a quantitative survey based on convenience sampling and evaluated by means of descriptive statistics. The paper describes a specific part of the survey, which focuses on the Scaled Agile Methods adoption and way of usage. The sub-sample of 26 answers was analysed to gain initial insights into the patterns of adoption of these methods in the Czech Republic. The results indicate that the usage of Scaled Agile Methods is not insignificant and generally in line with global results. The paper also outlines to what extent Scaled Agile Methods are tailored to company needs and how their benefits to project success are perceived by practitioners