Agile software development practices in Egypt SMEs : a grounded theory investigation

Agile information system development methods have been adopted by most software development organizations due to their proven benefits in terms of flexibility, reliability, and responsiveness. However, companies face significant challenges in adopting these approaches. Specifically, this research investigates challenges faced by software development companies in Egypt while transitioning to Agile. As little previous research is available targeting their concerns, we have conducted a grounded theory investigation. Key problem areas were found including lack of cadence in sprints planning, inadequate use of effort estimation and product quality issues. The developed grounded theory reflects on the key problem areas found with SMEs adopting agile practices and can be used by software development practitioners adopting agile methods in Egypt or similar developing countries as an outline for the common problem areas they are expected to find

Do agile managed information systems projects fail due to a lack of emotional intelligence?

YesAgile development methodologies (ADM) have become a widely implemented project management approach in Information Systems (IS). Yet, along with its growing popularity, the amount of concerns raised in regard to human related challenges caused by applyingADMare rapidly increasing. Nevertheless, the extant scholarly literature has neglected to identify the primary origins and reasons of these challenges. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine if these human related challenges are related to a lack of Emotional Intelligence (EI) by means of a quantitative approach. Froma sample of 194 agile practitioners, EI was found to be significantly correlated to human related challenges in agile teams in terms of anxiety, motivation, mutual trust and communication competence. Hence, these findings offer important new knowledge for IS-scholars, project managers and human resource practitioners, about the vital role of EI for staffing and training of agile managed IS-projects

A comprehensive evaluation of agile maturity self-assessment surveys

18th International Conference on Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination, SPICE 2018; Tessaloniki; Greece; 9 October 2018 through 10 October 2018Agile methodologies are adapted by growing number of software organizations. Agile maturity (also called agility) assessment is a way to ascertain the degree of this adoption and determine a course of action to improve agile maturity. There are a number of agile maturity assessment surveys in order to assess team or organization agility and many of them require no guidance. However, the usability of these surveys are not widely studied. The purpose of this study is to determine available agile maturity self-assessment surveys and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses for agile maturity assessment. An extensive case study is conducted to measure the sufficiency of 22 available agile maturity self-assessment surveys according to the seven expected features: comprehensiveness, fitness for purpose, discriminativeness, objectivity, conciseness, generalizability, and suitability for multiple assessment. Our case study results show that they do not satisfy all of the expected features fully but are helpful in some degree based on the purpose of usage.Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), Project 113E52

Brand switching and consumer identification with brands in the smartphones industry

Brand loyalty literature has mainly focused on how brands perform under normal market conditions. As the business environment grows more complex, globalised and innovative, market disruptions become more prevalent. Taking a cognition-based approach, this paper proposes that customers identify with brands to satisfy self-definitional needs. A social constructivist perspective, using an inductive and case study strategy was used. Data generation was based on purposeful sampling, and participants were chosen based on their ‘lived’ experience with the use of Smartphones. Four major themes were identified in the purchase of Smartphones: identity, satisfaction, brand loyalty and brand switching. Participants’ views suggested that this provides them with a sense of purpose and meaning, defining who they are, as well as why they behave in specified ways in society, which increases their self-esteem. Brand switching occurs when customers are motivated to review available alternatives in the marketplace due to a change in competitive activities. Socially, switching occurs when a customer’s belief in a brand is externally influenced within the social setting. When the boundary between the ‘in-group’ and the ‘out-group’ is impermeable and changing, group membership is not realistic; social mobility is not a viable strategy to cope with identity threats