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

Trabalho e qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde de pacientes em diálise peritoneal Trabajo y Calidad de Vida Relacionada a la Salud de pacientes en Diálisis Peritoneal Work and health-related quality of life of patients on peritoneal dialysis

OBJETIVO: Descrever e comparar a Qualidade de Vida Relacionada à Saúde (QVRS) de pacientes em Diálise Peritoneal (DP) que tinham ou não trabalho remunerado. MÉTODOS: Estudo seccional e populacional com 82 pacientes dos dois serviços de DP de Ribeirão Preto, (SP). A coleta de dados foi realizada por entrevistas entre dezembro/2009 e março/2010. Os questionário para caracterização dos pacientes, o Miniexame do Estado Mental e o Kidney Disease and Quality of Life-Short Form foram usados. Foram feitas as análises estatística exploratória uni e bivariada e a confirmatória bivariada entre variáveis independentes e as dimensões de QVRS. RESULTADOS: os pacientes com trabalho remunerado apresentavam maiores escores médios refletindo melhor QVRS para a maioria das dimensões do instrumento utilizado. CONCLUSÃO: o trabalho é uma faceta importante da vida desses pacientes e merece a atenção dos profissionais da saúde na busca de estratégias que favoreçam e incentivem sua manutenção e reinserção no mercado de trabalho.<br>OBJETIVO: Describir y comparar la Calidad de Vida Relacionada a la Salud (QVRS) de pacientes en Diálisis Peritoneal (DP) que tenían o no trabajo remunerado. MÉTODOS: Estudio seccional y poblacional realizado con 82 pacientes de los dos servicios de DP de Ribeirão Preto, (SP). La recolección de datos se realizó por medio de entrevistas entre deciembre/2009 y marzo/2010. Fueron usados los cuestionarios para la caracterización de los pacientes, el Mini examen del Estado Mental y el Kidney Disease and Quality of Life-Short Form. Se realizaron los análisis estadísticos exploratorio uni y bivariado y la confirmatoria bivariada entre variables independientes y las dimensiones de QVRS. RESULTADOS: los pacientes con trabajo remunerado presentaban mayores escores medios reflejando mejor QVRS para la mayoría de las dimensiones del instrumento utilizado. CONCLUSIÓN: el trabajo es una faceta importante de la vida de esos pacientes y merece la atención de los profesionales de la salud en la búsqueda de estrategias que favorezcan e incentiven su manutención y reinserción en el mercado de trabajo.<br>OBJECTIVE: To describe and compare Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) of patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD) who had and who did not have paid work. METHODS: A cross-sectional and populational study with 82 patients from the two PD services in Ribeirão Preto (SP), Brazil. Data collection was conducted by interviews between December/2009 and March/2010. The questionnaires for the characterization of patients, the Mini Mental State Examination and the Kidney Disease and Quality of Life-Short Form were used. Analyses were performed using exploratory univariate and bivariate statistics, and the confirmatory bivariate among the independent variables and the dimensions of HRQoL. RESULTS: Patients with paid work presented higher mean scores reflecting better HRQoL for the majority of the dimensions of the instrument used. CONCLUSION: Work is an important facet of life for these patients and merits the attention of health professionals in the search for strategies that promote and incentivize its maintenance and the reintegration of patients into the labor market