Lavoro agile emergenziale tra obblighi di tutela della persona ed esigenze dell’impresa

PurposeThis study aims to examine the relationship between the agile way of working and team performance and engagement. Furthermore, psychological safety climate was investigated as a mediator of this relationship. As organizations are increasingly adopting the agile way of working method beyond the information technology (IT) setting, the authors researched its effects in teams across a variety of functional domains.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data was collected from 97 agile teams working in various functional domains in a multinational bank. The data was analyzed using structural equation modeling.FindingsResults indicated that the agile way of working is directly and positively related to team engagement and performance. Moreover, psychological safety climate acted as a partial mediator of each of the respective outcomes.Originality/valueThis study illustrated that the agile way of working is beneficial for teams beyond the IT setting, as it is positively associated with psychological safety climate, engagement and performance across functional domains.

This longitudinal study examined how an information systems development team transitioned to an agile way of working. We describe the main events of a large, inter-organizational project, where agile methods and practices were applied for the first time. The organizations involved had a long tradition in heavy, waterfall style projects, and many of those past projects had severe challenges. We examine how the agile way of working was understood by particular groups (project team, management and suppliers), as well as how these understandings changed over time. The lack of experience with agile development, no common view on ‘agility’ and its key principles and practices were obvious challenges for the transition. Our study suggests that complex agile projects need to have very clear goals and management has to be able to communicate these, while preserving the autonomy of teams and individual team members.

Agile ways of working have been applied to single organizations and corporations. But cases on agility for non-profit associations dealing with a multitude of members, geographies and their own boards are scarce. Can agility also be applied in a non-profit networked organizational setting in a way that creates value, rather than destroying it? The focus of this article will be on the outcomes of piloting agility with a virtual long-distance team across Europe, including benefits and pitfalls. Value should be created through virtual teams of the association: both for the benefit of members and the association itself. If there is no or little value created there, the members will be unlikely to participate in these groups, undermining the added value of the association. Currently, these teams do not all create value for the membership, and sometimes even destroy value by costing the membership time and money and not delivering relevant output. In this pilot study, one virtual group was followed, interviews with the group members have been held and the members of the association were surveyed about the existing situation in the focal organization. We found that an agile way of working is beneficial for a virtual team and implementing this in an ailing virtual team can give it new élan. This way, the teams can deliver value to the membership, and thus to the association, instead of the groups not functioning well leading to value destruction for the association, as members might turn away from the association for their sought added value. Further, the network organization itself partially shows traits of organizational agility, which could be improved to fully support virtual teams.

In the Agile Way of Working (AoW), a group of developers jointly work to efficiently realize a project. Here we report on the application of AoW in meteorological research and development (R&D) outside of the software engineering environment. Three projects were formulated, derived from the observations strategy (2015) of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI). An initial phase of preparation consisted of breaking down the workload into tasks to be accomplished by individual project members and achievable in two one-week sprints. Sprints consisted of daily stand-ups, where accomplishments, work intentions, and obstacles were discussed, followed by project work in a joint working environment. The three projects identified were 1) flying a drone to detect boundary layer evolution, 2) monitoring the quality of the precipitation measurement system, and 3) realizing a platform for merging third-party data with meteorological observations. The preparation phase proved to be vitally important to each of the projects. The roles of the product owner and Scrum master in streamlining and guiding these projects were essential to the success of the sprint weeks, but the joint group settings worked well for only two of the three projects. While team members were positive about their experience with the AoW, the challenge remains to fuse the traditional individual work practice of researchers with that of software engineers, who are experienced in working in a group setting.

This paper explores the connection between agile methods and digital customer experience, aiming to identify what are the hallmarks of a good agile way of working. The research is an exploratory case study consisting of interviews and analysis. In summary, the research suggests that the hallmarks of a good agile way of working are 1) breaking down tasks into sufficiently small pieces, 2) defining tasks precisely and releasing them to production evenly, 3) continuous improvement, and 4) good planning of sprints. These good agile operating methods can be seen in the development measures as a short lead time, a short time to export to production, low errors, and a high deployment frequency. According to the findings, these metrics are linked to the Net Promoter Score (NPS), a measure of customer experience. A team with sufficient technical capabilities team that utilizes agile operating methods is able to produce the desired things for customers at exactly the right time while constantly improving, so that the NPS is positive, and its direction is improving. On the other hand, the team’s bad operating methods are also visible in the NPS meter – in this case, the NPS fluctuates strongly. Teams can obtain insightful supplementary data about their own practices by keeping track of development measures.

In this paper, we outline inherent tensions in Agile environments, which lead to paradoxes that Agile teams and organizations have to navigate. By taking a critical perspective on Agile frameworks and Agile organizational settings the authors are familiar with, we contribute an initial problematization of paradoxes for the Agile context. For instance, Agile teams face the continuous paradox of ‘doing Agile’ (= following an established Agile way of working) versus ‘being Agile’ (= changing an established Agile way of working). One of the paradoxes that organizations face is whether to start their Agile journey with a directed top-down (and therefore quite un-Agile) ‘big bang’ or to allow an emergent bottom-up transformation (which may be more in-line with the Agile spirit but perhaps not be able to overcome organizational inertia). Future research can draw on our initial problematization as a foundation for subsequent in-depth investigations of these Agile paradoxes. Agile teams and organizations can draw on our initial problematization of Agile paradoxes to inform their learning and change processes.

Due to the changing technological possibilities of services, the demands that society places on the level of service provided by the Dutch Central Government (DCG) are changing rapidly. To accommodate this, the Dutch government is improving its processes in such a way that they become more agile and are continuously improved. However, the DCG struggles with the implementation of improvement tools that can support this. The research described in this paper aims to deliver key factors that influence the adoption of tools that improve the agile way of working and continuous improvement at the DCG. Therefore, a literature review has been conducted, from which 24 factors have been derived. Subsequently, 9 semi structured interviews have been conducted to emphasize the perspective of employees at the DCG. In total, 7 key factors have been derived from the interviews. The interviewees consisted of both employees from departments who already worked with tools to improve agile working and continuous improvement as well as employees from departments who haven’t used such tools yet. An important insight based on this research is that the aims, way of working and scope of the improvement tools must be clear for all the involved co-workers.

In this paper, we outline inherent tensions in Agile environments, which lead to paradoxes that Agile teams and organizations have to navigate. By taking a critical perspective on Agile frameworks and Agile organizational settings the authors are familiar with, we contribute an initial problematization of paradoxes for the Agile context. For instance, Agile teams face the continuous paradox of ‘doing Agile’ (= following an established Agile way of working) versus ‘being Agile’ (= changing an established Agile way of working). One of the paradoxes that organizations face is whether to start their Agile journey with a directed top-down (and therefore quite un-Agile) ‘big bang’ or to allow an emergent bottom-up transformation (which may be more in-line with the Agile spirit but perhaps not be able to overcome organizational inertia). Future research can draw on our initial problematization as a foundation for subsequent in-depth investigations of these Agile paradoxes. Agile teams and organizations can draw on our initial problematization of Agile paradoxes to inform their learning and change processes.

Corporate competitiveness is constantly being shaped by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the explosive development of technology, the globalization and the hyper-competition. The VUCA status has now become a permanent reality: volatility and complexity cannot be traced to traditional corporate operations. The Industry 4.0 projects a physical, a digital and a biological megatrend such as advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, new materials, personalized healing, self-driving cars. Through usage of the resources and knowledge sharing, the global economy is experiencing mutations such as the sharing economy, the peer to peer economy, the gig economy in the labor market and the Big Data in planning. Meanwhile, the disruptive innovations are transforming industries and gaining exponentially competitive advantage. The special business concepts were born and whom cannot be handled by models of classic macro and micro economics: the largest taxi company in the world does not own any taxicab (Uber), the largest accommodation company does not own any property (Airbnb), the largest telecommunication company has no infrastructure (Skype), the world's most valuable retailer has no inventory (Alibaba), the most popular media doesn't create its own content (Facebook), the world's largest cinema doesn't have its own movie (Netflix). In the meantime, those are treasuring huge profits, business influence and information capital. The competitiveness of their agile way of working can be proved. These call for changes not only in the market, but also in organizational and individual terms. An adaptive corporate structure and leadership, a self-organizing group, an agile working method hold companies in the direction of growing track and changes in the future. My research about discovering some aspects of agile way of working versus traditional organization work. My hypothesis is that employees are more motivated, effective and committed in an agile team than in a classic hierarchy or matrix. I added own business and project-based worker as their flexible, effective work is a must. My hypotheses are partially fulfilled.

Corporate competitiveness is constantly being shaped by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the explosivedevelopment of technology, the globalization and the hyper-competition. The VUCA status has now become apermanent reality: volatility and complexity cannot be traced to traditional corporate operations. The Industry4.0 projects a physical, a digital and a biological megatrend such as advanced robotics, artificial intelligence,new materials, personalized healing, self-driving cars. Through usage of the resources and knowledge sharing,the global economy is experiencing mutations such as the sharing economy, the peer to peer economy, the gigeconomy in the labor market and the Big Data in planning. Meanwhile, the disruptive innovations aretransforming industries and gaining exponentially competitive advantage. The special business concepts wereborn and whom cannot be handled by models of classic macro and micro economics: the largest taxi companyin the world does not own any taxicab (Uber), the largest accommodation company does not own any property(Airbnb), the largest telecommunication company has no infrastructure (Skype), the world's most valuableretailer has no inventory (Alibaba), the most popular media doesn't create its own content (Facebook), theworld's largest cinema doesn't have its own movie (Netflix). In the meantime, those are treasuring huge profits,business influence and information capital. The competitiveness of their agile way of working can be proved.These call for changes not only in the market, but also in organizational and individual terms. An adaptivecorporate structure and leadership, a self-organizing group, an agile working method hold companies in thedirection of growing track and changes in the future.My research about discovering some aspects of agile way of working versus traditional organization work. Myhypothesis is that employees are more motivated, effective and committed in an agile team than in a classichierarchy or matrix. I added own business and project-based worker as their flexible, effective work is a must.My hypotheses are partially fulfilled.

In this paper, we outline inherent tensions in Agile environments, which lead to paradoxes that Agile teams and organizations have to navigate. By taking a critical perspective on Agile frameworks and Agile organizational settings the authors are familiar with, we contribute an initial problematization of paradoxes for the Agile context. For instance, Agile teams face the continuous paradox of ‘doing Agile’ (= following an established Agile way of working) versus ‘being Agile’ (= changing an established Agile way of working). One of the paradoxes that organizations face is whether to start their Agile journey with a directed top-down (and therefore quite un-Agile) ‘big bang’ or to allow an emergent bottom-up transformation (which may be more in-line with the Agile spirit but perhaps not be able to overcome organizational inertia). Future research can draw on our initial problematization as a foundation for subsequent in-depth investigations of these Agile paradoxes. Agile teams and organizations can draw on our initial problematization of Agile paradoxes to inform their learning and change processes.

The key dimensions of agile teams include self-organization, face-to-face communication, quick product turnaround, reflexivity, and a focus on simplicity in work. The study aims to examine the favorability and differences in employees’ perspectives toward the individual dimensions of the agile way of working. descriptive statistical analysis and ANOVA tests were applied. The results reveal a positive attitude toward reflexivity among ICT employees and a less favorable view of face-to-face communication. A statistically significant difference in self-management, based on income level, was found, with further analysis indicating that the difference in compatibility occurs between employees in lower and higher income groups. The study’s limitations include its focus on employee attitudes in Serbia’s ICT sector, which restricts applicability to other industries, suggesting that future research should incorporate additional variables for a more comprehensive analysis. The practical implications suggest that IT managers should foster a reflexive work culture, encourage face-to-face communication, and offer more autonomy to higher-income employees. To the authors’ knowledge, there is a lack of research focusing on the individual dimensions of agility, contributing to the originality of the research.

Testing large complex systems in an agile way of working was a tough transition for systems having large active legacy and honouring backward compatibility. Transition from manual test to full test execution automation resulted in increased speed and manifested technical debt. The agile way of working in continuous build and test, creates a lot of repetition by execution of the same tests. Overlap between agile teams producing similar test cases, causes a constant growth of the test suites. Despite the obvious improvement of automating millions of test cases, the numbers provide a false sense of security for management on how well the system is tested. The causes of technical debt should be addressed, instead of managing the symptoms. Technical debt in software testing could be addressed by refactoring, supported by known techniques like cloning, similarity analysis, test suite reduction, optimization and reducing known test smells. Increasing the system quality can also be improved by utilizing metrics, e.g. code coverage and mutation score or use one of the many automated test design technologies. Why this is not addressed in the industry has many causes. In this paper we describe observations from several industries, with the focus on large complex systems. The contribution lies in reflecting on observations made in the last decade, and providing a vision which identifies improvements in the area of test automation and technical debt in software test, i.e. test code, test suites, test organisation, strategy and execution. Our conclusion is that many test technologies are now mature enough to be brought into regular use. The main hindrance is skills and incentive to do so for the developer, as well as a lack of well educated testers.KeywordsTest automationTest maintenanceAgile developmentTechnical debtIndustry testingTest strategiesQuality assurance

On 19 September 2019, the Data Protection Authority of the Aland Islands (in Finland) published its findings on the data processing audit for the autonomous region’s parliamentary election special internet voting procedure. It claimed that there were faults in the documentation provided by the processor, which in turn meant that the election’s integrity could not be guaranteed without further precautions from the government of the Aland Islands. Since the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entered into force in May 2018, it has set new critical requirements for remote electronic voting projects. Yet, to date, no specific guidance nor research has been conducted on the impact of GDPR on remote electronic voting. Tacking stock of two recent internet voting experiences in the Aland Islands and France, this paper aims at identifying and understanding these new requirements. More specifically, based on these two case studies it analyses four different challenges on the processing of personal data in remote electronic voting under the GDPR: the definitions and categories of personal data processed in online voting projects; the separation of duties between data controllers and data processors; the secure processing of (sensitive) personal data, including the use of anonymisation and pseudonymisation techniques; as well as post-election processing of personal data, and possible limits to (universal) verifiability and public access to personal data.

The different approaches going near definitions «the personal data» and «personal data of worker», that is used in scientific researches, international law and Ukrainian legislation is studied in the article. It is found out, that in the current legislation the concept «the personal data of worker» and «protection of the personal data of worker» are absent, the same as norms that guarantee the protection of the marked data. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that the employee’s personal data should be understood as any information related to a specific natural person working on the basis of an employment contract, and provided personally by such a person to the employer or collected by the latter in accordance with the law. The employee’s personal data should include information about the age, date and place of birth, citizenship, registration number of the taxpayer’s registration card, information on employment, health, level of education, proficiency in Ukrainian and foreign languages, marital status. And this list is not exhaustive. Attention is paid to the fact that the employee’s consent is the legal basis for providing the employer with and further processing of personal data. However, we note that this rule does not apply to labor relations. Every employer is forced to process the personal data of all its employees, because without this information, it will not be able to fulfill its obligations under the employment contract. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that the employer could process the employee’s personal data only in case of actual necessity and in the presence of legal grounds.It was emphasized that after the adoption by the European Parliament of the new Regulation on the protection of personal data (GDPR), the issue of compliance of the Ukrainian personal data protection system with EU standards has become even more urgent, since branches/representative offices of Ukrainian organizations/enterprises on the territory of the EU will need to be rebuilt in order to meet the new requirements work on the protection of personal data as well as make corrections. Therefore, after the entry into force of the Regulation, many companies faced with the problem of adapting the privacy policy to the provisions of this document. Unfortunately, the current Ukrainian legislation on personal data is outdated and inhibits, it creates obstacles in the implementation of innovative solutions both in the private (IT sector development) and in the public sphere (electronic democracy, digitization of administrative services, etc.).It was concluded that in the conditions of digitalization, it became necessary to systematize and codify national legislation in accordance with the norms of European legislation and to develop a single regulatory legal act that would regulate the collection, processing, and protection of personal data of employees at the legislative level.