Agile Process Model Research Articles

Agile Transfer Process Model to Help Ensure Successful Learning Transfer from Theory to Practical Application on The Job

Agile Transfer Process Model to Help Ensure Successful Learning Transfer from Theory to Practical Application on The Job

Software Engineering for Developing a Cloud Computing Museum-Guide System

The aim of this article proposes an innovative solution for developing a museum-guide system, which employs a voice-activated assistant paired with 3-D hologram displays, that utilizes Amazon web services (AWS) to enhance the visitor experience at the Bahrain National Museum. The proposed system uses software engineering as a service (SaaS) and involves an agile development process model with microservice architecture that adapts cloud computing capabilities to provide scalability, reliability, and maintainability. The proposed system enhances the existing museum infrastructure and databases through a flexible, API-based architecture. The proposed system is highly adaptable and flexible in different desirable aspects of user experience goals. The implementation results proved that the system is highly reliable, adaptable, and efficient and has the potential to improve the user experience by transforming the way museum visitors explore and interact with user interfaces of the museum-guide system.

A proposed Cutomized Scrum Framework for Sudanese Software Companies

Scrum is recognized as one of the most promising and successful agile process models in the software industry. Wide recognition is based on his contribution to increased productivity, better collaboration, quick response to changing market needs and faster delivery of quality products. Although Scrum works better for small projects, practitioners face some challenges in implementing it in Sudanese software companies. Experts have tried to improve Scrum in ways that eliminate these shortcomings and limitations, but no company has been able to solve all the problems. The purpose of this study is to provide a customized Scrum framework for small and medium-sized software companies in Sudan with the aim of improving team productivity and documentation. . The study used asynchronous online focus group data collection as a very useful technique to obtain feedback from small and highly experienced groups in the field of agile software development. The resulting customized Scrum framework requires the adaptation and development of classic Scrum techniques and responsibility for solving problems while maintaining the integrity and simplicity of the methodology.

Towards improving agility in public administration

In times of crises, such as the refugee crisis or the corona pandemic, the workload in public administrations increases because of the demands of citizens or short-term legal changes. In addition, there is an increasing need for digitalization or to be able to react flexibly to changes. Agile process models and agile practices are appropriate to overcome these challenges. The objective of this paper is to investigate how public administrations can measure their degree of agility to identify potential for improving it. The authors conducted a descriptive single-case study which included multiple units of analysis in a public administration in Germany. The case study was supported by their questionnaire for measuring the degree of agility. One outcome of this study is a conceptual framework that can be used to drive agile transformation in public administrations by continuously measuring agility. Therefore, a questionnaire for measuring agility at team level in public administrations has been developed. The application of the questionnaire in three teams provide insights into dysfunctionality in the interdisciplinary teams as well as optimization potential in terms of affinity to change. The adoption of agility in public administration is a challenge, given that resistance to change is still prevalent. A transformational change is a constant journey, and therefore, the measurement of progress plays an important role in the continuous improvement of an organization. The applied approach delivers high potential for improvement in terms of agility and provides interesting insights for both practitioners and academics.

A Framework for the Construction and Tailoring of Engineering Development Process Models

A well-balanced project design using appropriate process models is an important success factor for the management of engineering development projects. There exists a wide range of different process models, including traditional waterfall-based models as well as agile development models like Scrum. Such standardized process models offer a good starting point for the management of engineering development projects; however, they have to be tailored in order to meet the needs of a specific project. Additionally, in complex environments, it might be necessary to construct dedicated process models, like hybrid combinations of several models. In this article, the groundwork for a systematic approach to the construction and tailoring of process models for engineering development projects is presented. It considers relevant international standards as well as traditional and agile process models and can serve as a basis for the subsequent tailoring processes. The developed framework offers the possibility to add distinctive characteristics to a process model, like means which facilitate quality, communication, or knowledge transfer. The evaluation of the framework was done by means of a case study, a survey, and expert interviews.

Investigating the Relationship between Technical Debt Management and Software Development Issues

Context: The presence of technical debt (TD) brings risks to software projects. Managers must continuously find a cost-benefit balance between the benefits of incurring in TD and the costs of its presence in a software project. Much attention has been given to TD related to coding issues, but other types of debt can also have impactful consequences on projects. Aims: This paper seeks to elaborate on the growing need to expand TD research to other areas of software development, by analyzing six elements related to TD management, namely: causes, effects, preventive practices, reasons for non-prevention, repayment practices, and reasons for non-repayment of TD. Method: We survey and analyze, quantitatively and qualitatively, the answers of 653 software industry practitioners on TD to investigate how the previously mentioned elements are related to coding and non-coding issues of the software development process. Results: Coding issues are commonly related to the investigated elements but, indeed, they are only part of the TD Management stage. Issues related to the project planning and management, human factors, knowledge, quality, process, requirements, verification, validation, and test, design, architecture, and the organization are also common sources of TD. We organize the results in a hump diagram and specialize it considering the point of view of practitioners that have used agile, hybrid, and traditional process models in their projects. Conclusion: The hump diagram, in combination with the detailed results, provides guidance on what to expect from the presence of TD and how to react to it considering several issues of software development. The results shed light on TD management of software elements, beyond source code related artifacts.

SUPPORTING THE CHOICE OF THE BEST-FIT AGILE MODEL USING FITRADEOFF

The goal of this study is to propose a decision model for supporting the choice of the best-agile model, based on the Flexible and Interactive Tradeoff (FITradeoff) method. This study provides the definition of an extensive set of 38 measurable criteria that were considered for evaluation of the most popular agile process models used in small and medium-scale enterprises. To illustrate the application of the model, we applied it to a set of alternatives that includes DSDM, SCRUM, XP2 and Crystal and an experienced project manager acted as our decision maker during the interactive elicitation process of the FITradeoff. The results show that the FITradeoff is very valuable for this class of problem because of its strong mathematical foundation and the possibility of combining two different ways for modeling the preferences of decision makers, which makes the process cognitively easier than other multi-criteria methods and increase the confidence on the results. Although our study focuses on the context of small and medium-scale companies for software development, the approach can be used to other types of environments, including distributed software development and large enterprises.

Detection of Certain Objects Wearing Masks in Real Time To Prevent the Spread of the Virus (Yolov3)

A significant increase in the spread of the corona virus (COVID-19) in the community is currently happening due to people not following the health protocol rules set by the ministry of health. One of the rules is to require people to wear masks while they are outside the home. Measures need to be implemented in anticipation of situations where people do not wear masks in public spaces. Therefore, the establishment of a mask detection system is chosen as a solution in order to solve the mentioned problem above. A real-time identification system for people wearing masks is proposed to be developed in this paper. The system utilizes Yolov3 with Darknet -53 as a deep learning mask detector and OpenCV as a real-time computer vision library, so that people doing activities in a public space captured by a video can be recognized and detected when they do not wear masks . In implementing deep learning, a data set of 4000 images is divided into two classes, i.e.,2000 images with masks f or data testing purposes and another 2000 images without masks for training custom objects. The Extreme Programming (XP) method as part of the Agile Process Model is adopted for system development. Computer language support and the latest system development tools have made it possible to utilize this method in an effort to develop this system rapidly. Requirement Analysis is conducted to obtain required processes before designing system. Writing code and testing the system will be the next step before the system is declared ready to be implemented in the public space. By adopting the XP development method, all of the above steps can be implemented repeatedly until the system delivers the expected results

Systematic Review of Agile Methodologies for Software Development

Abstract: With the increase in complexity and innovation in IT products and services, developing them, that to by the shared efforts of team members brings in the need of some standardized development model or approach. Due to several advantages of agile methodologies over the traditional waterfall based models, it is the preferred choice. Many a times, a single agile method is also not enough to meet the current scenario of product development. We therefore propose a Competitor Driven Development (CDD) model, a hybrid agile process model for IT product development by abstracting practices from Extreme Programming (XP) and Feature Driven Reuse Development (FDRD) agile methods. This model is based on self-realizing requirements generation for Product development by keeping an eye watch on competitor’s upcoming launch of the product and market response to it rather than customer explicitly specifying the requirements. This development model can be generally used by the organizations who intend to develop IT product for mass targeted customers rather than an individual or an organization.

Agile or Traditional Project Organization: A Quantitative Assessment of Decision Criteria among Firms in the DACH Region

The so-called agile approach is increasingly popular in the world of project management as a response to more dynamic and competitive environments. This study follows the question: What are the decisive criteria that result in the use of agile process models in practice? Therefore, a broad range of decision criteria is investigated, representing different reasons for firms to decide in favour or against the usage of agile process models, namely: Time-saving, increased efficiency, availability of qualified personnel, uniform terminology, project comparability and functions as a knowledge base. Most existing research on agile project management is of qualitative nature; this study uses a quantitative approach to assessing 51 firms and nine different industries within the DACH region. The collected data was analysed in a binary logistic regression model. Results reveal that time-saving positively predicts the use of agile process models, while high ratings in function as a knowledge base and project comparability predict the absence of agile process models. Therefore, practitioners are suggested to educate project and portfolio managers in the creation of hybrid environments and integration of agile process models in traditional project portfolios. Implications for Central European audience: The results of this study provide valuable insights into the selection of project management approaches across different industries in the DACH region.

Estimation Approaches of Machine Learning in Scrum Projects: A Review

Abstract: It is inevitable for any successful IT industry not to estimate the effort, cost, and duration of their projects. As evident by Standish group chaos manifesto that approx 43% of the projects are often delivered late and entered crises because of over budget and less required functions. Improper and inaccurate estimation of software projects leads to a failure, and therefore it must be considered in true letter and spirit. When Agile principle-based process models (e.g. Scrum) came into the market, a significant change can be seen. This change in culture proves to be a boon forstrengthening the collaboration betweendeveloper and customer.Estimation has always been challenging in Agile as requirements are volatile. This encourages researchersto work on effort estimation. There are many reasons for the gap between estimated and actual effort, viz., project, people, and resistance factors, wrong use of cost drivers, ignorance of regression testing effort, understandability of user story size and its associated complexity, etc. This paperreviewed the work of numerous authors and potential researchers working on bridging the gap of actual and estimated effort. Through intensive and literature review, it can be inferred that machine learning models clearly outperformed non-machine learning and traditional techniques of estimation. Keywords: Machine Learning, Scrum, Scrum Projects, Effort Estimation, Agile Software Development

Agile Innovation Process Model Based on Computer-Aided Patent Knowledge Mining and Functional Analogy

Computer-Aided Design and Applications is an international journal on the applications of CAD and CAM. It publishes papers in the general domain of CAD plus in emerging fields like bio-CAD, nano-CAD, soft-CAD, garment-CAD, PLM, PDM, CAD data mining, CAD and the internet, CAD education, genetic algorithms and CAD engines. The journal is aimed at all developers and users of CAD technology to ptovide CAD solutions for various stages of design and manufacturing. The journal publishes all about Computer-Aided Design and Computer-Aided technologies.

Towards Microservice Identification Approaches for Architecting Data Science Workflows

Abstract In order to support fast development cycles and deploying software components in productive environments, there are three crucial trends in data science. These are agile process models, development of many technologies and increasing usage of cloud platforms. Therefore, effective architectures are needed to support this trend in data science context. This paper explores and evaluates first approaches for, why and how microservice architecture style can support fast development cycles for data science workflows. Microservices are becoming a popular architectural style for designing modern applications due to several advantages like scalability, reliability and maintainability. First, this paper points out the research gap on why microservices could be a suitable way to design data science workflows. Second, it defines relevant research questions for future research that addresses challenges of the microservice architectural style in the data science context. An essential prerequisite for this architecture style is to identify the “right context” of a microservice for data science workflows.

Case Study on Non-Functional Requirement Change Impact Traceability for Agile Software Development

Currently, it is crucial to develop a complex software on time. Agile software development methodologies provide methods to develop a system in term of time and cost-saving but it has been criticized for software quality management. In this paper, a case study is used to find out the need of NFR change impact traceability approach in most of Agile software methodology. This case study was conducted in an undergraduate course that trained the students on how to develop software using Agile process model.This case study has been conducted for 4 months in an undergraduate-level course, Application Development. The samples of this case study are among Year 3 undergraduate students. The case study shows the lack of traceability techniques in the existing Agile process model (SFDD- Secured Feature Driven Development) that result to non-awareness of NFR change impact during development. Based on the case study mentioned the main objective of the case study conducted in survey is to empirically test the theoretical constructs and the hypothesized relationships of the research issues that concern on the lack of change impact management towards NFR in Agile Software Methodology. TANC (Traceability for Agile Non-Functional Requirement Change Impact) model offered techniques in tracing change impact during the agile development process. Therefore, the result of the case study, a traceability process model needs to design in order to tackle the NFR change impact issues in Agile software development.

Mobile Application Development Methodologies Adopted in Omani Market: A Comparative Study

Popularity of mobile phones and huge growing for mobile applications make developers in need for flexible software process, which can deal with many challenges facing the mobile app development process. These challenges include: volatility of requirements, strong user involvement, development time tightness, process simplicity, and production of valuable software in low cost. This research study investigates the current mobile app development approaches adopted in Omani market and provides a comparison between existing methods. The results reveal that Agile approach is the most popular model for mobile software engineering in Omani, as it naturally fits most of the applications required in this market. The study also discusses various agile process models such as Scrum, XP, Lean, DSDM, and others. It is concluded that XP model is the most preferable model used by Omani developers due to its dynamic and adaptive nature for different mobile app processes. The study provides also a series of recommendations for mobile app developers which should help in selecting the most appropriate method that suits the targeted market sector

A Non-Parametric Comparison between Advances Software Engineering Process Model

Software development process provides detailed guideline for development testing and maintenance of software products. It deals with the risks associated withsoftware development and a road map to manage its complexities. In other words, software development processes are considered as optimized solution specific to any particular software product development. There are many software process models available in literature. This research performs a non-parametric comparison between formal process model, agile process model and agent based process model to aid software community in developing quality software product.

Analyzing the effects of test driven development in GitHub

Testing is an integral part of the software development lifecycle, approached with varying degrees of rigor by different process models. Agile process models recommend Test Driven Development (TDD) as a key practice for reducing costs and improving code quality. The objective of this work is to perform a cost-benefit analysis of this practice. To that end, we have conducted a comparative analysis of GitHub repositories that adopts TDD to a lesser or greater extent, in order to determine how TDD affects software development productivity and software quality. We classified GitHub repositories archived in 2015 in terms of how rigorously they practiced TDD, thus creating a TDD spectrum. We then matched and compared various subsets of these repositories on this TDD spectrum with control sets of equal size. The control sets were samples from all GitHub repositories that matched certain characteristics, and that contained at least one test file. We compared how the TDD sets differed from the control sets on the following characteristics: number of test files, average commit velocity, number of bug-referencing commits, number of issues recorded, usage of continuous integration, number of pull requests, and distribution of commits per author. We found that Java TDD projects were relatively rare. In addition, there were very few significant differences in any of the metrics we used to compare TDD-like and non-TDD projects; therefore, our results do not reveal any observable benefits from using TDD.

Towards an agile participatory urban soundscape planning framework

This paper presents an agile participatory urban soundscape planning process model, which is proposed as a prerequisite on which to build and reference the efficacy of urban soundscape planning. The model was developed through data synthesis and analysis and mapping engagement with diverse stakeholders across four applied soundscape projects in Brighton and Hove, UK. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the model is the first of its kind in applied soundscape practice. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and document analysis of published resources. The framework used for the analysis of the findings comprised four core urban planning stages: goals and objectives, engagement (e.g. prediction/modelling/design/planning), implications, evaluation. The study found that when integrating soundscape planning with core urban planning stages it was necessary to first identify the appropriate stakeholders in relation to the project context. It was found that these stakeholders could be wide-ranging and unexpected, thereby reinforcing the appropriateness of incorporating an agile approach in the resulting model. The study also found that users’ perceptions are central to soundscape practice and need to be considered at each stage of a planning process to produce an effective and sustainable outcome. A variety of specific events, appropriate to the requirements of the stakeholders, are important for engaging planning authorities, users and other stakeholders at different stages. This study also demonstrated that an evidence-based evaluation method is recommended in an agile participatory urban soundscape planning process to assess stakeholders’ engagement at each stage and to inform and guide subsequent steps in the planning process relevant to the local context(s).

Role of Risk Management in Scrum

Risk management is the major issue in software development. Managing risk can overcome the software development issues that they are of good quality; delivered in a specified time with-in an estimated budget. Delivering best featured software in expected time and budget is a difficult task. Many traditional software process models are heavily documented and having an inflexible control mechanism which makes them difficult to apply to different software projects. Agile Process models provide a gateway to software industry because of their flexibility and adaptability. They focus on code rather documentation. General Terms Software Engineering, Software Project management.

Proposition of an agile knowledge-based process model

Modern organizations generally define and use standardized models of their processes. They manage their activities using such standards. In these processes, the generalization and reuse of knowledge is facilitated by the standardization. But it is sometimes difficult to react to unexpected events due to over-constrained standards. Companies need to become agile to survive to continuous changes in their environments. There is a requirement of agility for the processes in order to ensure constant responsiveness and flexibility. This necessity of agility can be achieved through a knowledge-based system. Therefore, this article proposes a knowledge-based agile process model in which agility is driven by the reuse of knowledge and experiences. For this purpose, agility operators are defined as formalized pieces of knowledge. A model of an agile process in which these operators are used is presented. The basis of a methodology describing incremental versions of the model is also presented. This "versioning" allows to formalize experiences and to capitalize them for future reuse. Finally, an application of the method to the problem solving domain is presented. It is shown how the standard 9 Steps process becomes more agile by deploying the proposed methodology.