Agile Software Development Projects Research Articles

Tensions and ambidexterity: a case study of an agile project at a government agency

Today’s dynamic business environment must continuously adapt its software development methods to changing technologies and new requirements on the part of customers. Therefore, Agile methods are being used more and more used because they emphasize both flexibility and the ability to change. However, at the same time, the business-driven need for predictability and control remains. The purpose of this case study is to explore and theorize on paradoxical tensions and ambidexterity during an Agile software development project at a government agency. The study empirically examines how tensions and the ambidextrous responses to these tensions are related to Agile values. Data was collected by conducting interviews and studying internal project documents. Four categories of tensions (learning, organizing, performing, and belonging) were used for analytical purposes. The findings suggest that most of the tensions perceived were in the categories of learning and performing. There are, furthermore, several connectionsbetween the ambidextrous responses to these tensions and Agile principles. A deeper understanding of Agile values and principles is required in order to make projects successful. The contribution made by the study, therefore, is of great importance because Agile methods are for leading projects, not only in Agile software development, but also in other industries and sectors.

Business analysts' contributions to the dynamic capabilities of agile software development teams

PurposeLiterature reveals ongoing debates around the role of business analysts in agile software development (ASD) teams. This can be attributed, in part, to a knowledge gap concerning how business analysts contribute to overall team capabilities, particularly those which are essential in enabling teams to respond to fast-paced environmental changes. The purpose of this study was to address this gap by investigating how business analysts (BAs) contribute to the dynamic capabilities of ASD teams.Design/methodology/approachThrough a deductive approach, this study adapted and applied a research model based on the team dynamic capabilities (DC) theory to explore the contributions of BAs in agile teams. The study was executed using a qualitative, single case study research strategy directed at an ASD team in the financial services industry. Moreover, data were collected through face-to-face, semi-structured interviews; a focus group; non-participant observation and physical artefacts review. The thematic analysis technique was used to analyse the data.FindingsThe study contributes to teams DC theory through four theoretical propositions centred on the role of BAs. The proposition highlights how BAs relationship management, tacit knowledge sharing, task mental models and transactive memory are key contributors of ASD teams' DC. The study also found that BAs contribute to ASD teams' ability to embrace agile principles 2, 4, 6 and 12. This study can inform the design of capacity development programmes for individual team members and BAs and thus help managers curate teams that will best promote DC.Practical implicationsThis study can inform the design of capacity development programmes for individual team members and BAs and thus help managers curate teams that will best promote DC.Originality/valueThis study builds on the relatively few studies which focus on DC within software development (SD) teams and ASD project teams. Moreover, the study explores how an individual (i.e. a BA) can contribute to the DC of a team.

Influencing the security prioritisation of an agile software development project

Software security is a complex topic, and for development projects it can be challenging to assess what security is necessary and cost-effective. Agile Software Development (ASD) values self-management. Thus, teams and their Product Owners are expected to also manage software security prioritisation. In this paper we build on the notion that security experts who want to influence the priority given to security in ASD need to do this through interactions and support for teams rather than prescribing certain activities or priorities. But to do this effectively, there is a need to understand what hinders and supports teams in prioritising security. Based on a longitudinal case study, this article offers insight into the strategy used by one security professional in an SME to influence the priority of security in software development projects in the company. The main result is a model of influences on security prioritisation that can assist in understanding what supports or hinders the prioritisation of security in ASD, thus providing recommendations for security professionals. Two alternative strategies are outlined for software security in ASD – prescribed and emerging – where we hypothesise that an emerging approach can be more relevant for SMEs doing ASD, and that this can impact how such companies should consider software security maturity.

An onboarding model for integrating newcomers into agile project teams

A stable team is deemed optimal for agile software development project success; however, all teams change membership over time. Newcomers joining an agile project team must rapidly assimilate into the organisational and project environment. They must do this while learning how to contribute effectively and without seriously interrupting project progress.

Correlation of Agile Principles and Practices to Software Project Performance: An AHP–Delphi Analysis

Currently, Extreme Programming, Scrum, and Kanban are the three most commonly used methods in agile software development (ASD) projects. Each method has different practices and shares a set of agile principles, where quality, time, and cost are the three project performance indicators. Companies may focus on and prioritize certain indicators based on industry or project differences. Therefore, choosing appropriate practices that fit the specific performance indicator is an important decision for organizations. This study utilizes a hierarchical consensus model to examine the correlation between four agile practice groups, six agile principle categories, and three project performance indicators. The modified Delphi method was applied to collect the pairwise comparison data, and the analytic hierarchy process was utilized to analyze the data. A Delphi panel of experts from both academia and industry was established to reach a consensus on the correlation priority using pairwise comparison matrices. The principle of cooperation between customer and developer is considered the most important principle related to project time and cost performance, while the technical excellence principle is the most important principle related to project quality performance. These results can assist organizations and practitioners in adopting the ASD practices that will best enhance their competitive advantage.

Communication patterns and team performance within agile software development project

Communication patterns and team performance within agile software development project

THE IMPACT OF STAKEHOLDERS IN AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMEN

The market for software development projects is dynamic and complex. The stakeholders involved in the software development process come from different organisational positions and therefore have varying interests and expectations from the product. Effective project management practices enable successful on-time delivery of high-quality product. It is essential to identify the stakeholder roles and responsibilities to effectively manage the development practices within the organisation. Elucidating the stakeholder roles will enable stakeholder management via effective communication and sustainable practices that reflect stakeholder interests. This study elucidates the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders associated with Agile software development projects. The study identifies that for effective stakeholder management practices understanding of the stakeholder roles and interests is vital. Additionally, application of Agile software development methodology would result in successful development of high-quality software solutions.

Adopting threat modelling in agile software development projects

The goal of secure software engineering is to create software that keeps performing as intended, even when exposed to attacks. Threat modelling is considered to be a key activity to reach this goal, but has turned out to be challenging to implement in agile teams. This paper presents results from four different studies, in which we have investigated how agile teams do threat modelling today. Study A is based on observations and document analysis from five teams in a single organisation, Study B is based on interviews with eight individuals from four different organisations, Study C is based on a questionnaire survey of 45 students at two different universities, and Study D is based on interviews with seven teams in a single organisation, supplemented with document analysis. Our results include findings, challenges and current good practice related to the use of Data Flow Diagrams, STRIDE and the Microsoft Threat Modelling Tool. We also cross-check our findings with previous relevant work, and provide recommendations for making the threat modelling activities more useful to agile teams.

Formal Modeling and Analysis of Entity Framework Using Alloy

Formal methods provide multiple benefits when applied in the software development process. For instance, they enable engineers to verify and validate models before working on their implementation, leading to earlier detection of design defects. However, most of them lack flexibility to be applied in agile software development projects. Alloy is a lightweight formal modeling language with a friendly tool that facilitates the agile approaches application. Unfortunately, its industrial adoption is hampered by the lack of methods and tools for current software development frameworks, such as Entity Framework. This platform is usually chosen by agile projects following the code-first approach that allows automatic generation of a database from domain classes coded in the C# language. We present a new method and tool for the formal specification and analysis of Entity Framework projects with Alloy. The proposal allows engineers to start the software development using Alloy for modeling, validation and verification, automatically translate Alloy specifications to C# domain classes and then generate the corresponding database with Entity Framework. We validate our approach with a real case study: an application required by a gas supplier company.

An Insider’s Perspective of Knowledge Sharing in Software Development Projects

In order to achieve agility in software development, there is a need to ensure that the knowledge generated is seamlessly shared among the teams involved. Different contexts face unique contextual motivators and challenges towards achieving efficient knowledge sharing in software development firms. Overcoming these challenges starts from understanding the contextual nuances at play in the environment, in which knowledge sharing is desired. With increased need for ubiquitous and on-the-go information needs in agile software development projects, understanding the need for effective knowledge sharing platforms is important. The general scarcity of empirical studies has culminated into lack of in-depth global or local insights on knowledge sharing. This research investigates the different contours of knowledge sharing in a software development context in South Africa. Quantitative data collected using a questionnaire with closed-ended questions were analysed using an interpretive and deductive approach. Findings of this research reveal that job security, motivation, time constraints, psychological factors, communication, resistance to change, and rewards are core factors for knowledge sharing in software development projects. Compared with the global context, this research is aligned with other findings with new additions on the grouping of factors influencing knowledge sharing in software development projects. The study discusses the types of knowledge considered useful to share, presents appropriate ways of sharing such useful knowledge and articulates how different types of knowledge are shared in the South African context. This research contributes to the current debate on challenges in knowledge sharing within software development projects in developing world contexts and discusses how software development companies may ensure that triple constraints (time, cost and scope) are overcome.

The Changes in Team Cognition and Cognitive Artifact Use During Agile Software Development Project Management

This study examines changing team cognition and cognitive artifact use as agile software development iterations progress to better understand team member interactions. The four case studies conducted observed the distributed cognition on the team changing from planning, managing, developing, and concluding tasks in iterations to deliver working functionality. Cognitive artifacts used throughout the iteration also changed. This study provides a clearer understanding of how and when team cognition and artifact use change as agile software development teams use artifacts to manage projects. Interactions between team members and artifacts move from individual to social interactions as the iteration progresses with frequent, short, continuous communication and interactions.

Ambidexterity in Agile software development: a conceptual paper

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to apply the concept of organizational ambidexterity as a conceptual lens to increase the understanding of tensions between exploitation (continuity) and exploration (change) in Agile software development (ASD) project teams, and particularly the balancing (ambidextrous) strategies utilized.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual framework was constructed from interdisciplinary sources on ambidexterity. A literature review of publications on ambidexterity in ASD was then performed, and the results from the selected publications were classified according to an extension of the conceptual framework.FindingsContextual ambidexterity in ASD is affected by the four basic coherent concepts: time, task, team and transition. The study found that most ambidextrous factors and strategies were task and team-related. In addition, a mixture of hard (performance) strategies and soft (social) strategies is needed in order for people/teams to (be able to) become ambidextrous.Practical implicationsTo provide a better understanding of ASD, it is important to identify a broader set of ambidextrous factors and strategies that can impact ASD project teams. The expanded conceptual framework can serve as a basis for future empirical research and provide insights to practitioners on how to strengthen ambidexterity in ASD projects.Originality/valueThe contribution is of great importance for ASD research and practice, as ASD methods are a popular method for managing projects within ASD and in other nonsoftware organizations. In addition, as more and more organizations struggle to deal with rapidly changing environments, interest in the phenomena of paradoxical tensions and the strategy (ambidexterity) to deal with these tensions increase.

A Qualitative Study on Non-Functional Requirements in Agile Software Development

<bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Context:</b> Widespread use of agile software development (ASD) methods can be observed nowadays. Non-functional requirements (NFRs) are often reported to be a problematic issue for agile projects, since ASD methods tend to neglect NFRs while focusing on incremental delivery of functional features. Despite that, only very few studies have explored the requirements engineering practices used in ASD and dedicated particularly to NFRs. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Objective:</b> We aimed to identify and investigate the practices used in industrial ASD projects to identify, elicit and document NFRs. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Method:</b> We conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) and used its findings to prepare an interview guide. We then conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with 10 experienced practitioners. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Results:</b> The SLR revealed a number of strategies related to the timing of NFR identification as well as 13 elicitation practices and 20 documentation techniques. At least some of these findings show discrepancies between ASD theory and practice. The interviews provided a more in-depth understanding of the practices used, and their context. The main findings from the interviews include: practitioners’ attempts to start identifying NFRs early in the project, a lack of elicitation techniques aimed at NFRs only, and different choices about documentation techniques, including the additional techniques introduced to cope specifically with NFRs. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Conclusions:</b> It was not confirmed that requirements engineering activities related to NFRs are perceived by ASD practitioners as a problem, as they developed effective practices to deal with this issue. Moreover, our findings show that different approaches to NFRs can be used and give satisfactory results.

Survey on Risk Classification in Agile Software Development Projects in Latvia

Abstract Software development method, which does not have any faults or gaps in project implementation, has not been elaborated so far. Due to this reason, the authors have decided to perform this study to make it easier for the companies, which use one of the agile development methods, to better foresee potential risks and to deal with their consequences. The aim of the research is to identify and classify risks in agile software development methods and the related projects based on the obtained survey data. To achieve the goal, the authors have developed evaluation criteria, as well as implemented practical questionnaire in various software development companies. From the obtained survey data, the risks are classified according to various factors, i.e., the changing highest and lowest priorities and needs in various projects. Thus, the obtained research results can be applied in various areas of project development, changing the order of priority factors.

The role of the project manager in agile software development projects

Agile teams are not meant to have project managers. Instead, agile methods such as Scrum and XP define roles such as product owner, scrum master, and coach. Studies have uncovered the existence of the project manager in agile projects, pointing to disconnect between theory and practice. To address this gap, a Grounded Theory study with a mixed methods approach was conducted using multiple sources of data including over 45 h of interviews with 39 software practitioners and quantitative data from 57 questionnaire respondents. We present and describe the project manager’s role in agile projects in terms of (a) everyday activities: facilitating, mentoring, negotiating, coordinating, and protecting, performed by the project manager using; (b) three management approaches: hard, moderate, and soft; (c) four traditional project management activities continued to be performed by them, including: tracking project progress, reporting on project status, budgeting and forecasting, and managing personnel; and (d) the influence of the presence of the project manager on the frequency with which agile activities are carried out by the teams. Our study highlights the continued presence of the role of the project manager in agile software projects as a part of the transition from traditional to agile ways of working.

Agile Contracting: Managing Incentives Under Uncertain Needs

Despite the popularity of agile methodologies for software development, there is a lack of understanding on the types of contracts that are most suitable for this environment. Several contracting formats have been used in practice. Among them, the most popular is the time-and-material contract. Under this contract, the firm pays a fixed hourly rate for the number of hours that the vendor worked, subject to incremental delivery of user stories (tasks). The less popular contract formats include but are not limited to fixed-price per sprint (iteration), and fixed-price per story. In this paper, we use a principal-agent framework in which a firm outsources an agile software development project to a vendor. Our framework captures key features of an agile software development project -- namely, the project is technically complex; the project can be modularized via a set of independent stories which can be developed in sprints; the stories deliver incremental business value to the firm; and the requirements of the project can change over time depending upon the firm's priorities (needs). Our contributions are three fold: We characterize an optimal contract for the firm in closed-form. We also generate managerial insights on how the vendor's incentive to work changes, and consequently how the optimal contracting terms offered by the principal change, depending upon the business environment. Finally, we identify conditions under which the time-and-material contract can perform poorly relative to the optimal contract. Overall, our results provide both prescriptive and qualitative guidance to firms outsourcing agile software development projects.

Characteristics and Challenges of Agile Software Development Adoption in Brazilian Government

Governments worldwide have been working to provide better digital services to citizens. In Brazil, this initiative is ongoing since the 2000’s with the aim create better digital solutions that provide access to government information, improvements in public services, and increase social participation. One of the strategies for developing digital solutions – i.e. software solutions – is the adoption of agile software development (ASD) methods, which are forms of software processes that enable delivering working software in a timely manner to respond to customer needs. While industry surveys are performed annually to understand ASD adoption in companies, little is known about the adoption of ASD in Brazilian government organizations and which are the challenges faced by these organizations. The goal of this study is thus to describe agile software development adoption in the Brazilian public sector, by showing the characteristics for adoption and challenges. We conducted a survey with practitioners of government-based organizations in Brazil and statistically analyzed data. Out of the 167 responses, we learned that ASD projects are mostly successful and, on their majority, they are conducted combined with other software development approaches. Also, accelerating product delivery and increasing productivity are ranked as the main reasons for agile adoption, followed by cultural change and resistance to change as the main challenges still faced by Brazilian government IT organizations in the use of ASD.

The Effects of Turnover on Expert Effort Estimation

Turnover of the personnel represents a serious issue for management of software projects. The buildup of competences and phasing in of the people into the project requires both time and effort. This paper presents a case study of a large in-house agile software development project. The research goal was to determine the effects that turnover has on the expert effort estimation. In order to do this, paper examines relations across empirical data on a studied project. Study findings are the following: a) it is necessary to distinguish types of turnover, b) the general and planned turnover do not necessarily have a negative effect on estimation accuracy, and c) the unplanned turnover can have a significant negative impact on the reliability of the estimates and therefore should be treated with special attention. Results suggest that these facts should be taken into account both by the management and human resources.

Data-driven and tool-supported elicitation of quality requirements in agile companies

Quality requirements (QRs) are a key artifact needed to ensure the quality and success of a software system. Despite their importance, QRs rarely get the same degree of attention as their functional counterpart in agile software development (ASD) projects. Moreover, crucial information that can be obtained from software development repositories (e.g., JIRA, GitHub) is not fully exploited, or is even neglected, in QR elicitation activities. In this work, we present a data-driven tooled approach for the semi-automatic generation and documentation of QRs in the context of ASD. The approach is based on the declaration of thresholds over quality-related issues, whose violation triggers user-defined alerts. These alerts are used to browse a catalog of QR patterns that are presented to the ASD team by means of a dashboard that implements several analysis techniques. Once selected, the patterns generate the QRs, which are documented and stored in the product backlog. The full approach is implemented via a configurable platform. Over the course of 1 year, four companies differing in size and profile followed this approach and deployed the platform in their premises to semi-automatically generate QRs in several projects. We used standardized measurement instruments to elicit the perception of 22 practitioners regarding their use of the tool. The quantitative and qualitative analyses yielded positive results; i.e., the practitioners’ perception with regard to the tool’s understandability, reliability, usefulness, and relevance was positive. We conclude that the results show potential for future adoption of data-driven elicitation of QRs in agile companies and encourage other practitioners to use the presented tool and adopt it in their companies.

The factors influencing the success of on-going agile software development projects

We propose a model consisting of five people-factors that influence the success of on-going agile software development projects, success being measured in terms of cost, time, and customer satisfaction. After surveying 216 agile practitioners, the results obtained using SEM-PLS suggest that “team capability” and “customer involvement” are the main factors contributing to the success of on-going agile software development projects. These results were triangulated with the mixed-methods approach of a focus group, which supported the findings. By knowing which factors are truly important to achieve success, managers and teams will be able to establish priorities, thereby improving project outcomes. We address this matter, along with research limitations and future work.