Use Of Scrum Research Articles

The influence of remote work on scrum-based information technology projects management: insights for success

PurposeThis research examines how recent changes in working practices as a result of COVID-19 – most often making knowledge-based work for technologists remote to the main office – are influencing the success of software projects managed by the Scrum process model. It explores the relationship between remote working and aspects that past empirical research has identified as important to project success within Scrum.Design/methodology/approachThe research used SPSS for descriptive analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the hypotheses relationships using SmartPLS 4, using a quantitative research design, a questionnaire was used and distributed electronically to the intended sample, which includes IT project managers, developers and designers in Jordan who work in projects that use Scrum methodology for their IT projects.FindingsThe study found that working from home on Scrum projects had a significant influence on project success and highlighted the need to meet the three basic psychological requirements of autonomy, competence and relatedness. Furthermore, this research revealed that both the ability to work from home and the use of Scrum contribute to project success, with Scrum acting as a mediator.Originality/valueThis study provides an understanding of the impact of adapting to remote working on project success using the Scrum framework. By filling this gap in the literature, the study generates insights that can also be extrapolated to situations in which people do not need to work remotely after a pandemic but might still anticipate and plan for new types of disruptions in the workplace.

Enhancing project management in sanitation infrastructure: applying Scrum in the construction of a sewage pumping station

Over the years, increasing population growth and industrialization, coupled with inadequate urban planning, have led to rapid and disorganized city expansion. This expansion has resulted in significant social and environmental impacts. In this context, this paper presents a case study conducted at a basic sanitation company. The study aimed to monitor the impacts of implementing Scrum, an agile development methodology, in constructing a new Sewage Pumping Station (SPS) in Guaratinguetá, São Paulo State. The concepts, benefits, and challenges of applying this methodology to projects involving the collection and transport of untreated effluents were discussed. Notable improvements were identified with the use of Scrum in the construction of the SPS, which also complied with environmental laws and protected the ecosystem by reducing the discharge of untreated waste into the soil and water basins. The results indicated an increase in team productivity, with teams demonstrating motivation, commitment, and integration in task execution throughout the process.

Framework for Effective Utilization of Distributed Scrum in Software Projects

There is an emerging interest in using agile methodologies in Global Software Development (GSD) to get the mutual benefits of both methods. Scrum is currently admired by many development teams as an agile most known methodology and considered adequate for collocated teams. At the same time, stakeholders in GSD are dispersed by geographical, temporal, and socio-cultural distances. Due to the controversial nature of Scrum and GSD, many significant challenges arise that might restrict the use of Scrum in GSD. We conducted a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) by following Kitchenham guidelines to identify the challenges that limit the use of Scrum in GSD and to explore the mitigation strategies adopted by practitioners to resolve the challenges. To validate our review findings, we conducted an industrial survey of 305 practitioners. The results of our study are consolidated into a research framework. The framework represents current best practices and recommendations to mitigate the identified distributed scrum challenges and is validated by five experts of distributed Scrum. Results of the expert review were found supportive, reflecting that the framework will help the stakeholders deliver sustainable products by effectively mitigating the identified challenges.

The impact of working from home on the success of Scrum projects: A multi-method study

With the COVID-19 pandemic, Scrum teams had to switch abruptly from a traditional working setting into an enforced working from home one. This abrupt switch had an impact on software projects. Thus, it is necessary to understand how potential future disruptive events will impact Agile software teams’ ability to deliver successful projects while working from home. To investigate this problem, we used a two-phased Multi-Method study. In the first phase, we uncover how working from home impacted Scrum practitioners through semi-structured interviews. Then, in the second phase, we propose a theoretical model that we test and generalize using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) surveying 138 software engineers who worked from home within Scrum projects. We concluded that all the latent variables identified in our model are reliable, and all the hypotheses are significant. This paper emphasizes the importance of supporting the three innate psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the home working environment. We conclude that the ability of working from home and the use of Scrum both contribute to project success, with Scrum acting as a mediator.

How Scrum adds value to achieving software quality?

Scrum remains the most popular agile software development method implementation for a variety of reasons; one important motive is to improve software quality. Yet many organizations fail to achieve quality improvements through the use of Scrum, and existing research sheds little light on the value-add of Scrum for software quality. More specifically, (1) how notions of software quality among Scrum practitioners relate to established quality perspectives, (2) how Scrum helps teams to achieve higher software quality and (3) why some teams fail to meet the objective of higher quality. We addressed these gaps through a two-phased qualitative study based on 39 interviews and two in-depth case studies. We find that Scrum practitioners emphasize established notions of external quality comprising of conformity to business needs and absence of defects, while they also value internal quality, especially sustainable software design. Our results show that Scrum helps teams achieve both dimensions of quality by promoting some social antecedents (collaboration, psychological safety, accountability, transparency) and process-induced advantages (iterative development, formal inspection, and adaptation). Our findings unveil how these factors contribute to achieving software quality and under what conditions their effects can fail to materialize. These conditions include inconsistent Scrum implementations, cultural constraints, team tensions, and inaccessibility of end-users. In addition, the complexity of the project aggravates the impact of these conditions. Taken together, these findings show that Scrum can complement established quality assurance and software engineering practices by promoting a social environment that is conducive to creating high-quality software. Based on our findings, we provide specific recommendations for how practitioners can create such an environment.

Why and how is Scrum being adapted in practice: A systematic review

Scrum, recognized today as the most popular agile development methodology, has been used in a wide range of settings and for varying purposes, in- and outside of the traditional software development context. The use of Scrum in non-traditional settings and for different needs led to a considerable corpus of academic literature that investigates, presents, and discusses modifications to the original method, aimed to make it fit such novel forms of application. Based on a large-scale review of extant literature, this study systematically analyses why and how Scrum was reportedly modified in different instances and contributes with a synthesis that can serve as a basis for a more systematic approach to future research and practice. We explicate nine common modification objectives for change (e.g., attaining high performance, non-standard contexts, distributed development) mapped against seven generic modification strategies (e.g., method guidance, new procedures, or artifacts). Building on our extensive literature analysis we highlight research gaps and identify promising areas for future research.

Improving the Performance of Student Teams in Project-Based Learning with Scrum

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effectiveness of Scrum for project and team management in PBL teams in higher education. To attain this goal, a study was carried out to analyze students’ perceptions about Scrum as an effective method for PBL teams. Based on two different editions of PBL that used the Scrum method with different characteristics in each approach, this paper aims to identify the best practices for effective team and project management and draw recommendations for successful use of scrum in PBL approaches. The authors used an exploratory case study carried out within an engineering program at the University of Minho, Portugal. The research design was based on an explorative quantitative and qualitative approach. Implementing Scrum in PBL teams helps students to keep the project running smoothly and draws greater awareness on how to manage the project and teams in a more effective way. Findings show that task assignment, performance monitoring, visual management and regular feedback were considered the main advantages of using Scrum in PBL teams, which had a positive impact on student performance. However, for the success of Scrum, students recognize the role of the Scrum Master and Project Owner as vital to guide the teams in a sustainable way. Research on the application of Scrum in Education is scarce and mostly exploratory. This paper is among the very few empirical studies consolidating knowledge on the implementation of Scrum approaches to improve learning in higher education. More specifically, it brings a valuable contribution on how to improve specifically team performance in PBL teams with the use of agile approaches such as Scrum.

Use of Scrum in the rehabilitation of a commercial building in Peru

Purpose This study seeks to break the current paradigm that Scrum, as an agile framework, is only applicable for information technologies (IT) projects and to confirm the feasibility of its application in the construction sector. Design/methodology/approach The rehabilitation of a shopping mall in Piura (Peru) is used as a case study to implement Scrum in a construction project. In addition, a thorough literature review is performed to establish the state-of-the-art and practice in this field and set the foundation of the elements applied during the case study. Findings The results of this study show the great versatility of Scrum in the construction sector. The key findings include a reduction of the construction duration that provided value to the owner, flexibility for the inclusion of changes (induced by the client or by the complexity of the context in which the project is developed), risk control in high uncertainty scenarios and general satisfaction for all stakeholders. Originality/value The waterfall or traditional management methodologies are not always effective in construction projects, and their application depends on the features and complexity of the environment in which they are developed. This study provides a case study showing the application of Scrum in the construction industry. The positive results obtained from the application can be used by researchers and practitioners looking to incorporate Scrum (or other agile tools) to enhance the management of construction projects.

An Analysis of Theories Supporting Agile Scrum and the Use of Scrum in Systems Engineering

Agile methods have become popular in software development as they offer ways to adapt to constant change during development. Agile methods have begun to be employed on non-software systems. The methods used for development on any type of system should be derived from established theories to ensure the methods enable success in development. A better understanding of Agile methods and the theories behind them can aid engineering managers in the selection of an appropriate development process for engineered systems. In this article, theories supporting Agile and Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) methodologies are reviewed and found to be a key enabler of Agile methods for systems engineering. A process for performing Agile systems engineering using a model-based approach for complex systems addressing steps identified in the INCOSE systems engineering handbook is presented.

A Review of Agile Methodology in IT Projects

Project management methods have been developed to ensure a higher success rates for the projects. Agile project management is better solution to the problem of extremely complex varying requirements. In order to investigate the effects of using agile practices, we have conducted a literature review. In this review, assessment was made, based on the use of scrum a leading agile development method. The review indicates that the productivity of a project can be increased using agile principles.

Unambiguous and Reliable Positioning in the vehicle in terms of Functional Safety and Cyber Security

Functional security and agile software development are two modern areas in product development, which initially have very opposite approaches. For example, formal tests are required by the relevant standards for the former, which must be documented very extensively. The agile software development, on the other hand, tries to come to its conclusion with as few documentation and flexible tests as possible. Also, the proof that testing and development are independent of each other for safety-critical projects is difficult in the context of the use of agile methods. However, taking the constraints of functional safety as given and taking advantage of the enormous flexibility of agile software development, e.g. With the use of Scrum, the Daily Team Meetings create new opportunities in product development. In contrast to previous positioning methods for linearly movable axles, a new developed approach for rear axle steering has not been used as an absolute value encoder, but a novel positioning concept has been researched and developed. Functional Safety first! A new safety concept must therefore be developed. The absolute value encoder, usually realized as an optical or magnetic bar-coded sensor, is used reliably but cost-effectively in a large number of systems. In order to save costs as well as space, the development of the new approach to the sensor will be dispensed with and the positioning will be realized via a new concept. The conventional concepts for position determination of axes is an absolute value encoder. However, this is not highly reliable and has no redundancy. With the new safety concept, the exact position of an axis can be determined and output with high accuracy by means of the various safety devices directly after switching on the system. As a result, the sensor system is hardly susceptible to errors. Here, a detailed error analysis has been carried out. Even after system crashes, there are enough detection points, which are constantly detected during normal operation and thus the plausibility check can be restored. The new explored approach allows the steering to work normally even in safe modes. However, the algorithms for protection have to take effect immediately if, for example, an expected index signal does not occur.

USER STORIES FOR PROPOSED WEB APPLICATION USING AGILE APPROACH

Agile means quick moving and agility means the ability to think and draw conclusions quickly. The Agile methodology focuses on the delivery of valuable software. Even small IT software organizations are directing towards agile methodologies for better performances as these methods were especially designed for new start-up organizations. IT project management according to the agile principles will be less effective if the space where the teams work is not arranged. This Research Paper focuses on the use of Scrum and with the help of extreme programming; we have tried to find the user stories for the project ONLINE PRINTING SERVICES which will be useful for further project estimations.

Implementation of Change Management in Software Development by using Scrum Framework

This paper will focus on implementation of change management in Scrum software development framework . Scrum is one of the mostly used software development framework from the Agile software development methodology. Scrum is based on iterative and incremental process. It is suitable for unstable requirements. The use of Scrum proved to be beneficial due to tight schedule and loosely defined user requirements that often changed during the development. The aim of the paper to study implementation process of change management in Scrum . First part of paper gives detailed information of Scrum framework. The middle of the paper presented the organizational process of agile software development using Scrum. Finally, the paper point out key points for managing changes in Scrum implementation. The primary data collection method was interviews of the industry expertise. The secondary source of data is reference books and Internet articles. This paper will help to understand basics of Scrum software development framework and process of change management in developing projects by using Scrum framework.

ListeningTime; participatory development of a web-based preparatory communication tool for elderly cancer patients and their healthcare providers

ObjectiveThis paper outlines the participatory development process of a web-based preparatory communication tool for elderly cancer patients and their oncological healthcare providers (HCPs). This tool aims to support them to (better) prepare their encounters. An overarching aim of the project is to develop the tool in a participatory way to increase uptake and use. MethodsScrum, a participatory framework originated from software development, was applied to develop the tool. Using constant feedback loops, elderly (former) cancer patients, oncological HCPs and their representatives were, as end-users, involved. ResultsDuring six ‘sprints’, the communication tool ‘ListeningTime’ was developed with input from end-users. The use of scrum in developing an innovative tool was challenging in this context, because of time constraints of seriously-ill patients and busy HCPs and the co-creation involving non-profit scientific researchers and a for-profit development company. ConclusionsThe collaboration with end-users facilitated the development process of ListeningTime. Early involvement of end-users and flexibility in terms of planning and setup appear to be preconditions for creating a bottom-up inspired development procedure. Several challenges emerged from using scrum as participatory framework. Nevertheless, the ‘pressure cooking situation’, using scrum, resulted in a quick development process and a product ready for implementation.

Implementation of Scrum in the Construction Industry

The way in which construction projects are managed has not changed significantly in the last decades; however, stakeholders, materials, competition, and user requirements are continuously changing. This creates a gap between the current managerial view on how construction projects are conducted and how they could be managed to increase efficiency.The construction industry could use new frameworks for action in the project and product management, and learn from the experiences of other industries. With this background in mind, some construction companies are enhancing the performance of their project teams to improve their competitiveness and increase the added value to their clients and themselves.This paper investigates the implementation of a framework from the IT sector into the construction industry: Scrum. Conducting a case study, the implementation and application of Scrum was analysed through the evaluation of its different artifacts. This research covers the following questions: Can Scrum be implemented in the design phase of the construction industry? What adaptations are needed to use Scrum to improve the design phase of construction projects? How and where could Scrum, or parts of it, be used by the design and planning departments of construction companies?The results from this study show that Scrum has great potential in the design and planning departments of construction firms. From the analysis of the applications of Scrum in the case study, tangible benefits and weaknesses of the implementation, and its different artifacts, were identified. Finally, this paper gives recommendations about the use of Scrum in the design phase and proposes an outlook to implement Scrum in other phases of construction projects.

Supporting HFOSS using scrum in a capstone course

Supporting HFOSS using scrum in a capstone course

The Perceived Impact of the Agile Development and Project Management Method Scrum on Information Systems and Software Development Productivity

This research contributes to the body of knowledge in information systems development (ISD) with an empirical investigation in form of a case study that demonstrates the positive impact of the agile development and project management method Scrum on information systems and software development productivity and it provides a useful operationalization of the concept through seven identified indicators for productivity. Despite the fact that the case unit had challenges with the use of Scrum, the indicators identified the areas where the company had managed to exploit the potential of Scrum and its practices with regard to increasing productivity. The research results are discussed both with regard to the existing Scrum literature as well as to complex adaptive systems (CAS) as a foundation for ISD and agile development.

Using Scrum in a quarter-length undergraduate software engineering course

In this paper, we describe the use of Scrum in an upper-division software engineering quarter-length course. We describe tools used to support both the use of Scrum and the overall objectives of an...

The impact of agile practices on communication in software development

Agile software development practices such as eXtreme Programming (XP) and SCRUM have increasingly been adopted to respond to the challenges of volatile business environments, where the markets and technologies evolve rapidly and present the unexpected. In spite of the encouraging results so far, little is known about how agile practices affect communication. This article presents the results from a study which examined the impact of XP and SCRUM practices on communication within software development teams and within the focal organization. The research was carried out as a case study in F-Secure where two agile software development projects were compared from the communication perspective. The goal of the study is to increase the understanding of communication in the context of agile software development: internally among the developers and project leaders and in the interface between the development team and stakeholders (i.e. customers, testers, other development teams). The study shows that agile practices improve both informal and formal communication. However, it further indicates that, in larger development situations involving multiple external stakeholders, a mismatch of adequate communication mechanisms can sometimes even hinder the communication. The study highlights the fact that hurdles and improvements in the communication process can both affect the feature requirements and task subtask dependencies as described in coordination theory. While the use of SCRUM and some XP practices facilitate team and organizational communication of the dependencies between product features and working tasks, the use of agile practices requires that the team and organization use also additional plan-driven practices to ensure the efficiency of external communication between all the actors of software development.