Usability Integration in Agile Development Processes: A Practice-Oriented Best Practice Approach

i-com ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hartmut Schmitt ◽  
Dominik Magin ◽  
Andreas Maier ◽  
Richard Wacker ◽  
Josh Wang
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Agile Software Development ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Ui Design ◽  
Practice Approach ◽  
Agile Software

AbstractSmall and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increasingly rely on agile software development. However, the majority of established usability methods have been developed with traditional software engineering principles in mind. So, one might assume that these methods and tools might not be applicable to agile development projects. In this paper, a possible approach to systematically adapting traditional usability methods to application in agile projects is introduced and documented as best practices. These best practices can be quickly and dynamically employed by agile development team members and can thus contribute to higher quality of software development outputs. The approach described in this paper was developed in the context of a German research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and conducted by one research institute and three software-developing enterprises and will be evaluated throughout the further course of the project. For this purpose, a number of best practices have been adapted to the context of agile software development and described in detail in order to allow inexperienced software developers of small and medium-sized enterprises to successfully apply these best practices. As two examples of these best practices, we illustrate the best practices ‘Contextual Inquiry’ and ‘Template-Based UI Design’ in this paper.

Agile Enablers and Adoption Scenario in Industry Context

2015 ◽  
pp. 157-178
Author(s):  
Vinay Kukreja ◽  
Amitoj Singh
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Agile Software Development ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
User Requirements ◽  
Distributed Environment ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Agile Methodologies ◽  
Software Development Methodologies ◽  
Agile Software

In the globalization of fast changing business and technology environment, it becomes very important to respond quickly to changing user requirements. Traditional methodologies are not appropriate for the projects where user requirements are not fixed. Agile methodologies have been developed to cope up with user changing requirements and emphasize more on working software and customer collaboration. Agile is an umbrella term and it is used for many software development methodologies which shares common characteristics. This chapter mainly focuses on the working methodology of agile development and the usage areas of industry where agile development is implemented. Agile software development is difficult in distributed environment as the team members are at distributed locations. This chapter discusses agile industry applicability enablers which are useful for agile software development in distributed environment.

scholarly journals Enhancing research informatics core user satisfaction through agile practices

JAMIA Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew R Post ◽  
Jared Luther ◽  
J Maxwell Loveless ◽  
Melanie Ward ◽  
Shirleen Hewitt
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Software Development ◽  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Turnaround Time ◽  
Agile Software Development ◽  
User Engagement ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Agile Practices ◽  
Agile Software

Abstract Objective The Huntsman Cancer Institute Research Informatics Shared Resource (RISR), a software and database development core facility, sought to address a lack of published operational best practices for research informatics cores. It aimed to use those insights to enhance effectiveness after an increase in team size from 20 to 31 full-time equivalents coincided with a reduction in user satisfaction. Materials and Methods RISR migrated from a water-scrum-fall model of software development to agile software development practices, which emphasize iteration and collaboration. RISR’s agile implementation emphasizes the product owner role, which is responsible for user engagement and may be particularly valuable in software development that requires close engagement with users like in science. Results All RISR’s software development teams implemented agile practices in early 2020. All project teams are led by a product owner who serves as the voice of the user on the development team. Annual user survey scores for service quality and turnaround time recorded 9 months after implementation increased by 17% and 11%, respectively. Discussion RISR is illustrative of the increasing size of research informatics cores and the need to identify best practices for maintaining high effectiveness. Agile practices may address concerns about the fit of software engineering practices in science. The study had one time point after implementing agile practices and one site, limiting its generalizability. Conclusions Agile software development may substantially increase a research informatics core facility’s effectiveness and should be studied further as a potential best practice for how such cores are operated.

scholarly journals Scrum: An Agile Software Development Process and Metrics

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajani Dixit ◽  
Brij Bhushan
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Agile Software Development ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
Software Development Process ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Development Team ◽  
Agile Approach ◽  
Waterfall Model ◽  
Agile Software

In a traditional software development process such as the Waterfall Model, works best in a stable environment. But, it is not flexible when it comes to change. There is a gap in the interaction between the users and the development team which leads to incomplete and misunderstood specification. Because of this, the end product is sometimes a surprise to users and this gap accelerates incorrect development of the software product. Once requirements are frozen there is no scope of accepting changes. There is a need for a framework which holds the solution for all these situations. With this premise, the agile development methodology came into existence. Scrum, an agile approach supports continuous collaboration among the customer, team members, and other stakeholders. Its time-boxed approach and continuous feedback from the product owner ensures the development of working product with essential features at all the time. This paper explains the agile software development approach, its proclamation and different frameworks of agile approach. Further illustrate most widely used framework: Scrum. This research paper covers the implementation and application of Scrum. It focuses on why Scrum is preferred over the Waterfall Model with the help of some survey results and later a discussion on some Scrum Metrics which will be helpful and accounting for the best Scrum Practices in achieving goals set by the software development team, the product owner and the customers. The outcome of this study shows that Scrum Metrics is critical and highly valuable for successful product development. The quantitative insight that these metrics provide for the Scrum Team, Product Owner and Stakeholders is necessary for achieving strong project dynamics and optimal results.

scholarly journals New Approach on the Agile Cycles Containment Effectiveness Metrics in Automotive SW Development

ACTA IMEKO ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Ionut Andrei Sandu ◽  
Alexandru Salceanu
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Agile Software Development ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
Extended Version ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Development Team ◽  
Real Application ◽  
Original Contribution ◽  
Agile Software

<p class="Abstract"><span lang="EN-US">In an ideal Agile Development Team, defects should not exist. But in reality and especially in Automotive Agile Software Development, we need to have a mechanism for defects handling and tracking to closure. In this paper we describe the benefits and principles for measuring the defects handling metrics in automotive programs and organizations which adopted Agile SW Development. We are presenting the Iteration Containment Effectiveness, Program Increment Containment Effectiveness and Defect Debt Trend metrics. The acquired advantages are demonstrated by a detailed example of real application on how to measure the classical Phase Containment Effectiveness metric on Iteration (Sprint) and Program Increment (Scum of Scrums / Scaled Agile) Level. This paper is an extended version of the original contribution to the IMEKO TC 4 2017 symposium in Iasi, Romania.</span></p>

Agile Software Development

2012 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Torstein Nicolaysen ◽  
Richard Sassoon ◽  
Maria B. Line ◽  
Martin Gilje Jaatun
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Agile Software Development ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
Implementation Team ◽  
Agile Methodologies ◽  
Development Organizations ◽  
Development Lifecycle ◽  
Software Development Lifecycle ◽  
Agile Software

In this article, the authors contrast the results of a series of interviews with agile software development organizations with a case study of a distributed agile development effort, focusing on how information security is taken care of in an agile context. The interviews indicate that small and medium-sized agile software development organizations do not use any particular methodology to achieve security goals, even when their software is web-facing and potential targets of attack. This case study confirms that even in cases where security is an articulated requirement, and where security design is fed as input to the implementation team, there is no guarantee that the end result meets the security objectives. The authors contend that security must be built as an intrinsic software property and emphasize the need for security awareness throughout the whole software development lifecycle. This paper suggests two extensions to agile methodologies that may contribute to ensuring focus on security during the complete lifecycle.

Agile Software Development Quality Assurance

2009 ◽  
pp. 2680-2699
Author(s):  
James F. Kile ◽  
Maheshwar R. Inampudi
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
High Performance ◽  
General Rule ◽  
Adaptive Methods ◽  
Agile Software Development ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
Performance Requirements ◽  
Small Project ◽  
Software Development Methodologies ◽  
Agile Software

Of great interest to software development professionals is whether the adaptive methods found in agile methodologies can be successfully implemented in a highly disciplined environment and still provide the benefits accorded to fully agile projects. As a general rule, agile software development methodologies have typically been applied to non-critical projects using relatively small project teams where there are vague requirements, a high degree of anticipated change, and no significant availability or performance requirements (Boehm & Turner, 2004). Using agile methods in their pure form for projects requiring either high availability, high performance, or both is considered too risky by many practitioners (Boehm et al., 2004; Paulk, 2001). When one investigates the various agile practices, however, one gets the impression that each may still have value when separated from the whole. This chapter discusses how one team was able to successfully drive software development quality improvements and reduce overall cycle time through the introduction of several individual agile development techniques. Through the use of a common-sense approach to software development, it is shown that the incorporation of individual agile techniques does not have to entail additional risk for projects having higher availability, performance, and quality requirements.

scholarly journals IMPLEMENTATION OF REUSE IN THE AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS SCRUM

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (13) ◽  
pp. 143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayasudha R ◽  
Viswanathan V ◽  
Shanthi P
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Dynamic Change ◽  
Agile Software Development ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
Software Development Process ◽  
Customer Requirements ◽  
Waterfall Model ◽  
Agile Software ◽  
First Time

The concept of reuse is applied in one of the agile development methodologies called the scrum. Sprint is a single functionality and the result at the end of the sprint functionality is derived as the shippable or bugs. This paper makes an attempt to use the concept of reuse in the agile software development to meet the dynamic change of customer requirements in banks. A banking project is created using both waterfall model and scrum model, and the knowledge gained is stored in the ontology-based repository for the first time. Again, the same project is created for different vendors using the ontology-based repository. The result shows that maximum sprint is reused and all the knowledge gained is stored in the form of ontology. This ontology helps identify the shippable component of each sprint which is a small executable functionality. This leads to less cost and time to deliver the product. The main aim is to increase the availability of the reusable artifacts, which lead to increase the reusability of the developer. The experimental results show improvements in the performance of retrieving the components for the software development.  

Agile Software Development Quality Assurance

2011 ◽  
pp. 186-205
Author(s):  
J. Kile
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
High Performance ◽  
General Rule ◽  
Adaptive Methods ◽  
Agile Software Development ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
Performance Requirements ◽  
Small Project ◽  
Software Development Methodologies ◽  
Agile Software

Of great interest to software development professionals is whether the adaptive methods found in agile methodologies can be successfully implemented in a highly disciplined environment and still provide the benefits accorded to fully agile projects. As a general rule, agile software development methodologies have typically been applied to non-critical projects using relatively small project teams where there are vague requirements, a high degree of anticipated change, and no significant availability or performance requirements (Boehm & Turner, 2004). Using agile methods in their pure form for projects requiring either high availability, high performance, or both is considered too risky by many practitioners (Boehm et al., 2004; Paulk, 2001). When one investigates the various agile practices, however, one gets the impression that each may still have value when separated from the whole. This chapter discusses how one team was able to successfully drive software development quality improvements and reduce overall cycle time through the introduction of several individual agile development techniques. Through the use of a common-sense approach to software development, it is shown that the incorporation of individual agile techniques does not have to entail additional risk for projects having higher availability, performance, and quality requirements.

Handling of Software Quality Defects in Agile Software Development

2011 ◽  
pp. 90-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Rech
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Software Quality ◽  
Software Maintenance ◽  
Agile Software Development ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
Software Systems ◽  
Software System ◽  
History Of ◽  
Effective Development ◽  
Agile Software

Software quality assurance is concerned with the efficient and effective development of large, reliable, and high-quality software systems. In agile software development and maintenance, refactoring is an important phase for the continuous improvement of a software system by removing quality defects like code smells. As time is a crucial factor in agile development, not all quality defects can be removed in one refactoring phase (especially in one iteration). Documentation of quality defects that are found during automated or manual discovery activities (e.g., pair programming) is necessary to avoid wasting time by rediscovering them in later phases. Unfortunately, the documentation and handling of existing quality defects and refactoring activities is a common problem in software maintenance. To recall the rationales why changes were carried out, information has to be extracted from either proprietary documentations or software versioning systems. In this chapter, we describe a process for the recurring and sustainable discovery, handling, and treatment of quality defects in software systems. An annotation language is presented that is used to store information about quality defects found in source code and that represents the defect and treatment history of a part of a software system. The process and annotation language can not only be used to support quality defect discovery processes, but is also applicable in testing and inspection processes.

Quality Assurance in Agile Software Development

2014 ◽  
pp. 155-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iwona Dubielewicz ◽  
Bogumila Hnatkowska ◽  
Zbigniew Huzar ◽  
Lech Tuzinkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Software Quality ◽  
Agile Software Development ◽  
Software Life Cycle ◽  
Agile Methodologies ◽  
Agile Practices ◽  
Agile Software

Agile methodologies have become very popular. They are defined in terms of best practices, which aim at developing good quality software faster and cheaper. Unfortunately, agile methodologies do not refer explicitly to quality assurance, which is understood as a planned set of activities performed to provide adequate confidence that a product conforms to established requirements, and which is performed to evaluate the process by which products are developed. The chapter considers the relations of agile practices with software life cycle processes, especially those connected to quality assurance, and tries to answer the question of which agile practices ensure software quality. Next, agile practices associated with quality assurance are assessed from different perspectives and some recommendations for their usage are given. It is observed that modeling has a particular impact on quality assurance.

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