Improving Quality by Exploiting Human Dynamics in Agile Methods

2011 ◽  
pp. 154-170
Author(s):  
P. Sfetsos ◽  
I. Stamelos
Keyword(s):  
Workforce Planning ◽  
Extreme Programming ◽  
Agile Methods ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
Management Level ◽  
Team Planning ◽  
Interpersonal Communications ◽  
Software Engineers ◽  
Engineering Practices ◽  
Executive Level

Theory and experience have shown that human factors are critical for the success of software engineering practices. Agile methods are even more sensitive in such factors because they rely heavily on personal efforts with limited guidance from process manuals, allowing freedom in choosing solutions, interpersonal communications, etc. This fact raises important issues for the management of software engineers that are expected to apply agile methods effectively. One such issue at the agile organization executive level is human resource management, which should take into account agile development peculiarities, work competencies needed, agile workforce planning, etc. Another issue at the micro-management level is agile workforce management within the development process (e.g., team planning for a specific task or project) where individual human features will undoubtedly affect delivered quality and ultimately the task/project degree of success. This chapter deals with one problem at each level of management in an agile company applying extreme programming, one of the most diffused agile methods. In particular, the first part of the chapter proposes and discusses a model for personnel management based on the well known People-CMM1 assessment and improvement model, while the second one proposes a model that exploits developer personalities and temperaments to effectively allocate and rotate developers in pairs for pair programming.

Web Engineering in Small Jordanian Web Development Firms

2011 ◽  
pp. 1696-1707
Author(s):  
Haroon Altarawneh ◽  
Asim El-Shiekh
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Development ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Extreme Programming ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
Web Development ◽  
Web Engineering ◽  
Engineering Best Practices ◽  
Engineering Practices

Small firms do not have the managerial experience, the financial resources and the methodological know-how to manage web-based applications projects the way large firms do. Many small firms are unaware of existing software process assessment models and standards. There’s often the assumption that assessments conformant to these models and standards can be expensive and time consuming, and therefore difficult to perform in small companies. This chapter proposes a theoretical model for small Web project development and its special features in the context small Web firms, which are capable of being “tailor able” to the particular stage of organizational development of small Web firms . The process model derived form Web engineering best practices, real case studies from Jordanian Web firms and agile development methodologies (extreme programming) . This chapter also contains results from tow surveys: a questionnaire to Web developers and interview with Web mangers in Jordan.The results reflect the Web industry situation in small Jordanian firms, and the major problems they face. Most of small Web projects in Jordan run over time and budget, due to the ad hoc development and the weakness of Web project management. The results showed that there is a weakness in applying Web engineering practices in small Jordanian Web development firms.

scholarly journals eXSRUP: Hybrid Software Development Model Integrating Extreme Programing, Scrum & Rational Unified Process

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 377
Author(s):  
Nidhi Sharma ◽  
Manoj Wadhwa
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Extreme Programming ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
Team Collaboration ◽  
Unified Process ◽  
Software Development Model ◽  
Engineering Practices

<p>Software industries are progressively adopting the agile development practices of customized models such as Extreme Programming (XP) or Scrum or Rational Unified Process (RUP). Scrum and Extreme Programming (XP) are frequently used agile models, whereas Rational Unified Process (RUP) is one popular classic plan driven software development methodology. Both agile and plan driven models have their own merits &amp; demerits such as XP has good engineering practices, team collaboration and on the other hand weak documentation, poor performance in medium &amp; large scale projects. Scrum is based on project management practices. RUP model has some limitations such as impractical for small and fast paced projects, tendency to be over budgeted, condemn rapid changes in requirements. This research paper based on proposes hybrid framework eXSRUP by combining strengths of Scrum, XP and RUP by suppressing their limitations to produce high quality software.</p>

Web Engineering in Small Jordanian Web Development Firms

2009 ◽  
pp. 130-141
Author(s):  
Haroon Altarawneh ◽  
Asim El-Sheikh
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Development ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Extreme Programming ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
Web Development ◽  
Web Engineering ◽  
Engineering Best Practices ◽  
Engineering Practices

Small firms do not have the managerial experience, the financial resources and the methodological know-how to manage web-based applications projects the way large firms do. Many small firms are unaware of existing software process assessment models and standards. There’s often the assumption that assessments conformant to these models and standards can be expensive and time consuming, and therefore difficult to perform in small companies. This chapter proposes a theoretical model for small Web project development and its special features in the context small Web firms, which are capable of being “tailor able” to the particular stage of organizational development of small Web firms . The process model derived form Web engineering best practices, real case studies from Jordanian Web firms and agile development methodologies (extreme programming) . This chapter also contains results tow surveys: a questionnaire to Web developers and interview with Web mangers in Jordan.The results reflect the Web industry situation in small Jordanian firms, and the major problems they face. Most of small Web projects in Jordan run over time and budget, due to the ad hoc development and the weakness of Web project management. The results showed that there is a weakness in applying Web engineering practices in small Jordanian Web development firms.

Agile Software Development Process Applied to the Serious Games Development for Children from 7 to 10 Years Old

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra P. Cano ◽  
Carina S. González ◽  
César A. Collazos ◽  
Jaime Muñoz Arteaga ◽  
Sergio Zapata
Keyword(s):  
Serious Games ◽  
User Profile ◽  
Extreme Programming ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
Medium Development ◽  
Development Methodology ◽  
Agile Software ◽  
The City

The development of video games is a complex, multidisciplinary process, which involves different areas as well as a greater number of roles than for traditional software. Serious games face process constraints that concern a number of interactive, educational and psychological factors designed to lead to the fulfillment of educational objectives within a specific context. Based on a case study in the city Cali, Colombia, an iterative and incremental process is proposed, focusing on small and medium development for educational serious games and basing itself on two lines of research: agile development methodology and user-centered design (UCD) for children from 7 to 10 years. The agile methodology eXtreme Programming (XP) offers a useful option for the development of serious games as it establishes a continuous communication with all project stakeholders - including the end user - throughout the project, while UCD allows the user profile to be known and identified so that the game will meet the needs and match the capabilities, expectations and motivations of the child.

Factors Affecting Team Motivation

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Ayse Tosun Misirli ◽  
June Verner ◽  
Jouni Markkula ◽  
Markku Oivo
Keyword(s):  
Software Engineering ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Motivational Factors ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Modern Development ◽  
Project Outcome ◽  
Team Motivation ◽  
Software Engineers

Motivation in software engineering is a complex topic. Cultural background is reported to be one of the factors moderating software engineers' motivation and project outcome. The authors conducted a survey with 36 software engineers from Finland to explore 1) the relationship between team motivation and project outcome, 2) factors that motivate Finnish engineers, and 3) how these motivational factors are related. The authors compare Finnish motivational factors with those identified in prior research. In addition they build a prediction model to identify the best indicators of team motivation for Finnish software engineers. Their results show that teamwork is the only culturally independent motivational factor. Having 1) a project manager with a clear vision (project manager vision) and 2) a project manager given full authority to manage the project (project manager authority) are also significant motivational factors among Finnish engineers. There are significant associations between some factors, e.g., customer involvement and staff appreciation. While these factors partially explain motivation in software engineering, cultural differences also play an active role in explaining team motivation. Their questionnaire needs to be updated to enable measurement of motivation for modern development practices such as agile development.

An Effective Approach for Context Driven Testing in Practice — A Case Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (09) ◽  
pp. 1245-1262
Author(s):  
Quyet-Thang Huynh ◽  
Le-Trinh Pham ◽  
Nhu-Hang Ha ◽  
Duc-Man Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Continuous Process ◽  
Minimum Cost ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Engineering Company ◽  
Quality Product ◽  
Software Engineers ◽  
Agile Software

Software testing is a continuous process during the software development stages to ensure quality software products. Researchers, experts and software engineers keep going on studying new techniques, methods and approaches of testing to accommodate changes in software development because of the flexible requirement along with the changing of technology. So, developers and testers need to have effective methods, tools and approaches to create a high-quality product at an efficient cost. This paper provides an effective approach for context-driven testing (CDT) in an agile software development process. CDT is a testing approach that supports the tester to choose their testing techniques and test objectives based on specific contexts. The aim of this paper is to propose an effective approach for implementing the CDT in practice, called CDTiP. Through an analysis of two case studies using an agile development process with different contexts, we validate the effectiveness of the approach in terms of test coverage, detect errors, test effort. The empirical results show that CDTiP is suitable for the agile development process that can help the tester to detect defects faster at minimum cost. The results of this method have been applied at Enclave, an ODC Software Engineering company, on real projects.

Provincializing Spotify: Radio, algorithms and conviviality

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-42
Author(s):  
Elena Razlogova
Keyword(s):  
Social Institutions ◽  
Application Programming Interface ◽  
Media Culture ◽  
Radio Station ◽  
Application Programming ◽  
Streaming Services ◽  
Software Engineers ◽  
Broadcasting Service ◽  
Engineering Practices ◽  
Music Streaming

Focusing on early experiments with algorithms and music streaming at WFMU, the longest-running US freeform radio station, and the Free Music Archive (FMA), a curated open music website, this article shows how commercial streaming services have been indebted to independent, open music infrastructures but have then erased and denied that history. The article ‘provincializes’ music streaming platforms such as Spotify by focusing not on their commercial aims but instead on the ‘convivial’, collaborative practices and spaces that their software engineers and users inhabited. I analyse an experimental national telephone broadcasting service at WFMU in 1989, an algorithmic WFMU radio stream ‘The Flaming Robot of Love’ during the Republican National Convention in 2004 and the ‘Free Music Archive Radio App’ that recommended tracks on the FMA website from 2011 to 2016. The app worked with an application programming interface (API) from Echo Nest. Echo Nests’ algorithmic recommendation engine also powers most commercial streaming services today. When Spotify purchased Echo Nest in 2014 and took the start-up’s open API offline in 2016, it engaged in ‘primitive accumulation’ of open-access knowledge and resources for commercial purposes. The FMA closed in 2019 and now only exists as a static site. As social institutions, however, WFMU and FMA ‘recomposed’ ‐ adapted to a new medium and a new political context ‐ collaborative engineering practices of the early broadcasting era. The article argues that moments of oppositional ‘conviviality’ in media culture such as the FMA should be analysed as elements of a continuous struggle.

scholarly journals The Role of Customers in Extreme Programming Projects

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Angela Michelle Martin
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Extreme Programming ◽  
Agile Methods ◽  
Acceptance Testing ◽  
Software Development Project ◽  
Big Picture ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Key Steps

<p>eXtreme programming (XP) is one of a new breed of methods, collectively known as the agile methods, that are challenging conventional wisdom regarding systems development processes and practices. Practitioners specifically designed the agile methods to meet the business problems and challenges we face building software today. As such, these methods are receiving significant attention in practitioner literature. In order to operate effectively in the world of vague and changing requirements, XP moves the emphasis away from document-centric processes into practices that enable people. The Customer is the primary organisational facing role in eXtreme Programming (XP). The Customer's explicit responsibilities are to drive the project, providing project requirements (user stories) and quality control (acceptance testing). Unfortunately the customer must also shoulder a number of implicit responsibilities including liaison with external project stakeholders, especially project funders, clients, and end users, while maintaining the trust of both the development team and the wider business. This thesis presents a grounded theory of XP software development requirements elicitation, communication, and acceptance, which was guided by three major research questions. What is the experience of being an XP Customer? We found that teams agree that the on-site customer practice is a drastic improvement to the traditional document-centric approaches. Our results indicate, however, that the customers are consistently under pressure and commit long hours to the project in order to fulfil the customer role. So while this approach to requirements is achieving excellent results, it also appears to be unsustainable and thus constitutes a great risk to XP projects. Who is the XP Customer? The initial definition of XP resulted in many people interpreting the onsite customer to be a single person. This research has highlighted that a customer team always exists, and goes further to outline the ten different roles that were covered on the team, which range from the recognised "Acceptance Tester" role to the less recognised roles of "Political Advisor" and "Super-Secretary". What are the practices that support an XP Customer to perform their role effectively on a software development project? An additional eight customer-focused practices have been uncovered to supplement the existing XP practices. These customer-focused practices together enable customers to sustainably drive XP projects to successful completion. The practices range from those that specifically focus on interaction (both with the programmer team and the larger organisation) e.g. "Programmer On-site" and "Roadshows" to those that specifically look to the well-being and effectiveness of the customer (e.g. "Pair Customering") to those that highlight the key steps or activities that need to occur along the way (e.g. "Big Picture Up-Front" and "Recalibration").</p>

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