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1 – 10 of over 4000Subhas C. Misra and Virender Singh
Software development life cycle (SDLC) has always been the core methodology for any software engineer that depicts the entire development process which an organization is bound to…
Abstract
Purpose
Software development life cycle (SDLC) has always been the core methodology for any software engineer that depicts the entire development process which an organization is bound to utilize to achieve successful software. The purpose of this paper is to bring forth a conceptual model after analysing the best practices in SDLC, and extracting the best out of agile methodologies and the open source software, thereby bringing forward an optimised structure.
Design/methodology/approach
The OASDLC is hypothesized specifically for “Brihaspati” project and is formulated keeping in mind the gaps and limitations posed by existing SDLC models. OASDLC is further put to test for achieving lower costs and efforts involved. The tests are further substantiated by means of hypothesis validation through execution of a survey based research.
Findings
It has been observed that the present conceptual model further optimizes the efforts involved while adopting such a practice.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a novel SDLC model so as to achieve a best practice for a software project. On analysing the issues involved such as tight budget and timelines, it led the authors to formulate a newer concept “Open Agile Software Development Life Cycle model” (OASDLC).
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Joanna F. DeFranco and Phillip Laplante
The purpose of this mapping study has been performed to identify, critically analyze and synthesize research performed in the area of software engineering teams. Teams, in a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this mapping study has been performed to identify, critically analyze and synthesize research performed in the area of software engineering teams. Teams, in a general sense, have been studied extensively. But the distinctive processes that need to be executed effectively and efficiently in software engineering require a better understanding of current software engineering team research.
Design/methodology/approach
In this work, software engineering team publications were analyzed and the key findings of each paper that met our search inclusion criteria were synthesized. In addition, a keyword content analysis was performed to create a taxonomy to categorize each paper and evaluate the state of software engineering team research.
Findings
In software engineering team research, the resulting areas that are the most active are teamwork/collaboration, process/design and coordination. Clear themes of analysis have been determined to help understand how team members collaborate, factors affecting their success and interactions among all project stakeholders. In addition, themes related to tools to support team collaboration, improve the effectiveness of software engineering processes and support team coordination have been found. However, the research gaps determined from the content analysis point toward a need for more research in the area of communication and tools.
Originality/value
The goal of this work is to define the span of previous research in this area, create a taxonomy to categorize such research and identify open research areas to provide a clear road map for future research in the area of software engineering teams. These results, along with the key finding themes presented, will help guide future research in an area that touches all parts of the software engineering and development processes.
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The purpose of this paper is to describe a case study of the development, features and evaluation of a rich internet application for libraries. It aims to demonstrate best…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe a case study of the development, features and evaluation of a rich internet application for libraries. It aims to demonstrate best practice in the use of software standards, development processes and evaluation.
Design/methodology/approach
Web 2.0, open source design methods and usability testing were used within an agile framework.
Findings
The adoption of agile software development methods, coupled with usability testing, would enable the library community to take full advantage of the techniques and principles inherent in Web 2.0 open source software.
Research limitations/implications
A major component of the evaluation of OJAX was a series of usability tests. As is the nature of most usability studies, the results are not generalisable.
Originality/value
Aspects of agile software development methods, such as usability testing and iterative design, are recognised in the literature as contributing to the usability of library software. However, exploration of the use of a full agile framework plus usability testing to facilitate Web 2.0 open source software is rare in library‐related literature.
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Subhas Chandra Misra, Vinod Kumar and Uma Kumar
Agile software development (ASD) is currently an emerging approach in software engineering for improving quality, initially advocated by a group of 17 software professionals who…
Abstract
Purpose
Agile software development (ASD) is currently an emerging approach in software engineering for improving quality, initially advocated by a group of 17 software professionals who practice a set of “lightweight” methods, and share a common set of values of software development. Owing to the attractive claims of successes of the ASD approach, many traditional projects, which used to practice plan‐driven software development, are gradually transitioning into ASD‐based development. This paper seeks to report the results from a survey‐based ex‐post‐facto study aimed at determining the relative importance, if any, of the changes traditional plan‐driven software development projects have to undergo to adopt ASD practices.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was conducted using a web‐based survey with ASD practitioners who had experience of practicing plan‐driven software development in the past. ASD practitioners from a wide range of industrial sectors participated in the study. Similarly, the study is not restricted to any specific organisation/project size, culture, or nationality – the respondents were widely geographically distributed across continents.
Findings
The study received 241 responses, of which 165 were usable. The study did not reveal any substantial difference in importance of the four classes of changes hypothesised – changes in culture, changes in management style, changes in knowledge management strategy and changes in development processes. The authors believe that this is an important finding because it is indicative of not isolating one class of changes from another in practical transition exercises. However, another noteworthy observation was that transitioning from heavily process‐centric to short, iterative, test‐driven, and people‐centric development was considered by the largest percentage (roughly 77 per cent) of respondents to be very important. The open‐ended questions in the study also revealed three additional classes of changes: changes in personal characteristics, changes in customer attitude, and changes in knowledge and education of stakeholders.
Originality/value
In this work an attempt was made to gain an understanding of the relative importance of the different critical changes that would be helpful to a project manager who is involved in the transition from traditional plan‐driven software development practices to agile software development practices.
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This paper aims to explore a case of customer and user participation in an agile software development project, which produced a tailor‐made information system for workplace…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore a case of customer and user participation in an agile software development project, which produced a tailor‐made information system for workplace support as a step towards a theory of participatory design in agile software development.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on an integrated framework for user participation derived from the participatory design literature the research was performed as a case study and semi‐structured, open‐ended interviews were conducted with about a third of the development team and with a representative sample of key players and future users in the customer organization. The interview data were supplemented with company and project documents.
Findings
The paper found genuine customer and user participation carried out by onsite customers and by other operational staff in the form of direct and indirect participation and with functional and democratic empowerment. The onsite customers played informative, consultative and participative roles. The analysis revealed that planning games, user stories and story cards, working software and acceptance tests structured the customer and user participation. This form of user participation supported a balance between flexibility and project progress and resulted in a project and a product which were considered a success by the customer and the development organization. The analysis showed that the integrative framework for user participation can also fruitfully be used in a new context to understand what participatory design is and how, when and where it can be performed as an instance of a design process in agile development. As such the paper contributes to an analytical and a design theory of participatory design in agile development. Furthermore the paper explicates why participatory design contributes to the successful completion of the investigated project. By drawing on innovation theory it was found that participatory design in agile development bears the characteristics of a successful organizational innovation. Grounding further explanations in complex adaptive systems theory the paper provides an additional argument why participatory design despite some identified challenges fosters project staff to successfully carry out the agile development project.
Originality/value
The paper presents an exploratory, empirical study of an understudied phenomenon and contributes to theory building.
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Explains how companies that are seeking to implement rapid innovation can adopt the Agile software development approach. In Agile, self-organizing teams work in short cycles…
Abstract
Purpose
Explains how companies that are seeking to implement rapid innovation can adopt the Agile software development approach. In Agile, self-organizing teams work in short cycles called “sprints” and develop the features to enable the product to continuously evolve in the light of the experience they gain and through customer feedback.
Design/methodology/approach
For insight into how Agile is being implemented at a leading software services firm with clients in hundreds of industries, Strategy & Leadership asked Rob Purdie, Agile Practice Lead for the IBM Design Lab, how Agile software development methods were contributing to the success of IBM's key digital marketing initiatives.
Findings
The traditional approach to software development is to define, design, develop and test everything – before delivering anything. With Agile, managers can reduce waste by prioritizing features based on relative business value, evaluating and re-designing as the project proceeds.
Practical implications
Agile requires leaders and teams to work and learn through problems, designs and options in an open and transparent environment. It places new demands on technical leaders in terms of negotiation and planning skills.
Originality/value
Managers outside the software industry should note that Agile/Scrum is likely to be increasingly essential to the future of product development and manufacturing. Nowadays many products for consumers and businesses include embedded software systems, so developing products in the future will require deeper collaboration across multiple engineering disciplines and marketing teams and familiarity with the Agile approach.
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The objective of this chapter is to identify the key characteristics of Global Services businesses that will thrive and achieve success in the future. These factors are integrated…
Abstract
The objective of this chapter is to identify the key characteristics of Global Services businesses that will thrive and achieve success in the future. These factors are integrated into three main pillars, which we refer to as the Triple-Win. The first and most obvious pillar is technology as a tool. The second pillar is the design and sustainability of the business model, without which the previous factor would be merely a cost and not an investment. And last but not the least, there is the purpose which gives meaning to the proposal, focusing on the human being and their environment. The DIDPAGA business model sits at the intersection of these three elements.
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Inger Anne Tøndel, Martin Gilje Jaatun, Daniela Soares Cruzes and Laurie Williams
Today, agile software development teams in general do not adopt security risk-assessment practices in an ongoing manner to prioritize security work. Protection Poker is a…
Abstract
Purpose
Today, agile software development teams in general do not adopt security risk-assessment practices in an ongoing manner to prioritize security work. Protection Poker is a collaborative and lightweight software security risk-estimation technique that is particularly suited for agile teams. Motivated by a desire to understand why security risk assessments have not yet gained widespread adoption in agile development, this study aims to assess to what extent the Protection Poker game would be accepted by agile teams and how it can be successfully integrated into the agile practices.
Design/methodology/approach
Protection Poker was studied in capstone projects, in teams doing a graduate software security course and in sessions with industry representatives. Data were collected via questionnaires, observations and group interviews.
Findings
Results show that Protection Poker has the potential to be adopted by agile teams. Key benefits include good discussions on security and the development project, along with increased knowledge and awareness. Challenges include ensuring efficient use of time and gaining impact on the end product.
Research limitations/implications
Using students allowed easy access to subjects and an ability to collect rich data over time, but at the cost of generalizability to professional settings. Results from interactions with professionals supplement the data from students, showing similarities and differences in their opinions on Protection Poker.
Originality/value
The paper proposes ways to tackle the main obstacles to the adoption of the Protection Poker technique, as identified in this study.
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As the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) impacts the world, software practitioners are collaboratively working remotely from home. The pandemic has disrupted software…
Abstract
Purpose
As the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) impacts the world, software practitioners are collaboratively working remotely from home. The pandemic has disrupted software practitioners’ productivity forcing changes to agile methodology adopted by software practitioners in software organizations. Therefore, this study aims to provide implication on the issues and recommendations for improving software practitioners’ productivity and also examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agile software development.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopts a narrative literature review to provide early assessment based on secondary data from the literature and available document reports from studies published from 2019 to 2022 to explore software practitioners’ productivity and agile software development during the working from home directive amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 60 sources which met the inclusion criteria were used to provide preliminary evidence grounded on secondary data from the literature. Descriptive analysis was used to provide qualitative findings from the literature.
Findings
Findings from this study present the significance of working from home directive on agile software development and software practitioners’ productivity. More importantly, findings from the secondary data shed light on software practitioners’ productivity adopting agile software development amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the findings present virtual collaborative platforms used by software practitioners, technical and social barriers of agile software development during the pandemic and recommendations for remote agile software development.
Originality/value
This study explores the significance of working from home directive on software practitioners’ productivity during COVID-19 pandemic and further investigates how are software practitioners’ productivity adopting agile software development practices amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, this study discusses the challenges software practitioners currently face and offers some strategies to bridge the gaps in agile software development to help software practitioners, system developers, software managers and software organizations adapt to the changes caused by the pandemic.
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