Agile software development has become very popular around the world in recent years, with methods such as Scrum and Extreme Programming (XP). Literature suggests that functionality is the primary focus in Agile processes while non-functional requirements (NFR) are either ignored or ill-defined. However, for software to be of good quality both functional requirements (FR) and NFR need to be taken into consideration; lack of attention to NFR has been documented to be the cause of failure for many software projects. Hence special attention needs to be focused on NFR in Agile software development. By its very nature Agile processes require frequent changes but these changes are often not well documented. This is especially true of NFR in Agile processes. While functional requirements are carefully identified, NFR are often not properly elicited. Once NFR are identified they become the basis for reasoning and facilitation of design and development decisions. NFR also need to be validated through proper testing to ensure their quality attributes have been met in the final software product. This dissertation aimed at developing a methodology for addressing NFR in Agile processes. As such, the "NERV Methodology: Non-Functional Requirements Elicitation, Reasoning, and Validation in Agile Processes" was proposed. Several artifacts were created as part of this methodology and included: the NFR Elicitation Taxonomy, the NFR Reasoning Taxonomy, the NFR Quantification Taxonomy, and the Non-Functional Requirements User Story Companion (NFRusCOM) Card. Additionally the NERV Agility Index (NAI) was developed using the Agile Manifesto and its twelve principles. The NERV Methodology was validated using the 26 requirements of the European Union (EU) eProcurement Online System. Additionally the results obtained by the NORMAP Methodology in previous research, were used as baseline. Results show that the NERV Methodology was successful in identifying NFR, for 55 out of 57 requirements sentences that contained implicit NFR, compared to 50 for the baseline. This represented a 96.49% success rate compared to 87.71% for the baseline; an improvement of 8.78%. Furthermore the NERV Methodology was successful in eliciting 82 out of 88 NFR compared to 75 for the baseline. The elicitation success rate was 93.18% compared to 85.24% for the baseline; an improvement of 7.94%. Agility was validated using the same data set as above. Two experiments investigated project durations measured in 2-week sprint iterations, commonly used in Scrum. Results show that the first experiment, using the "FR and NFR Simultaneous Scheme" completed all FR and NFR scope in 24 sprints. The second experiment, using the "FR First Then NFR Scheme" consumed 26 sprints. The first agile scheduling scheme delivered all scope two sprints earlier than the second scheme; representing a saving of almost one month. Validation results showed that the NERV Methodology and its artifacts can potentially be beneficial for software development organizations for eliciting, reasoning about, and validating NFR in Agile processes.

La presente tesis tiene como finalidad el diseño y desarrollo de un modelo de gestión por procesos para mejorar el problema de los desperdicios y reprocesos de la cadena de producción de polos de una mediana empresa de confecciones, a fin de encaminarlo hacia la metodología Lean Manufacturing. Esta propuesta se llevará a cabo en una empresa que pertenece al rubro textil y/o confecciones que se emplea fundamentalmente en la elaboración de prendas de vestir. Esta tesis propone un modelo de gestión con fundamentos agiles basado en la gestión por procesos, se espera que las Pymes del rubro textil y confecciones aumenten su productividad. En el primer capítulo, se realizará la revisión literaria de artículos científicos sobre conceptos relacionados. En el segundo capítulo se realizará el diagnóstico del sector mediante la exploración de fuentes secundarias. Así mismo, se realiza el diagnóstico de la situación actual mediante fuentes primarias de la mediana empresa. En el tercer capítulo, se realiza la interpretación del problema y se propone un modelo de gestión ágil para la implantación de distintas herramientas Lean. En el cuarto capítulo se lleva a cabo la implementación piloto del modelo propuesto. Así mismo, se detalla la estructura del paquete de trabajo, cronograma y el presupuesto de la implementación de la propuesta. Además, se presenta la validación del modelo, los impactos que genera en la empresa y los primeros resultados de la adopción. Por último, en el quinto capítulo se mencionan las principales conclusiones y recomendaciones de la presente investigación. / The purpose of the present thesis is the design and development of a process management model to improve the waste and reprocessing problem of shirt production chain of a medium sized confections company, in order to guide it towards the Lean Manufacturing methodology. This proposal will take place in a company that belongs to the textile and/or confections industry, which is mainly used in the manufacture of clothing. This thesis proposes a management model with agile fundamentals based on management processes, it is expected that SMEs in the textile sector and confections increase their productivity. In the first chapter, the literary review of scientific articles on related concepts will be carried out. In the second chapter, a diagnosis of the sector will be carried out by exploring secondary sources. Likewise, a diagnosis of the current situation of the medium-sized company was made through quantitative data. In the third chapter, the interpretation of the problem is carried out and an agile management model is proposed for the implementation of different Lean tools. In the fourth chapter, the pilot implementation of the proposed model is carried out. Likewise, the structure of the work package, schedule and budget for the implementation of the proposal are detailed. In addition, the validation of the model, the impacts and the first results of the adoption are presented on this document. Finally, in the fifth chapter the main conclusions and recommendations of the present investigation are mentioned. / Tesis

Productivity improvement in the software industry is one of the major challenges facing many software development companies in this century. Most companies have adopted agile methodologies in order to profit from the benefits claimed for them. Agile methodologies are characterised by frequent software delivery, short feedback loops, quicker response to change, and problem identification earlier in the development process. The agile approach has been recognised as paving a way for companies to acquire higher software productivity, delivering good-quality and cost-effective software, enabling software development companies to respond to business challenges with their demands for high quality, high performance and high development speed in delivering the final product. For companies that adopt agile methodologies, understanding the factors that influence their teams’ software development productivity is a challenging task for management and practitioners today. In this research, an analysis is presented that identifies productivity factors that affect agile teams. It is a study of agile methods to identify common agile practices and/or values that have impact on productivity, and describes suitable metrics that could be used to measure agile team productivity. A qualitative research approach was used, and the case study was chosen as the research strategy. Two South African companies that are located in two different provinces and that adopted agile methodologies in their software development, were selected for the case studies. Qualitative content analysis was used in the research to permit subjective interpretation of factors that influence agile team productivity, and to analyse to what extent these factors affected productivity. This research has shown that an understanding of the factors that influence an agile team’s productivity gives significant insight into the way agile teams work, motivates team members to work together, and leads to uniform metrics in tracking each team’s progress. The study indicates that tracking an agile team’s work and providing adequate tools needed to execute their tasks results in improving agile team productivity. It should be recognised that using metrics to measure performance in agile teams is helpful in creating a team’s culture and trust. In this study, it was found that the factors identified in both literature and case studies affected productivity in the two companies under study, both positively and negatively. The study also found that applying the correct metrics in assessing, analysing and reviewing an agile team’s performance is important when monitoring productivity. Successful software delivery is only possible if individuals are committed to their work, are provided with the necessary tools and have access to a stable working environment. In addition, individual factors such as knowledge, skills, abilities, personalities and experience should be considered when forming agile teams. Consideration of these factors will result in grouping people that are able to work together and achieve a common goal, which is important in improving productivity. A conceptual framework for agile team productivity was proposed. The discussion of the findings is presented in more detail in this research. / School of Computing / M.Sc. (Computing)

Die Anwendung agiler Arbeitsweisen rückt zunehmend in den Interessensfokus unterschiedlicher Bereiche in produzierenden Unternehmen. Eine erhöhte Reaktionsfähigkeit auf unvorhergesehene Veränderungen im Kontext, Steigerung der Transparenz bezüglich Arbeitsinhalt und Auslastung im Entwicklerteam sowie das erschaffen und Vorantreiben einer übergeordneten Teamvision und damit verbundene Performancesteigerungen sind nur einige der positiven Effekte, die hierdurch erzielt werden sollen. Da die genutzten Ansätze jedoch meist auf Best Practices aus der Branche der Softwareentwicklung resultieren, stellen sie die Bereiche in produzierenden Unternehmen vor neue Herausforderungen, wie den Umgang mit Normen und Standards im agilen Arbeiten, Datenschutz bei der Erfassung von Arbeitsaufwänden und den Umgang mit physischen Produkteigenschaften. Damit die Einführung von Agilität in die Abläufe produzierender Unternehmen nachhaltig erfolgt, wurde eine Methodik entwickelt, mittels derer ein individueller Prozess bestehend aus agilen und strukturierenden Elementen abgeleitet werden kann. Im vorliegenden Beitrag soll diese Methodik hinsichtlich ihrer Zweckmäßigkeit untersucht werden, um daraus in zukünftigen Forschungsarbeiten eine Weiterentwicklung dieser Methodik abzuleiten. Dies erfolgt in einem realen Anwendungsfall – dem Änderungsmanagement eines deutschen OEMs in der Automobilindustrie. Hierzu wurde der hier existierende Prozess beobachtet und erfasst, Interviews mit betroffenen Mitarbeitern geführt und Potentiale für eine Prozessverbesserung durch die Integration agiler Elemente definiert. Diese wurden im Anschluss ebenfalls im Zuge der Methodik zur Entwicklung der individuellen agilen Prozesslösung durch eine zum Anwendungsfall passende Gesamtmethode realisiert. Die Evaluation des Vorgehens hat gezeigt, dass der Anspruch der Individualität der entwickelten Gesamtmethode gegeben ist, jedoch noch kleinere Verbesserungspotentiale bestehen.