No description available.

Developing high quality software is difficult. Traditional software engineering methods emphasizes on structured and linear workflow of activities methods that have been criticized due to their rigid and inflexible nature. Recently, agile software engineering approaches such as Scrum have gained popularity in the software industry. These methods emphasize flexibility, speed, transparency, and teamwork aspects. In this thesis, investigation and comparison of three modern production practices and principles done, these include; Kanban, the 5S workplace organization method and Toyota Production System (TPS). The goal has been to identity features of these production philosophies and analyzed how they might contribute to software engineering processes, particularly to improve Scrum. The study indicates that many principles from these production approaches have been implemented in Scrum. However, the Kanban, 5S and TPS principles of Visibility are just partially implemented in Scrum. Scrum overlooks many aspects of programming that need to be visualized such as code quality aspects (testing) and representations of the actual software structure under development.

Context: Over the last two decades, software architecture has introduced a new trend insoftware development. This new trend has completely changed the normal methods andpractices of software engineering. The focus has become the architectural elements ratherthan code and sub-routines. Architecture description languages (ADLs) have been proposedfor this kind of architecture based software development. There are a number of differentADLs both in academia and industry; they are not totally adopted by the software engineeringcommunity, but they are not avoided either. In this research work, an investigation has beenperformed based on the ADLs evaluation in practice. Objectives: The main aim of this study is to investigate evaluation of ADLs in academia andindustry. To explore the benefits and drawbacks of ADLs in practice. The study also exploresthe different quality factors improved by ADLs. Further different methods used to buildarchitecture with ADLs and then how to use architecture described with an ADL in softwaredevelopment and maintenance have also been reported. Methods: This research study has been carried out using the systematic literature reviewmethod. The systematic literature review follows the guidelines suggested by Kitchenham[21]. Results: This research review has resulted in total of 102 different ADLs. It has been foundthat out of the 102 different ADLs, 69 ADLs have been evaluated in academia and only 33ADLs have been evaluated in industry. ADLs have also been classified based on theirindustrial and academia evaluation. There are total 31 different benefits and 19 differentdrawbacks of ADLs have been identified. This review also extracted 20 different qualityfactors from literature that are improved by using ADLs in practice. Further 13 differentmethods used to build architecture with ADL have also been reported. Finally 9 differentmethods of ADLs used in software development and maintenance have been identified. Conclusions: The Large number of ADLs with little evaluation in industry suggests thatmore work needs to be done in order to improve ADLs evaluation in practice. ADLs providemore benefits compared to their drawbacks which suggests that ADLs can be very beneficial.Knowledge gained during this research study, suggests that ADLs are mostly unrecognized.More awareness about ADLs should be provided in education and practice.

It is reported that the market-driven product development is becoming common in the software industry. There are two challenges in the market-driven product development: time-to-market and meeting customers’ requirements. A rapid software development process is regarded as a good way to solve those two challenges. Streamline development process (SLDP) is aligned with a rapid software development process, which is an in-house development process of Ericsson AB. In this study, seven completed projects from the streamline development process were investigated. The correlations between requirement attributes and process attributes were identified and quantified in the SLDP. Nine hypotheses were assumed. Four hypotheses were derived from the correlations from the other software development processes, and the other five hypotheses were derived from new requirement attributes and process attributes in SLDP. Two statistical software applications were used in the hypotheses testing. The results of those hypotheses showed that too much time spent in the early phase of streamline development would not reduce the time to market. A SLDP measurement program contains the measurements of requirement attributes and process attributes. This measurement program was mainly composed of four core attributes (size, effort, schedule, and fault), the requirement volatility, the completeness, the resource overrun, and the estimation accuracy. The results of the SLDP measurement program reflected four challenges in the SLDP: the requirement engineering process, the release planning, the estimation accuracy at each development phase, and the quality of the documentation. At last, based on those four challenges (the requirement engineering process, the release planning, the estimation accuracy at each development phase, and the quality of the documentation) and the defined correlations between requirement attributes and process attributes in the SLDP, the improvement opportunities were proposed for the SLDP.

Context: In this thesis we considered Knowledge Transfer (KT) in Global Software Development (GSD) from both the state of art and state of practice, in order to identify what are the challenges that hamper the success of KT in global software teams, as well as to find out what are the mitigation strategies that can be practiced to overcome these challenges. Objectives: The main objective of this research is to find an in-depth understanding of knowledge transfer challenges and mitigation strategies from both literature studies and industrial experienced employees. It also identifies the similarities and differences of challenges and strategies from literature studies and industrial experienced employees. The overall aim of this work is to provide a list of mitigation strategies to challenges, as guidelines to enable successful knowledge transfer in GSD. Methods: In order to fulfill the aim of the research, we collected the data through a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) and industrial interviews. Through SLR we found 35 articles relevant to our objectives. The data is extracted from those articles and conclusions are drawn. The relevant data is collected from databases such as Engineering village, ACM Digital Library, Science Direct, Wiley Inter Science, Scopus, ISI Web of Science and IEEE Xplore. We conducted 8 interviews from 8 different multinational companies. For analyzing the data we used grounded theory and qualitative comparative analysis. Results: In total, 72 different challenges and 107 mitigation strategies were identified from both SLR and interview results. In most of the studies, KT challenges in GSD are categorized into 3Cs (Communication, Control and Coordination). We also came up with a different view known as 2PT which conceptualizes the KT challenges and strategies into Personnel, Project and Technology factors. Conclusions: In future, researchers have to focus on the personnel, project and technology factors for implementing an effective KT process. From a practitioner‘s view, the results can be used to identify critical factors for effective KT. The challenges to KT show to what extent these results can be industrially applicable. / Srinivas Nidhra S/O Nidhra. Bikshamaiah H No:8-3-230/C/40, Plot No:351, Yousufguda, Venkatagiri, Hyderabad, Pin:500045 Andhra Pradesh, India. phone: 04023545378 Muralidhar, S/O Y. Rama Rao, Prasad leboratories, Jaggampeta, Andhra Pradesh, India, pin: 533435 phone: +919885995887

Globalization trends have affected many software organizations in the past years. They are turning towards global software development (GSD) market in search for quality with a lower price and shorter development times. It turns out that certain management methods used for in-house development are not applicable in GSD, often resulting in a failed project. It is believed that trust is one of the key factors for success or failure of such projects. In the first part, this thesis studies the causes of lacking or losing trust in globally distributed teams though a literature review and systematic review of current research. The second part of this thesis studies the practices which have been applied in industry to prevent or minimize the impact of trust related issues. Finally these practices are mapped to the identified issues, resulting in a set of recommendations for managers involved in GSD.

Software development work undertaken by virtual teams dispersed across time, space, and organizational boundaries is referred as Global Software Development (GSD) with emphasis on “globalization”. In GSD, teams within same organization (off-shore) or different organizations (outsource) from multiple geographic locations are involved. GSD is becoming a norm and more software projects are undertaken in GSD setting due to the benefits associated with it. However, there remain many challenges that can adversely affect the ability to realize those benefits. One of the challenges is to overcome the problems faced during integration of the functional components developed by different teams at different geographic locations. Incompatibilities and hidden issues surface during functional components integration which is very costly to fix at this stage and can lead to delay, lower product quality or even failure of a GSD project. In this regard, this study investigates integration problems that occurred due to different reasons during different phases/stages of GSD, along with successful integration practices with their relative importance. The study produces lists of failure and success factors, and then further prioritized that failure and success factors lists through Delphi experts. Failure and success factors present an extensive knowledge of integration problems and practical solutions. In addition, their relative importance highlights the severity and importance of each failure and success factor. The results of this study not only help to understand integration issues and solution, but provide a platform to develop a solid strategy at early stage of GSD.

The trend for global software development is increasing day by day. Global software development takes into account, the development of software globally by bringing knowledge about the market. There are several challenges that have an impact in developing software globally. In this study we investigate several management challenges faced in globally distributed projects and scrum practices that are being implemented by the organization. We also study the benefits in implementing scrum. For our research, we have performed literature review to find out the various challenges in managing globally distributed software projects and various scrum practices that are discussed. We conducted industrial case studies to find out the challenges being faced by them in globally distributed projects and the various scrum practices that are followed by them to overcome those challenges and also to know the benefits of implementing scrum in GSD. In order to provide quantitative support of management challenges and scrum practices discussed in the literature review, surveys have been conducted. We used grounded theory for analyzing the data gathered during the study. There are several challenges that are being faced by the organizations while developing software globally. There are also several scrum practices that have been found from the interviews. There are few challenges that need to be addressed in future research. / The trend for global software development is increasing day by day. Global software development takes into account, the development of software globally by bringing knowledge about the market. There are several challenges that have an impact in developing software globally. In this study we investigate several management challenges faced in globally distributed projects and scrum practices that are being implemented by the organization. We also study the benefits in implementing scrum. For our research, we have performed literature review to find out the various challenges in managing globally distributed software projects and various scrum practices that are discussed. We conducted industrial case studies to find out the challenges being faced by them in globally distributed projects and the various scrum practices that are followed by them to overcome those challenges and also to know the benefits of implementing scrum in GSD. In order to provide quantitative support of management challenges and scrum practices discussed in the literature review, surveys have been conducted. We used grounded theory for analyzing the data gathered during the study. There are several challenges that are being faced by the organizations while developing software globally. There are also several scrum practices that have been found from the interviews. There are few challenges that need to be addressed in future research. / Phone number: +4552633534

Context: Today’s software development industry requires high-speed software delivery from the development team. In order to do this, organizations make transformation from their conventional software development method to agile development method while preserving customer satisfaction. Even though this approach is becoming popular development method, from security point of view, it has some disadvantage. Because, this method has several constraints imposed such as lack of a complete overview of a product, higher development pace and lack of documentation. Although security-engineering (SE) process is necessary in order to build secure software, no SE process is developed specifically for agile model. As a result, SE processes that are commonly used in waterfall model are being used in agile models. However, there is a clash or disparity between the established waterfall SE processes and the ideas and methodologies proposed by the agile manifesto. This means that, while agile models work with short development increments that adapt easily to change, the existing SE processes work in plan-driven development setting and try to reduce defects found in a program before the occurrence of threats through heavy and inflexible process. This study aims at bridging the gap in agile model and security by providing insightful understanding of the SE process that are used in the current agile industry. Objectives: The objectives of this thesis are to identify and evaluate security activities from high-profile waterfall SE-process that are used in the current agile industry. Then, to suggest the most compatible and beneficial security activities to agile model based on the study results. Methods: The study involved two approaches: systematic literature review and survey. The systematic literature review has two main aims. The first aim is to gain a comprehensive understanding of security in an agile process model; the second one is to identify high-profile SE processes that are commonly used in waterfall model. Moreover, it helped to compare the thesis result with other previously done works on the area. A survey is conducted to identify and evaluate waterfall security activities that are used in the current agile industry projects. The evaluation criteria were based on the security activity integration cost and benefit provides to agile projects. Results: The results of the systematic review are organized in a tabular form for clear understanding and easy analysis. High-profile SE processes and their activities are obtained. These results are used as an input for the survey study. From the survey study, security activities that are used in the current agile industry are identified. Furthermore, the identified security activities are evaluated in terms of benefit and cost. As a result the best security activities, that are compatible and beneficial, are investigated to agile process model. Conclusions: To develop secure software in agile model, there is a need of SE-process or practice that can address security issues in every phase of the agile project lifecycle. This can be done either by integrating the most compatible and beneficial security activities from waterfall SE processes with agile process or by creating new SE-process. In this thesis, it has been found that, from the investigated high-profile waterfall SE processes, none of the SE processes was fully compatible and beneficial to agile projects. / (046) 73 6136215

Context: Agile practices have created its own mark on recent software development strategies. The significance of agile core values and principles attracted several organizations towards agile software development. Agile methods incorporate core values & principles, whereas agile practices define how agile methods are implemented in practice. However, it is still unclear, which combinations of agile practices are adopted in practice and how are they adapted. Objectives: In this research, our main aim is to find the combinations of agile practices that are most commonly adopted in practice, which includes identifying the practices which mostly appear together and finding the evidences for adaptations of agile practices. Methods: We have developed a survey to collect empirical evidence regarding agile practice adoption and adaptation. The survey is based on a framework consisting of a set of questions to determine agile practice adoption and adaptation. The framework was validated with researchers and practitioners through interviews. In order to identify the practices and possible adaptations we conducted a literature review. The sample population of the survey includes primarily project managers, developers, agile coaches and system types includes majority of information systems, commercial type of software, outsourced and embedded. Results: We have collected 109 responses with the survey. It is important to make the tradeoff between the length of the survey and quality of the responses, so, we needed to pose many questions with regard to the ways how the practices are tailored/adapted. We found that there are certain practices which were given highest priority and mostly appear together, certain practices appears only with particular combinations of practices. Regarding practice adaptations, the empirical findings show the adaptations of each individual practice. Moreover, regarding employee and customer satisfaction, the results indicate that there is a significant level of satisfied employees and customers with agile software development. A conceptual model of agile practices and performance is developed and presented to make a better understanding of implications for practice. Conclusions: During adoption there are certain set of agile practices that were given higher importance, given highest priority during selection and also mostly appears together. Moreover, there are certain practices which are considered as most important, but are given with less priority during selection by practitioners. Furthermore, the empirical findings supports practice adaption depends on change in context factors. Finally, it is interesting to see that almost all of the stakeholders in agile software development are satisfied with its nature.