Context: Software testing is a crucial area in software development. It has been found that there is little evidence on how testing is performed in software automotive domain. Challenges in this domain have not yet been fully evaluated. Furthermore, interactions between test procedures, and other activities of software development are left unexposed. Assessment of test process is an important part of improvement initiatives. Objectives: In this study we perform an in-depth investigation to identify challenges which lead to wastes in test process in the context of automotive software domain. To this end, we also identified strengths that add value in test process. Methods: We performed a Case study at a Sweden based large automotive organization. To this end, we conducted semi-structured interviews and used Grounded Theory method for interview data analysis. We used Value Stream Mapping (VSM), a Lean methodology tool for test process assessment. Furthermore, we conducted Systematic Literature Reviews to look for evidence of similar problems and solutions offered in peer-reviewed literature. Results: We grouped the identified challenges and strengths into 10 and 4 categories respectively. We also identified 7 kinds of waste and 4 kinds of values based using VSM. Based on systematic literature reviews, we proposed 7 solution proposals, an agile process model with practices. Conclusions: We conclude that VSM is an efficient tool in eliciting improvement potentials in software testing context using qualitative data. In regard to solution proposals, we propose further empirical work to evaluate the solution proposals themselves and tailor to company needs. However, the results obtained through this study can be compared to test processes at other companies in automotive domain. / kasoju.abhinaya@gmail.com

This Master Thesis looks into software development processes and the work activities these need to support. Hesitation against process support within Software developing organisations combined with a possibility to develop process support for such a company, made the foundation for this thesis. The reference company where the study took place is a large worldwide Telecom company where we focused on one design department with 25 people. Instead of using Participatory Design (PD) [Schuler, Namioka] as a method for Software development as traditionally, we used it for developing process support together with the people at the department. Three different supports for different project processes were created with PD and an evolutionary way of work together with the ?designers?. We came to a complex project environment which required control in several aspects such as project sponsoring, project management, line management, design maintenance etc. We saw a way of working that was following a common agreed way of work by the group that is formed by socio-emotional aspects and co-learning aspects [Hägerfors, 1995]. In contrast to this, the study showed that the available process support and also the use of the process support had a clear concentration towards a management focus ? the control function. The available process support and the use of this did not really consider the aspects of Socio-emotional or Co-learning. Existing process support was built around documents that became evidence for actual activities during the project. The process support developed during this study (by us and the designers) finally also got that concentration. A conclusion is that when the organisation puts high requirements on control of projects, this will also affect the way the organisation wants support for work. This is the missing point.

Context: Over the recent years, ‘Lean Software Development’ (LSD) has been emerging as a significant practice in the Software Industry. The inherent nature of ‘Lean’ to efficiently handle frequently changing customer needs by minimizing ‘Waste’ is a major success factor in practicing it in the context of ‘Software Engineering’. In simple words, Lean Software Development is the true translation of Lean Manufacturing and Lean IT principles to Software Engineering. This work presents an in-depth analysis on the implication of lean methodologies from both ‘State of Art’ and ‘State of Practice’ in the context of Software Engineering. Objectives: The prime objective of the study is to investigate what methodologies were considered & adopted under lean philosophy and to present relevant evidence on the implication of lean methodologies in reference to what defines ‘lean’ in Software Engineering. An extensive literature review was aimed to find the existing challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects and the respective lean mitigation methodologies that were employed by various software organizations to appease their negative impact. Industrial interviews were conducted by interviewing lean experts, with a motive to find the current state of lean implementation in software industry. The outcomes from the systematic literature review (State of Art) and the industry (State of Practice) are comparatively analysed to explore the similarities and differences on the state of lean implication. Finally, a set of guidelines are recommended that would benefit an Industrial Practitioner/Stakeholder/Academic Researcher in practicing the appropriate lean methodology in the context of software engineering. Methods: We conducted a ‘Systematic literature review’ (SLR) by systematically analyzing relevant studies and then interviewed industrial experts to validate our findings. The systematic literature review was conducted according to the guidelines proposed by Dr. Barbara Kitchenham stated in ‘Guidelines for performing Systematic Literature Reviews’ article. The thorough review helped us in identifying various challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects and the respective lean mitigation methodologies that were practiced in the context of software engineering. The associated benefits of practicing the lean methodologies are also presented. The extensive review included peer reviewed articles from electronic databases such as IEEE Explore, Inspec, Scopus and ISI. In addition to this, we conducted snowball sampling on the references of the selected articles to avoid the potential risk of losing relevant and valuable information. Also, other potential sources of information such as books, theses/dissertations, white papers and website/blog articles are included as a part of Grey Literature. In this study, the articles related to the implication of lean methodologies in the context of software engineering were considered. The review included 72 primary studies published between 1993 and 2012. The primary studies were selected based on the following criteria: If they presented the challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects. If they depicted the implication of lean mitigation methodologies (Tool/ Technique/ Method/ Process/ Practice/ Principle) that appeased the negative impact of the identified challenging factors that hampered the success of software projects. If they depicted the implication of lean methodologies (Tool/ Technique/ Method/ Process/ Practice/ Principle) in general or for a specific development/ Management/ Maintenance improvement activities that lead to the success of software projects in the context of software engineering. If they presented the benefits of practicing lean methodologies in the context of software engineering. The study quality assessment was done based on the quality criteria defined in the ‘Quality assessment criteria checklist’. The data such as Article ID, Article Title, Literature type (Peer- reviewed, Non-peer reviewed), Context of validation of the lean methodology (Industry/Academia), Subjects considered for the study (Researchers/students, Industrial practitioners), Type of article publication (Conference/ Journal/ Books/ Thesis Reports/ Doctoral dissertations/ Other), Research method used in the study (Case Study/ Experiment/ Experience Report/ Not stated/ Secondary Data Analysis/ Literature Review), Context of conducting the research (Industry/ Academia/ Not stated/ Both), Context of validation of the study (Strong/ Medium/ Weak), Publication date & year, Source of the publication, are extracted as a part of Quantitative analysis. The secondary data analysis for both ‘State of Art’ (Systematic literature review) and ‘State of Practice’ (Industry) was carried by performing a generic data analysis designed to answer our research questions. The more specific data such as the challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects, the type of lean contribution presented i.e., the methodology being a Tool, Technique, Practice, Principal, Process or a Method, along with the benefits associated on their implication that helped us to answer our research questions are extracted as a part of qualitative analysis from the selected studies. The industrial interviews were conducted by interviewing potential lean experts who had decent experience in lean software development, to find the current state of lean implication in the software industry. In the end, a comparative analysis was performed to clearly understand the state of convergence and divergence between the results from extensive literature review and the industry with respect to the implication of lean methodologies in the context of software engineering. Results: A total of 72 primary articles were selected for data extraction. 56 articles were selected from the electronic databases that clearly depicted lean implementation in the context of software engineering. 9 articles were selected by conducting snowball sampling i.e. by scrutinizing the references of the selected primary studies and finally the grey literature resulted in 7 articles. Most of the articles discussed about lean implication in the context of software engineering. The depicted lean methodologies were validated in either Industry or Academia. A few articles depicted regarding lean principles and their benefits in the context of software engineering. Most of the selected articles in our study were peer- reviewed. Peer reviewing is a process of evaluating one’s work or performance by an expert in the same field in order to maintain or enhance the quality of work or performance in the particular field. This indicates that the articles considered for data extraction have been reviewed by potential experts in the research domain. Conclusions: This study provided a deeper insight into lean implication in the context of software engineering. The aim of the thesis is to find the challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects. A total of 54 challenges were identified from the literature review. The 72 primary articles selected from various resources yielded 53 lean methodologies. The lean methodologies were grouped into Principles, practices, tools and methods. Mapping between the identified challenges and the mitigation lean methodologies is presented. Industrial interviews were conducted to find the current state of lean implication in software engineering. A total of 30 challenges were identified from the industry. A total of 40 lean methodologies were identified from the interviews. Comparative analysis was done to find the common challenges and mitigation lean methodologies between the State of art and State of practice. Based on the analysis a set of guidelines are presented at the end of the document. The guidelines benefit an industrial practitioner in practicing the appropriate lean methodology. Keywords: Lean Methodology, Lean software development, lean software management, lean software engineering, Systematic literature review, literature review. / Context: Over the recent years, ‘Lean Software Development’ (LSD) has been emerging as a significant practice in the Software Industry. The inherent nature of ‘Lean’ to efficiently handle frequently changing customer needs by minimizing ‘Waste’ is a major success factor in practicing it in the context of ‘Software Engineering’. In simple words, Lean Software Development is the true translation of Lean Manufacturing and Lean IT principles to Software Engineering. This work presents an in-depth analysis on the implication of lean methodologies from both ‘State of Art’ and ‘State of Practice’ in the context of Software Engineering. Objectives: The prime objective of the study is to investigate what methodologies were considered & adopted under lean philosophy and to present relevant evidence on the implication of lean methodologies in reference to what defines ‘lean’ in Software Engineering. An extensive literature review was aimed to find the existing challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects and the respective lean mitigation methodologies that were employed by various software organizations to appease their negative impact. Industrial interviews were conducted by interviewing lean experts, with a motive to find the current state of lean implementation in software industry. The outcomes from the systematic literature review (State of Art) and the industry (State of Practice) are comparatively analysed to explore the similarities and differences on the state of lean implication. Finally, a set of guidelines are recommended that would benefit an Industrial Practitioner/Stakeholder/Academic Researcher in practicing the appropriate lean methodology in the context of software engineering. Methods: We conducted a ‘Systematic literature review’ (SLR) by systematically analyzing relevant studies and then interviewed industrial experts to validate our findings. The systematic literature review was conducted according to the guidelines proposed by Dr. Barbara Kitchenham stated in ‘Guidelines for performing Systematic Literature Reviews’ article. The thorough review helped us in identifying various challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects and the respective lean mitigation methodologies that were practiced in the context of software engineering. The associated benefits of practicing the lean methodologies are also presented. The extensive review included peer reviewed articles from electronic databases such as IEEE Explore, Inspec, Scopus and ISI. In addition to this, we conducted snowball sampling on the references of the selected articles to avoid the potential risk of losing relevant and valuable information. Also, other potential sources of information such as books, theses/dissertations, white papers and website/blog articles are included as a part of Grey Literature. In this study, the articles related to the implication of lean methodologies in the context of software engineering were considered. The review included 72 primary studies published between 1993 and 2012. The primary studies were selected based on the following criteria: If they presented the challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects. If they depicted the implication of lean mitigation methodologies (Tool/ Technique/ Method/ Process/ Practice/ Principle) that appeased the negative impact of the identified challenging factors that hampered the success of software projects. If they depicted the implication of lean methodologies (Tool/ Technique/ Method/ Process/ Practice/ Principle) in general or for a specific development/ Management/ Maintenance improvement activities that lead to the success of software projects in the context of software engineering. If they presented the benefits of practicing lean methodologies in the context of software engineering. The study quality assessment was done based on the quality criteria defined in the ‘Quality assessment criteria checklist’. The data such as Article ID, Article Title, Literature type (Peer- reviewed, Non-peer reviewed), Context of validation of the lean methodology (Industry/Academia), Subjects considered for the study (Researchers/students, Industrial practitioners), Type of article publication (Conference/ Journal/ Books/ Thesis Reports/ Doctoral dissertations/ Other), Research method used in the study (Case Study/ Experiment/ Experience Report/ Not stated/ Secondary Data Analysis/ Literature Review), Context of conducting the research (Industry/ Academia/ Not stated/ Both), Context of validation of the study (Strong/ Medium/ Weak), Publication date & year, Source of the publication, are extracted as a part of Quantitative analysis. The secondary data analysis for both ‘State of Art’ (Systematic literature review) and ‘State of Practice’ (Industry) was carried by performing a generic data analysis designed to answer our research questions. The more specific data such as the challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects, the type of lean contribution presented i.e., the methodology being a Tool, Technique, Practice, Principal, Process or a Method, along with the benefits associated on their implication that helped us to answer our research questions are extracted as a part of qualitative analysis from the selected studies. The industrial interviews were conducted by interviewing potential lean experts who had decent experience in lean software development, to find the current state of lean implication in the software industry. In the end, a comparative analysis was performed to clearly understand the state of convergence and divergence between the results from extensive literature review and the industry with respect to the implication of lean methodologies in the context of software engineering. Results: A total of 72 primary articles were selected for data extraction. 56 articles were selected from the electronic databases that clearly depicted lean implementation in the context of software engineering. 9 articles were selected by conducting snowball sampling i.e. by scrutinizing the references of the selected primary studies and finally the grey literature resulted in 7 articles. Most of the articles discussed about lean implication in the context of software engineering. The depicted lean methodologies were validated in either Industry or Academia. A few articles depicted regarding lean principles and their benefits in the context of software engineering. Most of the selected articles in our study were peer- reviewed. Peer reviewing is a process of evaluating one’s work or performance by an expert in the same field in order to maintain or enhance the quality of work or performance in the particular field. This indicates that the articles considered for data extraction have been reviewed by potential experts in the research domain. Conclusions: This study provided a deeper insight into lean implication in the context of software engineering. The aim of the thesis is to find the challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects. A total of 54 challenges were identified from the literature review. The 72 primary articles selected from various resources yielded 53 lean methodologies. The lean methodologies were grouped into Principles, practices, tools and methods. Mapping between the identified challenges and the mitigation lean methodologies is presented. Industrial interviews were conducted to find the current state of lean implication in software engineering. A total of 30 challenges were identified from the industry. A total of 40 lean methodologies were identified from the interviews. Comparative analysis was done to find the common challenges and mitigation lean methodologies between the State of art and State of practice. Based on the analysis a set of guidelines are presented at the end of the document. The guidelines benefit an industrial practitioner in practicing the appropriate lean methodology. Keywords: Lean Methodology, Lean software development, lean software management, lean software engineering, Systematic literature review, literature review. / 0091-8375920473

Mänskliga faktorer som till exempel kommunikation och tillit påverkar hur människor interagerar med varandra. I agil systemutveckling ingår relationer, samspel och samarbete mellan människor och dessa påverkar om systemutvecklingsprojektet anses framgångsrikt eller ej. Men ofta i systemutvecklingsprojekt så läggs det mer tid på själva tekniken än de sociala aspekterna, där de mänskliga faktorerna i många fall är en avgörande faktor för projektets slutresultat. Syftet med det nuvarande arbetet är att beskriva vilka mänskliga faktorer som är viktiga för att effektivisera samarbete i agila systemutvecklingsprojekt, samt att beskriva hur agil systemutveckling på Trafikverket utförs. Trafikverket ville ha studien genomförd för att resultatet av studien skulle hjälpa till att minska antalet mindre framgångsrika systemutvecklingsprojekt på Trafikverket. Huvudfrågan i arbetet är: Vilka mänskliga faktorer är viktiga för att effektivisera samarbetet mellan verksamhetskunniga och utvecklare i agila systemutvecklingsprojekt? En fallstudie utfördes vid Trafikverket genom sju semistrukturerade intervjuer som följdes upp av enkäter och dokumentstudier. Det sammanlagda resultatet tyder på att för att effektivisera samarbetet mellan verksamhetskunniga och utvecklare i agila systemutvecklingsprojekt på Trafikverket krävs fokus på följande fem mänskliga faktorer: kommunikation, tillit, ledarskap, kunskap och motivation. / Human factors influence how people interact and communicate with each other. Agile system development work consists of relationships, interaction and cooperation between people. These aspects impact the system development project´s results. However, often in system development there is more focus on the technology itself than on the social aspects, where human factors appear to be a decisive factor, in many cases for the project's end result. The purpose of this study is to describe what human factors that can lead to more efficient cooperation in agile software development projects, and to describe how agile system development looks like at Trafikverket. Trafikverket wished this study to be implemented as the study’s results may help to reduce the number of less successful systems development projects at Trafikverket. The main research question in this work is: What human factors are important to make cooperation between customers and developers of agile software development projects more efficient? A case study was conducted at Trafikverket. Data collected from seven semi-structured interviews followed up by questionnaires and document studies was used for the analysis. Conclusion’s suggests that in order to make cooperation between customers and developers in agile system development projects at Trafikverket more efficient five human factors as communication, trust , leadership, knowledge and motivation should be focused.

Context: Software Process Improvement uses lean principles for eliminating wastes in the software development process. Waste is defined as anything that does not add value to the customer and product. The seven traditional wastes in software engineering are partially done work, extra process, extra features, waiting, motion, task switching and defects. Using the lean principles and practices, the wastes can be reduced or eliminated. It is important to know the lean practices that are widely used in software development and to know the practices, which captures the seven wastes. From the literature, the ability of waste reduction is theoretically discussed [2], but practically only little empirical evidence is available on ‘which practice is best capable in reducing specific kinds of waste.’ Objectives: Many software development organizations have adopted lean practices and agile practices for eliminating wastes of different kinds. Therefore, this study focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of lean practices in their ability to reduce the seven types of wastes associated with Lean Software Engineering. Methodology: The methodology that is used in this study is systematic literature review and industrial survey. In order to achieve the objective on evaluating the lean practices and agile practices in their ability to reduce the seven types of wastes that have more attention in research, a systematic literature review is conducted. Thereafter, to capture the effectiveness of lean practices in waste removal, a survey is designed to capture the perception of practitioners. Results: The systematic literature review has identified 53 relevant studies to the research topic. From these primary studies, the lean practices/principles, hybrid agile and lean practices, and the efficiency of agile practices in eliminating the seven wastes were identified. In addition to that, wastes that are captured by using lean practices; hybrid lean and agile practices were also identified. The reason for considering agile practices is that, agile and lean have similarities in eliminating the wastes and creating value to the customer [2][3]. Through the systematic literature review, it can be observed that researchers have not investigated all the seven wastes captured by lean practices. Thereafter, survey is the main contribution to this research where, the responses of 55 respondents from different countries were recorded. Most of the respondents are from India with 42% of the responses. We have asked the role of every respondent in their companies, and 19 respondents are Team leaders, 16 respondents are project managers and remaining people perform various other roles in software development. 38 respondents are from large-scale industry, which constitutes the majority part of the survey. The main contribution of the survey is identifying the ability of lean practices in eliminating different wastes. The respondents were asked to provide their level of agreement related to the effectiveness of each lean practices and agile practice in waste removal. A comparison between the results of SLR and survey reveals that there is a lot of variance in the perception of researchers and practitioners regarding the lean practices in eliminating wastes. Survey captures more wastes than SLR. From the results of survey, it was also identified that using the lean practices i.e. Kanban and VSM can eliminate most of the wastes. Kanban (41) and VSM (33) are mostly used and more efficient in industries. Conclusions: To conclude, the obtained results from this study will be quite useful for the real-time execution of lean practices. Team leaders, project managers, and organizations can adopt lean by choosing lean practices in accordance to the wastes that have to be eliminated from their software development process. This study has also identified the benefits and limitations of lean practices implemented in industry. This study helps researchers in providing necessary information that is very useful for further research in lean practices. The combinations of lean practices were also presented, which in terms one lean practice can compensate another in capturing all the seven wastes. In the survey, the additional wastes were identified when compared to SLR and this complements the literature. There is a considerable reach gap between the state of art and state of practice. It has been identified that VSM and Kanban practices have much attention in the literature. The remaining practices like Kotter and Kaizen are less concentrated in most of the research literature. From the literature, it is evident that none of the practices is capable of eliminating all the seven wastes in software development. VSM is capable of capturing wastes like waiting, extra process and motion. In addition, Kanban captures and eliminates wastes like partially done work, defects, task switching and extra features. With respect to the survey, Kanban and VSM practices are efficient in eliminating wastes. When the practitioners consider hybrid lean and agile practices, the combination of Kanban and Scrum, Scrum and VSM are efficient in eliminating wastes. The practitioners can consider the benefits of lean practices that are identified in this research. / V S S N R Ram Nanduri vssnrram@gmail.com

Mänskliga faktorer som till exempel kommunikation och tillit påverkar hur människor interagerar med varandra. I agil systemutveckling ingår relationer, samspel och samarbete mellan människor och dessa påverkar om systemutvecklingsprojektet anses framgångsrikt eller ej. Men ofta i systemutvecklingsprojekt så läggs det mer tid på själva tekniken än de sociala aspekterna, där de mänskliga faktorerna i många fall är en avgörande faktor för projektets slutresultat. Syftet med det nuvarande arbetet är att beskriva vilka mänskliga faktorer som är viktiga för att effektivisera samarbete i agila systemutvecklingsprojekt, samt att beskriva hur agil systemutveckling på Trafikverket utförs. Trafikverket ville ha studien genomförd för att resultatet av studien skulle hjälpa till att minska antalet mindre framgångsrika systemutvecklingsprojekt på Trafikverket. Huvudfrågan i arbetet är: Vilka mänskliga faktorer är viktiga för att effektivisera samarbetet mellan verksamhetskunniga och utvecklare i agila systemutvecklingsprojekt? En fallstudie utfördes vid Trafikverket genom sju semistrukturerade intervjuer som följdes upp av enkäter och dokumentstudier. Det sammanlagda resultatet tyder på att för att effektivisera samarbetet mellan verksamhetskunniga och utvecklare i agila systemutvecklingsprojekt på Trafikverket krävs fokus på följande fem mänskliga faktorer: kommunikation, tillit, ledarskap, kunskap och motivation. / Human factors influence how people interact and communicate with each other. Agile system development work consists of relationships, interaction and cooperation between people. These aspects impact the system development project´s results. However, often in system development there is more focus on the technology itself than on the social aspects, where human factors appear to be a decisive factor, in many cases for the project's end result. The purpose of this study is to describe what human factors that can lead to more efficient cooperation in agile software development projects, and to describe how agile system development looks like at Trafikverket. Trafikverket wished this study to be implemented as the study’s results may help to reduce the number of less successful systems development projects at Trafikverket. The main research question in this work is: What human factors are important to make cooperation between customers and developers of agile software development projects more efficient? A case study was conducted at Trafikverket. Data collected from seven semi-structured interviews followed up by questionnaires and document studies was used for the analysis. Conclusion’s suggests that in order to make cooperation between customers and developers in agile system development projects at Trafikverket more efficient five human factors as communication, trust , leadership, knowledge and motivation should be focused.

Globally distributed software development has become an important topic for small and medium enterprises. However, the distinct requirements of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are still not fullyunderstood. To contribute to this growing discussion, I will present an ethnographical field study of a Swedish software company engaged in a distributed development practice with its American branch. By applying a theoretical view based on communication, coordination and control over time, space and socio/cultural difference, I show to what extent a distributed software development model affects SMEs. Whereproblems related to formal and informal communication, knowledge sharing, articulation work and programming methodologies are discussed. My findings suggest that organizational adjustments are needed for SMEs in order to take advantage of distributed software development (DSD), that specialized tools supporting coordination and articulation work is not so common in practice and that certain adjustment to agile methodologies could be made in order to better support DSD.

Abstract The development of embedded systems is becoming increasingly challenging; it is intellectually demanding knowledge work that requires collaboration among a wide range of skills. Software development is a largely cognitive activity, based on the worker’s internal mental processes rather than on physical labour. Developers face several individual and team cognition-related challenges in their work, including complex decision-making and problem-solving processes. Therefore, it is suggested that the software development process should be modelled as a set of problem-solving activities. This thesis proposes that supporting the cognitive work of collaborative development requires addressing the entire system’s life cycle with practical solutions. In this work, the above-mentioned challenges are addressed in terms of communication and collaboration practices, knowledge management and coordination, and transparent tools and processes. Moreover, these solutions are integrated into a workflow that structures and supports the development process. Finally, a development process is outlined that addresses the decision-oriented nature of software development in such a manner that the necessary data is provided for decision points that guide and coordinate the development efforts. A qualitative research approach has been chosen, and the work is based on interviewing industrial experts. Several cases were set up to define the state of the practice in industrial organisations developing embedded systems for different domains. Current challenges were identified and solutions were developed and validated in case companies. The main result of the dissertation is a set of solutions integrated into the organisational workflow to support collaborative development. The main principles are that the necessary information must be provided and work and its objectives must be justified and put into the correct context. The industrial cases indicate that utilising the suggested solutions can improve collaboration among organisations and teams by helping disseminate and use the required information. Mitigating the cognitive burden speeds up the development work and reduces the effort required from developers and decision makers. In this manner, organisations may achieve better results, primarily because the produced data and results will fulfil their purposes better and provide less waste. / Tiivistelmä Ohjelmistotuotanto nykymaailmassa muuttuu koko ajan haastavammaksi, kehitysprojektit ovat monimutkaisia ja hajautettuja sekä vaativat monialaista osaamista. Tiukat aikataulupaineet puolestaan tuovat mukaan oman problematiikkansa. Ohjelmistokehitys on suurelta osin kognitiivista työtä, jossa tarvitaan erilaisia taitoja ja eri alojen asiantuntijoita. Kognitiivinen työ tarkoittaa abstraktin tiedon käsittelyä ennemmin kuin fyysistä työtä. Ohjelmistojen kehittäjät törmäävät useisiin henkilökohtaiseen sekä ryhmätyöhön liittyviin haasteisiin, näistä esimerkkeinä monitahoinen tiedon käsittely, päätöksenteko ja ongelmanratkaisu. Onkin ehdotettu, että ohjelmistonkehitysprosessit ymmärrettäisiin ongelmanratkaisu- ja päätöspainotteisina prosesseina. Tässä työssä ehdotetaan, että tukeakseen ohjelmistonkehitysprosessia koko tuotteen tekemisen elinkaari on otettava huomioon ja työntekijöiden roolit ja vastuut on linkitettävä kehitysprosesseihin sekä kehitysprosessin eri vaiheisiin. Havaittuihin kognitiivisiin ongelmiin ja tarpeisiin vastataan yhteistyö- ja kommunikaatiokäytännöin, tiedonhallinnan, läpinäkyvyyden, työnkulun, ja päätöspainotteisten prosessien kautta. Tulokset kerättiin käyttäen menetelmänä laadullista tapaustutkimusta, ja työ perustuu useiden teollisten asiantuntijoiden haastatteluihin. Tutkimus toteutettiin useassa eri teollisuuden organisaatiossa. Aluksi määritettiin lähtötilanne organisaatioissa sekä kirjallisuuden perusteella, kartoitettiin ongelmat, jonka jälkeen kehitettiin tärkeimmiksi havaittuihin ongelmiin ratkaisuja. Työn tuloksena esitetään joukko ratkaisuja, jotka yhdistetään organisaation työnkulkuun. Lisäksi esitellään päätöksentekoon painottuva kehitysprosessi, jonka lähtökohtana on havainto, että vaadittavien tehtävien sekä työn tulosten on vastattava oikeaan tarpeeseen – työlle ja halutuille työn tuloksille on annettava riittävät tiedot, perustelut, päämäärä sekä oikea konteksti. Tapaustutkimukset osoittavat, että työn tulokset parantavat organisaatioiden välistä yhteistyötä helpottamalla oikean tiedon keräämistä, saamista ja käyttöä. Lisäksi ylimääräisen kognitiivisen taakan vähentäminen nopeuttaa kehitystyötä ja keventää kehittäjien ja päätöksentekijöiden työkuormaa. Täten organisaatiot voivat saavuttaa parempia työn tuloksia lähinnä siksi, että tuotettu tieto ja tulokset vastaavat paremmin tarpeisiin.

Abstract This thesis explores whether usability cost-benefit analysis is helpful when applied to commercial and open source software (OSS) development contexts. First, the thesis examines the differences and commonalities among the existing usability cost-benefit analysis models. The results indicate that there are considerable variations in the usability cost-benefit analysis literature in how the different categories of usability costs and benefits are identified and documented. Second, the thesis examines how well the existing usability cost-benefit considerations fit into practice in closed source software development. The results indicate that there are considerable risks of failure when using usability cost-benefit considerations in the commercial development context, when the inherent costs of usability activities become apparent, concrete, and measurable. Conversely, the potential benefits of better usability remain vague, uncertain, and unconvincing to the management. In order to build better usability cost-benefit models and minimize the potential that the models have unforeseen inherent risks, as outlined in this thesis, researchers should focus strongly on bringing forward the possible benefits of usability instead of focusing on the costs of designing and implementing user interfaces that would be realized in any case, regardless of the usability activities. Third, the thesis identifies the parallels and differences between open source software development and closed source software development in order to identify how usability costs and benefits fit into OSS development. The usability costs and benefits specific to OSS development are reflected in the experiences of bringing usability into the OSS development context. The results indicate that it is possible to fit usability cost-benefit considerations into the OSS development context, even though there are no apparent financial or resource factors to be considered. Furthermore, to fit usability cost-benefit considerations into the OSS development context, the philosophy, principles, hierarchical structure, community structure, and characteristics of OSS development must be considered. Usability cost-benefit considerations that fit into the OSS development context might help convince core developers that usability activities are important and should be integrated into the project roadmap. / Tiivistelmä Väitöskirjassa tutkitaan käytettävyyden kustannus-hyöty -analyysin soveltamista kaupalliseen ja avoimen lähdekoodin ohjelmistojen (OSS) ohjelmistokehitykseen. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan ensin käytettävyyden kustannus-hyöty -analyysimallien eroja ja yhteisiä piirteitä. Tulokset osoittavat käytettävyyden kustannus-hyöty -analyysimalleissa olevan huomattavia eroja siinä, miten eri käytettävyyden kustannuksia ja hyötyjä on tunnistettu. Toiseksi tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan miten hyvin nykyiset käytettävyyden kustannus-hyöty -analyysimallit sopivat käytännössä kaupallisten ohjelmistojen kehittämisessä. Tulokset osoittavat, että on olemassa huomattavia epäonnistumisen riskejä käytettäessä käytettävyyden kustannus-hyötynäkökohtia käytettävyystoimien oikeuttamiseen. Käytettävyyden kustannukset voivat tulla yrityksen johdon näkökulmasta konkreettisiksi ja mitattaviksi, kun taas mahdolliset paremman käytettävyyden hyödyt voivat jäädä epämääräisiksi, epävarmoiksi ja epäuskottaviksi. Parempien käytettävyyden kustannus-hyöty –mallien kehittämiseksi ja odottamattomien riskien minimoimiseksi mallien suunnittelussa tulisi keskittyä erityisesti paremman käytettävyyden tuomiin mahdollisiin etuihin, koska osa kustannuksista toteutuisi joka tapauksessa käytettävyystoimista riippumatta. Kolmanneksi tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan eroja ja yhtäläisyyksiä avoimen lähdekoodin ohjelmistojen kehittämisessä ja kaupallisessa suljetun lähdekoodin ohjelmistojen kehittämisessä, sekä miten käytettävyyden kustannukset ja hyödyt soveltuvat OSS kehityksessä käytettävyystoimien oikeuttamiseen. Käytettävyyden kustannuksia ja hyötyjä OSS -kehityksessä heijastetaan suhteessa kokemuksiin käytettävyystoimista OSS -projekteissa. Tulokset osoittavat, että on mahdollista soveltaa käytettävyyden kustannus-hyöty -näkökulmia OSS kehityksessä, vaikka OSS kehityksessä ei olekaan ilmeisiä huomioitavia taloudellisia tai resurssitekijöitä. Käytettävyyden kustannus-hyöty -näkökulmien soveltaminen OSS kehityksessä edellyttää OSS kehityksen filosofian, periaatteiden, hierarkkisen rakenteen, yhteisön rakenteen sekä OSS kehityksen ominaispiirteiden ottamista huomioon. OSS -kehitykseen paremmin soveltuvien käytettävyyden kustannus-hyöty –näkökulmien avulla voidaan vakuuttaa OSS -projektin pääkehittäjiä ja yhteisöä käytettävyystoimien tärkeydestä ja nämä toimet voidaan saada osaksi projektin ohjelmistokehitystä.

Abstract To gain competitive advantage and thrive in the market, companies have introduced Kanban in software development. Kanban has been used in the manufacturing industry for over six decades. In the software engineering domain, Kanban was introduced in 2004 to increase flexibility in coping with dynamic requirements, bring visibility to workflow and related tasks, improve communication, and promote the pull system. However, the existing scientific literature lacks empirical evidence of the use of Kanban in software companies. This doctoral thesis aims to improve the understanding of the use of Kanban in software engineering. The research was performed in two phases: 1) analysis of scientific literature on Kanban in software engineering and industrial engineering and 2) investigation of Kanban implementation trends in software companies. The data was collected through systematic literature reviews, survey and semi-structured interviews. The results were synthesized to draw conclusions and outline implications for research and practice. The results indicate growing interest in the use of Kanban in software companies. The findings suggest that Kanban is applicable to software development, software maintenance, and portfolio management in software companies. Kanban brings visibility to task and offering status, limits work in progress at any given time gives people greater control over their work and limit task switching. Although Kanban offers several benefits, as reported in this dissertation, the findings show that software companies find it challenging to implement Kanban incrementally. / Tiivistelmä Ohjelmistoteollisuudessa Kanbanin käyttö on yleistynyt vuodesta 2004 alkaen. Sillä pyritään tuomaan joustavuutta muuttuvien vaatimusten hallintaan, tuomaan näkyvyyttä työnkulkuun ja toisiinsa liittyviin tehtäviin, parantamaan kommunikaatiota sekä edistämään imuohjauksen hyödyntämistä. Kanbania on käytetty valmistavassa teollisuudessa jo yli kuuden vuosikymmenen ajan. Olemassa olevassa tieteellisessä kirjallisuudessa on kuitenkin esitetty hyvin vähän empiirisiä tutkimustuloksia Kanbanin käytöstä ohjelmistoyrityksissä. Väitöskirjan tavoitteena on parantaa ymmärrystä Kanbanin käytöstä ohjelmistotuotannossa. Tutkimus toteutettiin kahdessa vaiheessa: 1) Kirjallisuusanalyysi Kanbanin käytöstä ohjelmistotuotannossa ja tuotantotekniikassa ja 2) Empiirinen tutkimus Kanbanin käyttöönoton trendeistä ohjelmistoyrityksissä. Tutkimusaineisto kerättiin systemaattisten kirjallisuuskatsausten, kyselytutkimuksen ja puolistrukturoitujen teemahaastattelujen kautta. Tutkimustulosten synteesin pohjalta tehtiin johtopäätöksiä Kanbanin käytöstä ohjelmistotuotannossa sekä niiden merkityksestä alan tutkimukselle ja Kanbanin käytölle yrityksissä. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat kasvavaa kiinnostusta Kanbanin käyttöä kohtaan ohjelmistoyrityksissä. Tulosten perusteella Kanban soveltuu käytettäväksi ohjelmistokehityksessä, ohjelmistojen ylläpidossa sekä tuoteportfolion hallinnassa. Kanban tuo näkyvyyttä ohjelmistokehitykseen, niin meneillään olevien tehtävien kuin portfoliotarjoaman osalta. Se myös auttaa rajoittamaan työtehtävien ruuhkautumista ja antaa kehittäjille paremman tavan hallita työtään rajoittamalla työtehtävien vaihtoa. Vaikka Kanbanin käytöllä on mahdollista saavuttaa väitöskirjatutkimuksessa esitettyjä hyötyjä, tulokset osoittavat, että ohjelmistoyrityksillä on haasteita Kanbanin inkrementaalisessa käyttöönotossa.