<p>Testing in Agile development frameworks has engaged the concentration of software developers throughout the world. The research regarding this testing is however limited. This paper comprises a literature survey study, which intends to categorize and examine the current existing testing frameworks in agile methodology. The comparative study is done with the Test Driven Development (TDD) and Agile Model Driven Development (AMDD) techniques. The results show the benefits and drawbacks of the current existing testing frameworks in agile methodology in general. However many techniques still make every effort to get the general solutions. Basing on our results general ideas are suggested regarding the testing frameworks in agile methodology.</p>

Testing in Agile development frameworks has engaged the concentration of software developers throughout the world. The research regarding this testing is however limited. This paper comprises a literature survey study, which intends to categorize and examine the current existing testing frameworks in agile methodology. The comparative study is done with the Test Driven Development (TDD) and Agile Model Driven Development (AMDD) techniques. The results show the benefits and drawbacks of the current existing testing frameworks in agile methodology in general. However many techniques still make every effort to get the general solutions. Basing on our results general ideas are suggested regarding the testing frameworks in agile methodology.

Global Software Development (GSD) and Agile are two popular software development trends that are gaining in popularity. In addition, more and more organisations are now seeking to engage in agile software development within the GSD context to reap the benefits of both ventures and achieve project success. Hence, agile methodologies adapted to fit the GSD context are commonly termed Global Agile Software Development (GASD) methodologies. However, because of geographical, temporal, and cultural challenges, collaboration is not easily realized in the GASD context. In addition, this work context is characterized by multiple overlapping fields of practice, which further hinder collaboration, and give rise to social challenges. Given the existence of these social challenges, there is a need to further investigate the human-centred aspect of collaboration during GASD. Following an extensive literature review on the application of Scrum and other agile methodologies in GASD between 2006 and 2011, it was noted that there is a lack of understanding of the social conditions giving rise to the social challenges experienced during GASD. It was noted that past studies have instead sought to describe these social challenges and to provide mitigating strategies in the form of best-practices, without detailing and theorising about the social conditions under which these social challenges emerge. One of the objective of the study was thus to investigate the use of Scrum during GASD. In particular, the Scrum process breakdowns experienced during and after Scrum's sprint planning and retrospective meetings were identified. The social conditions under which these breakdowns emerged were investigated in the light of Bourdieu's Theory of Practice. Scrum Process breakdowns were defined as any deviation from an ideal Scrum process (as per the Scrum methodology's guidelines) which yields to the emergence of social challenges, conflict or disagreements in the GASD team. The study was empirical and qualitative in nature and followed the positivist research paradigm. Two case studies, in line with Bonoma (1985)'s "drift" and "design" stages of case study design, were undertaken to investigate the phenomena of interest and answer the research questions. The first case focused on a distributed agile team executing a software project across South Africa (Cape Town) and Brazil (Sao Paulo) while the second case focused on a team executing an agile software project across India (Pune) and South Africa (Durban). The site selection was carefully thought out and the results from the first case informed the second case in order to add more richness in the data being gathered. In both case studies, data was collected through semi-structured interviews, documentation, field notes and direct observation. The underlying theoretical framework employed for the study was the Theory of Practice (Bourdieu, 1990). The study has identified various forms of Scrum process breakdowns occurring during and after sprint planning and retrospective meetings: » Different perceptions about task urgency at the software development sites » Disagreements on the suitability of software engineering practices » Low level of communication openness during meetings involving the whole GASD team compared to internal meetings at the sites » Impromptu changes to user stories' content and priorities » Product Owner's low level of authority » Disagreements on estimation mechanisms » Number of User Stories to be completed during the Sprint Is imposed on the team » Decisions on Scrum process updates not made by the development team » Selective invitation to retrospective meetings In addition, various social conditions were identified as possibly leading to the emergence of these Scrum process breakdowns in the GASD context: » GASD project stakeholders' low level of capital in the joint field » Different beliefs and values because of multiple fields Two theoretical propositions were derived to describe the social conditions and the corresponding Scrum process breakdowns which are likely to emerge under these conditions.

Partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master in Commerce (Information Systems) (Course work) At the School of Economic and Business Sciences University of the Witwatersrand, 2017 / Due to the trite nature of the software development environment, traditional software methodologies are no longer relied on to deliver software products in a timeous manner. As a response to this limitation, the agile manifesto was launched. The manifesto consists of values and principles centred around the self-organising team’s ability to achieve higher productivity, that is, to deliver software products quickly and with a high quality. With the self-organising team at the centre of this phenomenon, this interpretive case study seeks to gain greater insight into the processes and reasons behind this outcome. The site selected for this study is the IT divisions of a South African bank that have adopted Agile as a methodology to deliver software products. The data was collected through semi structured interviews, focused groups and documentation. The data was analysed qualitatively using thematic and content analysis. The framework for enhanced performance in agile software development teams was conceptualised. The conceptualisation was informed by the empirical evidence and the interpretation of findings and literature / XL2018

M.Sc. (Computer Science) / The process that involves creating and altering software systems can be defined as the software development lifecycle. People often use methodologies and methods in order to develop these systems with success factors such as people, processes and technology. The lifecycle is comprised of the following stages: • Planning • Requirements definition • Design • Development • Integration and testing • Installation • Acceptance. The underlying issue in such a lifecycle is that project defects are identified late within the lifecycle and therefore, the process of rectifying these problems becomes costly. Ultimately, an ideal product is one with minimal or zero defects which can be achieved with a software project that prevents or detects defects earlier within the cycle. Release management can be described as the process involving decision-­‐making regarding the implementation and releasing of a software product. A conceptual framework exists which stipulates the stages involved in the development process of a software application. Several models exist that describe the SDLC in different approaches. A philosophy is adopted within the RAD model, known as Agile and is beneficial since it minimises future scope creep and scope changes. Development occurs in shorter intervals. Over and above the stages and values in this methodology, the Agile methodology includes incremental changes which are then captured in the scheduled software releases. The purpose of the research presented in this dissertation is to incorporate findings where large companies with global IT projects can adopt the Agile conceptual framework and to testify whether all types of IT projects will benefit from a frequent release approach to the delivery of the project. Three different projects across a large South African financial institution that specialises in corporate organisation banking and core-­‐banking functionality will be studied and presented as case studies. Release management will also be studied from an organisational perspective with the following banking institution in context. Data will be retrieved by carrying out interviews and surveys with appropriate stakeholders, and therefore, analysed to generate a valid conclusion.

This thesis examines alternative prototyping processes as a means of implementing manufacturing information systems in a small to medium sized batch process manufacturing company. Prototyped IS (Information Systems) ate compared to other systems designed and implemented according to the traditional Systems Development Life Cycle model. Action research is used in conjunction with an IS case study framework. as the strategy to provide a rich analysis of the power, political, organizational and business effects resulting from the prototype implementations. Survey and structured interview methods are used to assess the rate of spread and extent of prototyped versus non prototyped IS applications. Perceptions of IS user managers from both prototyped and non prototyped systems are measured using an IS user satisfaction measurement tool. Alternative manufacturing information systems implementation methodological choices are examined resulting in the identification of three paradigms important to the appropriate selection of implementation methodology dependent on manufacturing environment context: Systems ProblemlLearninglAction (SPLA); Systems Engineering; and Systems Architecture. Prototyping is identified as belonging to the SPLA paradigm characterized by 'soft' systems methodologies orientated to problem solving by an iterative process of learning. Conclusions from this multi-disciplinary research enquiry are that prototyping is a viable implementation methodology with defInite performance improvements over traditional methodologies. A five dimensional framework for prototyping manufacturing information systems is proposed. The five dimensions: IS Strategy; Organizational; User; Business; and Prototyping provide a mechanism (or planning and managing the prototyping process. Recommendations are made for more research to be carried out into the derivation of a structure for the evolutionary prototyping process, for more investigation into the problems of early implementation of prototypes, whilst maintaining technical and quality integrity, and for more field studies to identify potential implementation contexts of the prototypingframework.

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