Aims and Objectives: Information Technology (IT) service management has gained importance in the recent years. A service is a means of delivering value to the customers by facilitating outcomes, which customers want to achieve without ownership of the specific costs and risks. As IT services’ efficient execution revolves around its implementation through software management, the need for understanding the relationship between IT service management and software management has become crucial. The aim of this thesis is to explore this relationship. Methodology: We designed this thesis study as an exploratory study. First, a systematic literature review was conducted to explore the role of software engineering in IT service management and the interconnection between them. Then, we performed a case study at Telenor Sweden AB by conducting interviews in order to further investigate the intersecting elements between ITIL v3 Framework, which is an international standard for IT service management and software engineering considering ISO/IEC 12207 standard on software processes. Results: The outcome of this thesis is a mapping between IT service management and software engineering considering ISO/IEC 12207 for software engineering processes and ITIL V3 Framework for IT service management. These mappings have been recommended to use by the case company to incorporate ‘in-house’ software models in line with ITIL V3 Framework implementation. Conclusion: Though ITIL V3 framework gives in depth guidelines for IT Service Management, it does not give sufficient details for managing applications that constitute IT Services. As ITIL V3 is a framework, it is flexible to accommodate the software engineering processes defined in ISO/IEC 12207 standard. Though we brought three-way relationship between ITIL V3, ISO/IEC 12207 and case company’s software process models, it is found out that replacing existing models with ISO/IEC 12207 shall be difficult as it would be two new standards for the employees. The in house software process models are already inspired from standards. In this thesis, we provide a mapping between ITIL V3 and inhouse models of the case company to support the implementation of ITIL V3 for managing software applications to realize IT Services. / The thesis gives mapping between ITIL V3 Framework and ISO/IEC 12207 Software Engineering processes to incorporate them in integrated Service Management and Software Management / +46762509249

This dissertation is original in using the contrasting ideas of two leading 20th century philosophers of science, Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn, to provide a philosophical understanding, firstly, of the shift from traditional software methodologies to the so-called Agile methodologies, and, secondly, of the values, principles and practices underlying the most prominent of the Agile methodologies, Extreme Programming (XP). This dissertation will take a revisionist approach, following Fuller—the founder of social epistemology—in reading Popper against Kuhn's epistemological hegemony. The investigations in this dissertation relate to two main branches of philosophy— epistemology and ethics. The epistemological part of this dissertation compares both Kuhn and Popper's alternative ideas of the development of scientific knowledge to the Agile methodologists' ideas of the development of software, in order to assess the extent to which Agile software development resembles a scientific discipline. The investigations relating to ethics in this dissertation transfer concepts from social engineering—in particular, Popper's distinction between piecemeal and utopian social engineering—to software engineering, in order to assess both the democratic and authoritarian aspects of Agile software development and management. The use of Kuhn's ideas of scientific revolutions and paradigm shift by several leading figures of the Agile software methodologies—most notably, Kent Beck, the leader of the most prominent Agile software methodology, Extreme Programming (XP)—to predict a fundamental shift from traditional to Agile software methodologies, is critically assessed in this dissertation. A systematic investigation into whether Kuhn's theory as a whole, can provide an adequate account of the day-to-day practice of Agile software development is also provided. As an alternative to the use of Kuhn's ideas, the critical rationalist philosophy of Karl Popper is investigated. On the one hand, this dissertation assesses whether the epistemological aspects of Popper's philosophy—especially his notions of falsificationism, evolutionary epistemology, and three worlds metaphysics—provide a suitable framework for understanding the philosophical basis of everyday Agile software development. On the other hand, the aspects of Popper's philosophy relating to ethics, which provide an ideal for scientific practice in an open society, are investigated in order to determine whether they coincide with the avowedly democratic values of Agile software methodologies. The investigations in this dissertation led to the following conclusions. Firstly, Kuhn's ideas are useful in predicting the effects of the full-scale adoption of Agile methodologies, and they describe the way in which several leaders of the Agile methodologies promote their methodologies; they do not, however, account for the detailed methodological practice of Agile software development. Secondly, several aspects of Popper's philosophy, were found to be aligned with several aspects of Agile software development. In relation to epistemology, Popper's principle of falsificationism provides a criterion for understanding the rational and scientific basis of several Agile principles and practices, his evolutionary epistemology resembles the iterative-incremental design approach of Agile methodologies, and his three worlds metaphysical model provides an understanding of both the nature of software, and the approach advocated by the Agile methodologists' of creating and sharing knowledge. In relation to ethics, Popper's notion of an open society provides an understanding of the rational and ethical basis of the values underlying Agile software development and management, as well as the piecemeal adoption of Agile software methodologies. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Computer Science / unrestricted