There are several critical success factors suggested for why agile software development projects succeed, including organisational and process factors. Although there are an increasing number of identified critical success factors, IT professionals lack the modelling techniques and the theoretical framework to help them meaningfully understand their influences. To solve this problem, this study developed a model by employing the following theories: Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to create a fit model for agile software development projects. The research sought to answer the question: What are the critical success factors that influence the success of agile software development projects? The literature review considers the continued failure of agile and traditional software development projects which have led to the consideration of, and dispute over, critical success factors — the aspects most vital to a methodology’s success. Though TRA, TPB and UTAUT have previously been applied to agile methodologies, empirical models have not been completely integrated to develop a fit model. This research sought to fill this gap. Data was collected in South Africa through a web-based survey using structured questionnaires and an interview guide. Face-to-face interviews were done to identify the critical success factors in agile projects. The data was captured and analysed for descriptive statistics, convergent and discriminant validity, composite and internal reliability, and correlation in order to inform the structural equation modelling (SEM). SEM was used to test the research model and hypotheses to answer the research questions. The results informed development of a comprehensive model that could provide guidelines to the agile community. The study contributes towards understanding the critical success factors for agile projects. It examined direct, indirect and moderating effects, and the findings contribute towards developing a framework to be used by agile professionals. These key result shows that organisational factors have a great influence on performance expectancy characteristics. To ensure success of agile projects, managers are advised to focus on the effect of the organisation’s environment, culture and policies on performance and effort expectancy. / School of Computing / Ph. D. (Computer Science)

The thesis "Extending the methodology MMSP in test analysis and design" characterizes the discipline of test analysis and design carried out by its inclusion in the Methodology for small software projects (MMSP). The theoretical part defines the concept of discipline Test analysis and design and characterizes its role in the context of software testing and use in developing software products. It also analyzes attitude of commonly known models and methodologies of software development, certification, standards and norms in testing methodology including MMSP to the analytical activities in the field of testing. The practical part describes the methodology MMSP extension by discipline Test analysis and design, which allows the use of this discipline even on small projects developing uncritical IS/ICT solutions, which previously was not possible. Discipline Test analysis and design expands MMSP at considerable amount of analytical activities in the area of testing. Extending the methodology MMSP includes the introduction of new role Test analyst, modification of existing roles, the introduction of new products and descriptions of the recommended testing techniques and test design.

Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2017-08-04T15:30:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Daniel de Lima Pires.pdf: 2531713 bytes, checksum: a3a021ded760a9272ed689161eec2e85 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-04T15:30:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Daniel de Lima Pires.pdf: 2531713 bytes, checksum: a3a021ded760a9272ed689161eec2e85 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-15 / Software projects are increasingly prominent in today's organizational environment. Its use refers to increased efficiency, improvements in products and services, and also the technological strategy of organizations. They are technically complex, do not have physical limitations and are intangible, nevertheless they are very ambitious and surrounded by uncertainties. Software projects teams must deal with a large amount of information, in addition to making intensive use of knowledge of several areas simultaneously, and also must be skilled in communicating and coordinating their actions. In this dissertation, a quantitative approach research using Structural Equation Modeling with Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM) was carried out to evaluate the relationship between Teamwork quality and software projects success. The Teamwork quality is a construct that allows measuring the internal collaboration of the team within six dimensions: mutual support, contribution balancing, cohesion, communication, coordination and effort. Software projects success is a widely studied construct in the scientific literature, and in this dissertation was considered as composed of efficiency, impact on the consumer and impact on the team. The result obtained showed that the Teamwork quality exerts considerable influence on the software projects success, corroborating the results of previous academic research, and generating the knowledge that the collaboration should be fostered by the organizations in software development teams. In addition, as a contribution to practice, a model was proposed to evaluate the software project teams teamwork quality, aiming to increase the internal collaboration of the project team and, consequently, the success of the software project. / Projetos de software são cada vez mais expoentes no atual ambiente organizacional. Seu uso remete ao aumento da eficiência, melhorias em produtos e serviços, e também a estratégia tecnológica das organizações. São tecnicamente complexos, sem limitações físicas e intangíveis, não obstante são muito ambiciosos e cercados de incertezas. Assim, as equipes de projetos de software devem lidar com uma grande quantidade de informações, além de fazerem uso intensivo do conhecimento de várias áreas simultaneamente, e por isso devem ser hábeis na comunicação e coordenação de suas ações. Nesta dissertação foi realizada uma pesquisa com abordagem quantitativa utilizando Modelagem de Equações Estruturais com Mínimos Quadrados Parciais (PLS-SEM) para testar a relação da Qualidade do trabalho em equipe com o Sucesso dos projetos de software. A Qualidade do trabalho em equipe é um construto que permite mensurar a colaboração interna da equipe a partir de seis dimensões: apoio mútuo, balanceamento de contribuições, coesão, comunicação, coordenação e esforço. O Sucesso em projetos de software é um construto amplamente estudado na literatura científica, e nesta dissertação foram consideradas as dimensões: eficiência, impacto no consumidor e impacto na equipe do projeto. O resultado obtido mostrou que a Qualidade do trabalho em equipe exerce influência considerável no Sucesso dos projetos de software, corroborando os resultados de pesquisas acadêmicas anteriores, e gerando o conhecimento de que a colaboração deve ser fomentada pelas organizações nas equipes de desenvolvimento de software. Adicionalmente foi proposto, como contribuição para prática, um modelo para avaliação da Qualidade do trabalho em equipe para equipes de Projetos de software, visando o aumento da colaboração interna da equipe do projeto e, consequentemente do Sucesso dos projetos de software.

Det blir allt vanligare att arbeta i projekt och därmed finns alltfler mjukvaruutvecklingsmetoder eller ramverk att applicera till projektet. Det är dock fortfarande inte ovanligt att man arbetar metodlöst, vilket kan leda till att oberäknade problem uppstår. En arbetsmetod eller ett metodramverk formar projektet så att man på bästa skall kunna undvika problem samt vara medveten om problem som skulle kunna uppstå. Syftet med den här studien är att ta fram en modell som identifierar problem och dess orsaker och konsekvenser som uppstår i ett mjukvaruutvecklingsprojekt med hjälp av ramverk. Ramverken som används i den här studien är Essence – Kernel and Languages for Software Engineering Methods och Self-Governance Developer Framework. Målet är att den här modellen skall användas av personer inom mjukvaruutveckling för projekt eller forskning. Studien är av kvalitativ natur med induktiv ansats. Det utfördes ett mjukvaruprojekt där teamet arbetade metodlöst och identifierade problem från en uppföljning som gjordes aktivt under projektets arbetsgång. Resultatet av studien är en modell som innebär att man skall kunna hitta orsaker samt konsekvenser till uppstådda problem inom projektet. Modellen som har tagits fram heter Problem-Orsak-Konsekvens-modellen och förkortas POK-modellen. / It is becoming more common to work in projects and therefor there are more and more software development methods to apply for the project. However, it is still not unusual to be working ad hoc, which can lead to uncalculated problems. A method or a framework shapes the project so that problems can be avoided in best possible way. It also helps developers to be aware of the problem that could arise. Despite this, there is no compilation of “anticipated problems” when working ad hoc. The purpose of this study is to produce a model to identify problems, root cause of problems and consequences of the problems that can occur when working in a software development project with the help from frameworks. The frameworks used in this study are Essence – Kernel and Languages for Software Engineering Methods and Self- Governance Developer Framework. The goal is that the model is used in software development environments for projects or research. The study is of qualitative nature with inductive approach. A software project was performed where the team worked without a method and identified problems from a follow-up that was active during the workflow of the project. The result of the study is a model, which should be able to find the source to occurred problems as well as consequence within the project.