Background There is a lack of knowledge about how mature Swedish authorities are in their agile work. At one of the Swedish Transport Administration's ICT units, proposals have been submitted to implement the scalable agile framework SAFe. The unit has four development teams that have a regular collaboration with the business side, where users and business-related managers are located. Today, it varies between different development teams how agile you work and the business side generally does not work agile at all. Aim The purpose of the study is to contribute with knowledge about how problems with working methods can be met by SAFe and provide an indication of the agile maturity of the relevant authority through the use of the Gartner model for agile maturity. The model has 6 levels on a scale of 0-5. The study also compiles challenges and recommendations for large-scale agile implementations and places them on a strategic, tactical and operational level. Method Interviews were conducted with three people on ICT and one person on the busi-ness side. A survey was conducted in which 16 of the 27 people at the Unit responded. The literature review found 9 studies with a total of 68 challenges and 67 recommendations from previous large-scale agile implementations. Criteria from the Gartner model were identified at each level and the findings from the data collection were compared against all criteria. Results At the ICT unit, the following areas were identified as challenges: training, auto-mation, collaboration with the business, commissioning, collaboration between teams, and workload. The literature study's findings of the most common challenges and recommendations at each level are: Strategic level - Challenge: inappropriate agile implementation method. Recommendation: develop an integrated, agile concept; Tactical level - Challenge: agile introduction from above creates resistance. Recommendation: ensure support from management; Operational level - Challenge: general resistance to change and Lack of education. Recommendation: offer training in agile methods. Conclusions SAFe could meet most of the unit's challenges, with the exception of "training" which is not met by any of SAFE's components. Based on the Gartner model foragile maturity, the unit was placed at level 2. In an agile introduction, the unit can take advantage of the literature study's challenges and recommendations. The result is interesting for organizations that are considering introducing a large-scale agile framework.

As the practice of software engineering matures, project teams are leveraging the expertise of those with a background in other disciplines such as user experience. This multidisciplinary collaboration has implications on how user experience is incorporated into the software they produce. It also has consequences for the interaction within the team. This research aims to address the implications and consequences by explaining and evaluating the impact of socio-cognitive factors and governance forms on agile user experience software teams. The objective is to support multidisciplinary agile user experience software teams in managing their interaction as a means to improving how user experience knowledge is managed. Results from a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) were that: a combination of trust and shared meaning are associated with the impediment of knowledge construction and dissemination; a combination of lead governance, trust, and shared meaning are associated with knowledge dissemination; and a combination of lead governance and shared meaning are associated with the impediment of knowledge use. Review from an expert review of the Team Interaction Framework were that there are benefits to using the framework and ways to ease it use, but also limitations and anticipated challenges to its application. The findings from this research suggest that each theoretical component of the framework is relevant, but it is unclear whether the structural dimension is useful when studying agile user experience teams given environment similarity across teams. The contributions of this research are the Team Interaction Framework as a guide to evaluating the social interaction in agile user experience teams, a method for assessing the social interaction in agile user experience teams via a Team Interaction Assessment, and lightweight practices for improving the social interaction in these teams. / Ph. D.

Agile development methodologies are becoming increasingly popular because they address many risks of software development through things such as quick delivery of working software and responsiveness to change. As agile organizations have begun to develop more user interface-intensive systems, they understand the value and need to design more usable systems. The fields of usability engineering and human-computer interaction are focused on exploring how people interact with computer systems. However, much of this work is inaccessible to agile practitioners because it does not align with core agile values and because there has not been adequate transfer of knowledge between practice and academia. This motivated my creation of the eXtreme Scenario-Based Design (XSBD) process, an integrated agile usability approach. XSBD provides key usability benefits of the scenario-based design (SBD) approach (an established usability engineering process) and is compatible with an agile development framework modeled on leading agile processes like XP and Scrum. XSBD was designed for use in projects in which a large part of the overall system quality is determined by system usability. This requires close communication and coordination of the disparate usability and agile development work practices. A core aspect of XSBD is the central design record (CDR), which is the shared design representation that guides usability design. It tightly couples usability evaluation results to design features and high level project goals, allowing the usability engineer to leverage key benefits of traditional SBD while working in an agile framework. I began developing XSBD at Virginia Tech, evaluating it through several student-led development efforts. To improve and demonstrate the applicability of XSBD in practice, I partnered with Meridium, Inc., a software and services company. Using an action research case study method, I worked with several development teams there who used XSBD to develop products. This directly linked usability and HCI research to practice, allowing me to demonstrate XSBD's utility in practice while evaluating it from a theoretical perspective. The results of this work suggest several avenues for further work both to increase its adoption in practice and to link to existing HCI research efforts such as design rationale and knowledge reuse. / Ph. D.

Compared to traditional project management methods, agile methods are new. The use of project work keeps increasing, including the number of projects, with varying characteristics. In a world with a growing speed of change and with growing demands, there’s a need for adjustment, something which agile methods offer. However, agile methods are not suitable for all types of projects. The aim of the study was to broaden the understanding of what motivates implementation and usage of agile methods in projects and operations, challenges and advantages that can emerge through implementation and usage of agile methods, and if expectations of agile methods were confirmed. The study was qualitative and was made through semi-structured interviews, which were recorded and later transcribed. Collected data was analyzed based on thematic qualitative analysis. A total of three analyses were made - one per research question. All together the three analyses resulted in a total of thirteen themes. Motives for working agile varied, whereas primary motives for implementing and working with agile methods were increased efficiency, increased participation, and increased visualization of work. During on-going implementation, knowledge and training was crucial, including management, employees and customers. Agile methods were adjusted to reality and operations. Customers wanted to take part in working with agile methods, while their knowledge was inadequate. Expectations that existed before the implementation were confirmed. Agile methods hold what it promises.

The agile manifesto has certainly changed the way software is produced in the Information Communications Technology (ICT) industry. However, many persistent challenges cripple agile software development. One challenge is that the constant change in technology makes the requirements hard to implement. Another is that issues of the agile requirements engineering (ARE) process are abundant and pervasive throughout software projects. The aim of this study is to determine common issues in agile requirements engineering in the South African software industry and identify tools and frameworks to mitigate risks emanating from such problems. This includes finding out how much value software practitioners put in the agile principles. This study was essentially quantitative, based on a cross-sectional survey. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect required data which was then subjected to exploratory data analysis using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), a tool for statistical analysis. The results show that software practitioners have a strong penchant for principles of the Agile Manifesto. Major issues in agile requirements engineering include lack of proper validation tools and techniques, scope problems, lack of proper documentation, issues of prioritisation, as well as unavailability of customer representative. A detailed baseline of issues in agile requirements engineering was created along with a set of recommended tools and techniques used in the software industry. As for the recommendation, it is suggested that companies invest more on validation tools and techniques and consider non-functional requirements integration during software development. / School of Computing / M. Sc. (Computing)

Sverige har som mål att bli bäst i världen på att nyttja digitaliseringens möjligheter för att skapa effektiv verksamhet i offentlig sektor och en enklare vardag för privatpersoner och företag. År 2017 spenderades 59 miljarder svenska kronor på att digitalisera Sverige med hjälp av externa aktörer. Trots miljardsatsningen är Sveriges utvecklingstakt långsam i jämförelse med flera andra länder i Europa. Svenska myndigheten Riksrevisionen har dessutom identifierat att IT-projekt ofta drar över budget och konstaterar att offentliga verksamheter måste effektivisera sin IT-verksamhet. IT-projekt, inte bara i offentlig sektor, har visat en trend på att dra över budget eller tid och i ett försök att möta denna problematik har den agila filosofin och olika agila projektmodeller vuxit fram. Det agila projektförfarandet har överlag haft en positiv påverkan på IT-projekt och har anammats i en högre utsträckning i den privata sektorn än den offentliga sektorn.  Då det läggs flera miljarder på upphandlingar av IT har vi sett det som viktigt att samverkan med extern part fungerar bra och att projekten effektiviseras. Eftersom den agila projektmodellen visat sig ha en positiv påverkan på IT-projekt har denna studie därför undersökt vilka förutsättningar som finns för att driva IT-projekt agilt mot offentlig sektor. Upphandlingsprocessen och hur den påverkar möjligheten att tillämpa en agil projektmodell har fått särskilt mycket uppmärksamhet i vår studie då lagen om offentlig upphandling (SFS 2016:1145) innebär att den kravspecifikation som skrivs av den upphandlande parten blir svårföränderlig. I vår fallstudie har vi undersökt ett implementationsprojekt i en offentlig verksamhet som drivits med en agil ansats av en extern leverantör i privat sektor. Genom att intervjua respondenter på leverantören, som var involverade i projektet, har vi tillämpat ett leverantörsperspektiv i vår undersökning för att kartlägga upplevda utmaningar i projekt mot offentlig verksamhet. Utifrån empirin har vi kommit fram till att upphandlingsförfarandet lett till att det uppstått (1) utmaningar vid ändring kravspecifikation och att bevisa uppfyllelse av krav, (2) kommunikationssvårigheter mellan Kunden och Leverantören gällande krav och (3) upplevd bristande förståelse för kraven av kunden. Vissa organisatoriska karaktärsdrag för offentlig verksamhet har också identifierats som bidragande till kommunikationssvårigheter mellan Kunden och Leverantören gällande krav. Den agila filosofin förespråkar ett nära samarbete med intressenter och förutsätter förändringar av kravspecifikationen genomgående i projektet. Slutsatsen är således att upphandlingsprocessen, i det studerade projektet, har påverkat möjligheterna för att driva IT-projekt agilt. / Sweden has the goal of becoming best in the world of utilizing the possibilities created by digitalization to create an effective public sector and an easier everyday life for individuals and companies. During 2017, Sweden spent roughly 59 billion Swedish crowns on digitalization with help of external actors. Although these billions of Swedish crowns are spent, the country’s development pace is slower than other European countries. The Swedish authority Riksrevisionen has conducted an audit where they have identified that IT-projects often runs over budget and states that the public sector must streamline its use and procurement of IT. IT-projects have shown a trend of budget overruns and not meeting deadlines, not only in the public sector. In an attempt to turn the trend, the agile philosophy and different agile project models was formed. The agile approach has overall had a positive effect on IT-project and has been embraced in the private sector to a larger degree than the public sector. We see cooperation between external supplier and the actor procuring information systems as well as the streamlining of IT-projects as a critical aspect of the Swedish digitalization. Since the agile approach has shown positive effects of IT-projects, this study has aimed to examine what prerequisites are present in the public sector for running projects in accordance of the agile philosophy. The procurement process and how it affects these prerequisites has received a lot of focus since the procurement law (SFS: 2016:1145) in Sweden implicates that the requirement specification, created by the contracting actor, is difficult to change. In our case study, we have examined an implementation project in the public sector, led by an information system supplier in the private sector. We gathered qualitative data by interviewing employees of the supplier, involved in the project, effectively applying a supplier perspective to map perceived challenges in delivering information systems to the public sector. From the qualitative data we concluded that the procurement process has led to (1) difficulties with changing the requirement specification and proving fulfilment of requirements, (2) communication challenges between the customer and the supplier regarding requirements and (3) experienced lack of comprehension of requirements by the customer. Some organizational characteristics for the public sector have also been identified as a possible cause of communication challenges. The agile philosophy advocates close collaboration with stakeholders and expects changes to the requirement specification throughout the project. The conclusion is thus that the procurement process, in the studied project, has affected the prerequisites to run a project with an agile approach in a negative way.

A crescente procura por software de qualidade vem causando grande pressão sobre as empresas que trabalham com desenvolvimento de software. As entregas de produtos de software dentro do prazo e custo previstos vêm se tornando, a cada dia, um diferencial importante nesse ramo de atividade. Nesse sentido, as empresas procuram por metodologias que propiciem o desenvolvimento de produtos com qualidade, e que respeitem o custo e prazo previstos. Em resposta a essas necessidades, surgiu uma nova classe de metodologias de desenvolvimento de software, conhecidas como metodologias ágeis. Este trabalho apresenta um estudo realizado sobre as principais características existentes nessa nova classe de metodologias. Uma análise permitiu a identificação de semelhanças e diferenças existentes entre elas, o que possibilitou a criação de um modelo de referência para o desenvolvimento ágil de software. O modelo foi utilizado em uma avaliação de processo baseada no modelo de avaliação da ISO/IEC 15504. A avaliação permitiu a identificação de forças e fraquezas no processo avaliado e possibilitou a definição de ações de melhoria para que o processo avaliado se assemelhasse à um processo de desenvolvimento ágil. Palavra-chave: Metodologia ágil de desenvolvimento. Modelo de referência. Processo de desenvolvimento de software. Avaliação de processo de software / The vast demand for software with quality is causing a great pressure on the companies which work with software development. The delivery of software products within the schedule and cost is becoming, every day, an important issue in this area. Therefore, companies are seeking for methodologies to develop products with quality, within the timetable and the cost. Considering these needs, it became a new class of software development methodologies, known as agile methodologies. This research shows a work done upon the main existing characteristics in this new class of methodologies. An analysis allowed the identification of the existing similarities and differences among them, which it made possible to create a new reference model for agile software development. The agile model was used in process assessment based on assessment model from ISO/IEC 15504. The assessment alowed a identification of power and weakness on the process and alowed a definition of improvement action to the process with the intention of to approach the agile development process

面對日趨活躍的跨領域互動潮流與日益縮短的產品生命週期及市場反應時間等三項因素，全球產業普遍面臨越來越嚴峻的競爭環境，企業因應變化和不確定性的挑戰越來越大。在這種情況下，企業為了能夠持續存活及維繫本身的競生優勢，他們必須要用一種更為敏捷的方式來回應環境中的變化和不確定性。敏捷策略代表的就是一種將「從市場上取得的訊息回饋並融入到公司的價值鏈內」的策略，它的目的是讓企業能夠更迅速調整自身的資源來回應市場的狀況。儘管目前對敏捷策略有許多不同的看法，但實際上「敏捷」所代表的意義仍然找不到一個如同「精實生產」一樣具體而明確的說法。本研究建立於個案研究的基礎之上，來找出企業在面對不同的競爭條件以及產業條件之下所會採用的敏捷策略的模式及作法。 研究發現，即便是被認為敏捷範例的企業，它們仍然不一定全方位的採行敏捷策略。公司根據企業在管理上的複雜度，選擇專注於商業環境中的特定面向來導入敏捷作為。本研究發現，所有個案公司在四個敏捷面向中至少採行其中兩個面向。首先，內部組織和文化面向皆調整為允許並提升靈活性和適應性。接著，公司透過調整經營和生產面向來相增加企業的靈活性和適應性。除了調整內部的運作之外，這些公司會依據公司的核心優勢或是在其他面向管理的複雜度來決定應該處理哪一個外部運作面向。本研究發現當企業面臨複雜的供應網絡時，他們會嘗試將資源分配來跟合作夥伴建立敏捷關係;另外，只有企業只有在必須直接及快速面對並回應快速變化的客戶或市場的需求時，他們才會將資源分配以便能夠敏捷地將客戶的聲音和市場的訊息融入產品或服務。 / As global business environment is experiencing much fiercer competitions from the increased interactions across country and industry boundaries, shorter product life cycle, shorter respond time, more variation and uncertainties are becoming major challenges to corporations nowadays. The increased competition forces companies to react to changes and uncertainties in an agile way, in terms of connecting resources internally and externally, in order to survive and to sustain their competitive advantages. Agility represents a strategy for companies to integrate information on the market into their value chain, making it easier and faster for the companies to leverage their resources and capabilities to respond to market situations in a quick manner. Despite the evolvement of different agility viewpoints, the concept of agility has yet to be solidly defines as it has been done on such concepts as lean manufacturing. On the basis of a multiple case study, this paper aims to identify the ways companies could adapt the agility strategy under different competitive circumstances based on the companies’ and their corresponding industries’ situation. The study finds that even companies recognized as agile examples are not performing all-around comprehensive across all aspects of agility. Companies choose to concentrate on specific agility dimensions based on the companies’ actual complications managing the business environment. However, commonalities exist when all case companies are found to perform practice agilely in two of the four dimensions. The internal organization and culture dimension is adjusted to allow flexibility and adaptability. Furthermore, the companies increase the companies’ versatility and adjustability by adjusting the operations and manufacturing dimension. On top of the adjusted internal operation, the companies should then decide to focus on the external environment that is complicated to manage or is fatally related to the companies’ core competencies. It is found only companies with complicated supply network would attempt to allocate resources into establishing agile relationship with their partners; and only companies with direct pressure to react to fast changing customer or market demand would allocate resources into agilely adapting customers’ voices and/or market information into their products or services.

As the world of business changes at a pace higher than ever before, there is an increased need for organizations to rapidly adapt and respond to these internal and external changes, whether they are technological, political, social or environmental. In management, agility is a term frequently used today in response to this new business environment, which often includes the use of agile methodologies for product development. As organizations adopt agile methodologies, old traditional management and leadership models fade. This void is being filled by new and emerging agile leadership models. Additionally, self-organizing and cross-functional teams become key concepts. All these transformations are bound to culminate in a considerable alteration in the role of the manager. This study examines the new role of the manager in an organization transitioning to agile. To answer the research questions, changes in the key work activities of the manager were evaluated, as well as how changes in interplay and interaction between the manager and the group could affect the role. Furthermore, the aim was also to identify some of the main challenges and barriers that arise. This was studied qualitatively through a literature review. Also, a case study was conducted at the software development department at Scania AB, where ten managers and one employee was interviewed. A survey was also sent out to the group members at this department, with 150 respondents. Findings indicated that most work activities did not change. Some of them changed in character due to introducing an agile method and due to internal, structural changes. In one case, the work focus shifted from one activity to another. In the interplay with the group, the manager now has new roles to consider, while his role becomes more of an empowerer and meets new leadership models. With this organizational change, there are also new opportunities of delegating work activities to a higher extent. The main challenges that were identified regarded communication and coordination, control, and mastering agile methods. / Affärsvärlden möter förändringar i en allt snabbare takt än tidigare, varför organisationer måste bemöta och förhålla sig till både de interna och externa förändringar som sker, vare sig dessa är teknologiska, politiska, sociala eller miljömässiga. Inom ledarskap används idag termen agilt allt mer, som svar på detta nya affärsklimat, vilket ofta inkluderar användandet av agila metoder inom produktutveckling. Då allt fler organisationer inför användandet av agila metoder, tappar också de traditionella ledarskapsmodellerna sin roll. Detta gap som uppstår har kommit att fyllas av nya agila ledarskapsmodeller. Vidare blir också självstyrande och tvärfunktionella grupper viktiga koncept. Dessa förändringar medför en avsevärd förändring av chefsrollen. Denna studie undersöker hur chefsrollen förändras i en organisationen som blir allt mer agil. För att svara på forskningsfrågorna undersöktes hur huvudarbetsuppgifterna förändrats, men också hur förändringar i samspelet och interaktionen mellan chefen och gruppen kan komma att påverka chefsrollen. Vidare undersöktes också vilka huvudsakliga utmaningar och hinder som uppstod. En kvalitativ litteraturstudie utfördes i studien. Också en fallstudie på avdelningen för mjukvaruutveckling på Scania AB utfördes, där tio gruppchefer och en annan anställd intervjuades. En undersöknings skickades också ut till gruppmedlemmar på denna avdelningar, med totalt 150 svar.Resultatet påvisade att de flesta arbetsuppgifter inte förändrades. Vissa av dessa förändrades i karaktär och i utförandet, till följd av införandet av en agil metod och strukturella förändringar i företaget. I ett fall skiftade arbetsfokus från en arbetsuppgift till en annan. I samspelet mellan chef och grupp har nu chefen nya roller att ta hänsyn till. Chefens roll blir mer av en facilitator, där nya ledarskapsmodeller också står till mötes. Chefen har också större möjligheter till delegering av arbetsuppgifter än tidigare. De utmaningar som identifierades rörde kommunikation och koordination, kontroll, och hanteringen av agila metoder.

A crescente procura por software de qualidade vem causando grande pressão sobre as empresas que trabalham com desenvolvimento de software. As entregas de produtos de software dentro do prazo e custo previstos vêm se tornando, a cada dia, um diferencial importante nesse ramo de atividade. Nesse sentido, as empresas procuram por metodologias que propiciem o desenvolvimento de produtos com qualidade, e que respeitem o custo e prazo previstos. Em resposta a essas necessidades, surgiu uma nova classe de metodologias de desenvolvimento de software, conhecidas como metodologias ágeis. Este trabalho apresenta um estudo realizado sobre as principais características existentes nessa nova classe de metodologias. Uma análise permitiu a identificação de semelhanças e diferenças existentes entre elas, o que possibilitou a criação de um modelo de referência para o desenvolvimento ágil de software. O modelo foi utilizado em uma avaliação de processo baseada no modelo de avaliação da ISO/IEC 15504. A avaliação permitiu a identificação de forças e fraquezas no processo avaliado e possibilitou a definição de ações de melhoria para que o processo avaliado se assemelhasse à um processo de desenvolvimento ágil. Palavra-chave: Metodologia ágil de desenvolvimento. Modelo de referência. Processo de desenvolvimento de software. Avaliação de processo de software / The vast demand for software with quality is causing a great pressure on the companies which work with software development. The delivery of software products within the schedule and cost is becoming, every day, an important issue in this area. Therefore, companies are seeking for methodologies to develop products with quality, within the timetable and the cost. Considering these needs, it became a new class of software development methodologies, known as agile methodologies. This research shows a work done upon the main existing characteristics in this new class of methodologies. An analysis allowed the identification of the existing similarities and differences among them, which it made possible to create a new reference model for agile software development. The agile model was used in process assessment based on assessment model from ISO/IEC 15504. The assessment alowed a identification of power and weakness on the process and alowed a definition of improvement action to the process with the intention of to approach the agile development process