Context. In recent years Agile has gained lots of importance in the fieldof software development. Many organization and software practitioners hasalready adopted agile practice due to its flexibility in nature. Hence, agiledevelopment methodologies have been replaced to traditional developmentmethods. Agile is a family of several methodologies namely Scrum. eXtremeprogramming (XP) and several others. These several methods areembedded with different set of agile practices for the organizations to adoptand implement for their development process. But there is still a need forempirical research to understand the benefits of implementing the Agilepractices which contributes to the overall success of accomplishment of thesoftware project. Several agile maturity models have been published over adecade but not all of the models have been empirically validated. Hence,additional research in the context of agile maturity is essential and needed. Objectives. This study focus on providing a comprehensive knowledgeon the Agile Maturity Models which help in guiding the organizations regardingthe implementation of Agile practices. There are several maturitymodels published with different set of Agile practices that are recommendedto the industries. The primary aim is to compare the agile maturity maturitymodels and to investigate how the agile practices are implemented inthe industry Later the benefits and limitations faced by the software practitionersdue to implementation of agile practices are identified. Methods. For this particular research an industrial survey was conductedto identify the agile practices that are implemented in the industry. Inaddition, this survey aims at identifying the benefits and limitations of implementingthe agile practices. A literature review is conducted to identifythe order of agile practices recommended from the literature in agile MaturityModels. Results. From the available literature nine Maturity Models have beenextracted with their set of recommended agile practices. Then the resultsfrom the survey and literature are compared and analyzed to see if thereexist any commonalities or differences regarding the implementation of agilepractices in a certain order. From the results of the survey the benefitsand limitations of implementing the Agile practices in a particular order areidentified and reported. Conclusions. The findings from the literature review and the survey resultsin evaluating the agile maturity models regarding the implementationof agile practices.

Context. In recent years there has been observed a significant shift from plan-driven development towards agile, which is considered as a vast improvement to processes. However, it has also been spotted that agile methodologies are hardly ever applied in their pure form. Moreover, hybrid processes as combinations of plan-driven and agile practices emerge. In addition, agile adoption has been reported to result in both: benefits and limitations. Objectives. In this study the following matters are investigated: 1) the commonness of plan driven and agile practices usage, 2) common practices combinations, 3) patterns for agile adoption over time, 4) hybrid development models and 5) the actual effects of agile adoption in terms of benefits and limitations as perceived by practitioners. Methods. The thesis presents an empirical investigation of software development organizations. The objectives are achieved through a targeted survey based on existing evidence and a multidimensional data analysis. The mean for obtaining data is a web-based questionnaire with an interactive board with practices and time indication sliders (to capture applied development models and practices adoption strategies) and hierarchical cumulative voting (to measure the relative significance of benefits and limitations). The data analysis is supported by hierarchical cluster analysis and an extended hierarchical voting analysis framework (EHV-F). Results. In total, 45 practitioners have been successfully surveyed. The commonness of 7 plan-driven and 14 agile practices usage was investigated. The relative significance of agile adoption benefits (32 factors in 10 categories) and limitations (23 factors in 7 categories) was measured with respect to global view (all respondents and perspectives), different agile adoption strategies as well as distinguished development models. Conclusions. It is concluded that agile practices dominate over plan-driven, however, hybrid approaches, being combinations of plan-driven and agile practices, are frequently applied. It is also concluded that some practices are commonly used together since they facilitate each other (e.g. continuous integration with testing which facilitate short iterations and releases). Some agile practices are still unsuccessfully applied and eventually abandoned (e.g. pair programming), what should be further investigated by researchers. Incremental agile adoption strategy was found to be the most beneficial approach. It is also concluded that agile adoption leads first of all to improved quality of working life, increased knowledge transfer and improved verification and validation processes. On the other hand, agile adoption is very demanding since it requires high professional skills from development teams as well as managers. Hence, more resources should be devoted to training on agile for all the parties involved in development. Agile is still commonly considered to be poorly scalable. Moreover, the quality of design with agile methods is not considered as a benefit at all. These areas should be further investigated by researchers.

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For the last decade the IT industry has been transitioning to Agile software development due to the impending need for a more flexible development process. China’s IT industry is growing drastically, but to stay competitive in the global market the Chinese organizations have to constantly adapt and reorient to today’s market needs. The purpose of this study is to determine if Agile methodologies and practices are suitable for the software industry in China. The study describes the fundamentals of Agile software development and analyzes the success factors of Agile adoption. Further analysis of Agile and its relation to culture is conducted, as well as an analysis of China, its national and organizational culture, and its software industry. Several hypothesis regarding potential barriers of Agile adoption in China were constructed to guide the design of the survey questionnaire. In the analysis of the survey data it was concluded that the communication aspect does pose as a barrier for Agile adoption in China, whereas the cognitive, social, organizational culture, competence and recruitment and managerial aspects all are concluded to not be barriers for Agile adoption. The overall result indicates that Agile methodologies are suitable, and should be favorable for the software development organizations in China. / IT-branschen har under det senaste decenniet anammat Agila metoder för att fylla ett behov av en mer flexibel utvecklingsprocess. Kinas IT-industri växer kraftigt, men för att öka sin globala konkurrenskraft måste den utvecklas och ständigt kunna anpassa sig efter marknadens behov. Syftet med denna studie är att avgöra om Agila metoder och arbetssätt är lämpliga för den Kinesiska mjukvaruindustrin. Studien beskriver grunderna i Agil mjukvaruutveckling och analyserar viktiga faktorer vid införandet av Agila metoder. Vidare undersöker den Kinas kultur, organisationskultur samt dess mjukvaruindustri. I studien utformades några hypoteser om möjliga hinder vid anammandet av Agila metoder, som vidare användes för utformandet av en enkätundersökning. I analysen av enkätdata konstaterades det att kommunikationsaspekten är ett hinder, medan de kognitiva, sociala och organisationskulturella aspekterna samt kompetens- och rekryteringsaspekten och organisationsledningsaspekten samtliga ej anses som hinder för införandet av Agila metoder. Slutsatsen är att Agila metoder är lämpliga, och bör adopteras av kinesiska mjukvaruföretag.

Emerging markets, development of new technologies, sustainability policies and change in customer demand are dramatically changing today’s economies. The business environment is more dynamic than ever before. One particular industry that is currently influenced by significant transformational forces is the automotive industry. These transformational forces, such as autonomy, connectivity and electrification, are driving the change towards a future state where shorter lead times and closer customer interaction will be essential in order to satisfy the needs of the changing market. To deal with external changes, organizations are increasingly focusing on agility as a way to gain new forms of competitive advantage. The benefits of agile methods at the team level has inspired the use of agile practices at a larger scale, all the way up to the portfolio level. Project portfolio management (PPM) connects the strategy of the organization with the distribution of resources across projects in the portfolio. There is little empirical evidence on the agile methods performed in PPM, thus of interest to study. Due to the high complexity at the portfolio level, it becomes increasingly difficult to scale agile methods. This thesis is based on a single-case study within the automotive industry to gain a better understanding of how a mature automotive company can manage the agile scalability to become more agile in their project portfolio management. An abductive approach was applied with gathering methods comprising interviews, documents and observations. The results of this thesis highlight the major deficiencies with the case company’s current PPM, as well as their performance in scaling agile. / Tillväxtmarknader, utveckling av ny teknik, hållbarhetspolitik samt förändring av kundkrav påverkar dagens ekonomi dramatiskt. Affärsmarknaden är mer dynamisk än någonsin tidigare. En viss industri som för närvarande påverkas av bemärkta förändringar är fordonsindustrin. Trender som autonomi, elektrifiering och uppkopplade fordon driver förändringen mot ett framtida tillstånd där kortare ledtider och närmare kundinteraktion kommer att vara nödvändiga för att tillgodose marknadsbehoven. För att hantera externa förändringar fokuserar organisationer alltmer på att arbeta agilt. Fördelarna som agila metoder har på teamnivå har inspirerat användningen av dem på en större skala, hela vägen upp till portföljnivå. Projektportföljstyrning (PPM) förenar organisationens strategi med fördelningen av resurser på projekt i portföljen. Det existerar lite empiriskt bevis på användandet av agila metoder på portföljnivå, därav intresse att studera. Den höga komplexitet som portföljnivån utgör gör det svårare att skala upp agila arbetssätt. Denna avhandling bygger på en fallstudie inom fordonsindustrin för att skapa en bättre förståelse för hur ett moget fordonsföretag hanterar den agila skalbarheten för att bli mer agila i sin portföljstyrning. En abduktiv metod användes med datainsamlingsmetoder som omfattade intervjuer, dokument och observationer. Resultatet av denna avhandling belyser bristerna med företagets nuvarande PPM, samt deras prestanda i agil skalbarhet.

Agile has been a methodology practiced with a significant scope, around the globe. The subject has been dealt with globally for some time now, producing a large databank of literature explaining its different tools and techniques, along with its usage. Ironically, the success rates of projects that have implemented Agile have been low, as they tend to face several challenges during the implementation process. The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyse knowledge, attitudes and behaviours towards change activities and Agile practices. To reach this objective, I will explore and analyse the understanding of the Agile mindset and investigate the potential contribution of positive psychology (AI) to address Agile adoption challenges within organizations and teams. The data collection process includes interviews with eight domain experts from India, Sweden and the Netherlands to essentially get an insight into their understanding and approach towards Agile, Appreciate Inquiry (AI) and Change management practices. The thematic analysis approach has been used to connect the findings with theory and detect themes. By ‘themes’ we mean: why we need Agile; the challenges and solutions for Agile; appreciative inquiry contribution towards Agile; and change as business-as-usual. The interviews and analysis yielded interesting insights; for instance, it showed that the informants often suffered from challenges due to various reasons, like understanding of this ‘unique’ methodology, one’s mindset and lack of leadership support.

While agile methods are old news amongst teams and within the field of software development, the interest of entire organisations to become agile is growing. In the process of adopting agile methods, there are several commonly known success factors and challenges for organisations to take into consideration which would ease the transformation.   Previous studies on success factors and challenges during the agile transformation have been focused on the experience of the organisation or the human resource aspect of agile. The majority of existing theory on the topic has outlined the agile transformation based on single organisational case studies, or in quantifying manors. It is however known that agile coaches carry some significance for successful transformations but the research area is lagging in the understanding of their particular role for organisational agile.  This study focuses on the experience of the agile coach of success factors and challenges and their role in assisting the organisations during the agile transformation. Through a qualitative interpretivist approach, this thesis sat out to understand the agile coaches perception of success factors and challenges and consequently their role in agile transformations. By semi-structured interviews, data was collected and later analysed thematically to find meanings and patterns among the agile coaches of their perception and contribution to successful transformations.   By studying the agile transformation from the perspective of agile coaches, this thesis (1) contributes to broadening the research area with more knowledge about the agile coach as a profession, (2) nuancing the picture of success factors and challenges linked to agile transformations through the new perspective of agile coaches, and to (3) provide new insight to this yet, underexplored area of agile coaches within the research field of organisational agile.

Productivity improvement in the software industry is one of the major challenges facing many software development companies in this century. Most companies have adopted agile methodologies in order to profit from the benefits claimed for them. Agile methodologies are characterised by frequent software delivery, short feedback loops, quicker response to change, and problem identification earlier in the development process. The agile approach has been recognised as paving a way for companies to acquire higher software productivity, delivering good-quality and cost-effective software, enabling software development companies to respond to business challenges with their demands for high quality, high performance and high development speed in delivering the final product. For companies that adopt agile methodologies, understanding the factors that influence their teams’ software development productivity is a challenging task for management and practitioners today. In this research, an analysis is presented that identifies productivity factors that affect agile teams. It is a study of agile methods to identify common agile practices and/or values that have impact on productivity, and describes suitable metrics that could be used to measure agile team productivity. A qualitative research approach was used, and the case study was chosen as the research strategy. Two South African companies that are located in two different provinces and that adopted agile methodologies in their software development, were selected for the case studies. Qualitative content analysis was used in the research to permit subjective interpretation of factors that influence agile team productivity, and to analyse to what extent these factors affected productivity. This research has shown that an understanding of the factors that influence an agile team’s productivity gives significant insight into the way agile teams work, motivates team members to work together, and leads to uniform metrics in tracking each team’s progress. The study indicates that tracking an agile team’s work and providing adequate tools needed to execute their tasks results in improving agile team productivity. It should be recognised that using metrics to measure performance in agile teams is helpful in creating a team’s culture and trust. In this study, it was found that the factors identified in both literature and case studies affected productivity in the two companies under study, both positively and negatively. The study also found that applying the correct metrics in assessing, analysing and reviewing an agile team’s performance is important when monitoring productivity. Successful software delivery is only possible if individuals are committed to their work, are provided with the necessary tools and have access to a stable working environment. In addition, individual factors such as knowledge, skills, abilities, personalities and experience should be considered when forming agile teams. Consideration of these factors will result in grouping people that are able to work together and achieve a common goal, which is important in improving productivity. A conceptual framework for agile team productivity was proposed. The discussion of the findings is presented in more detail in this research. / School of Computing / M.Sc. (Computing)

Avec l'apparition de nouveaux standards, les nouveaux systèmes de télécommunication doivent être en mesure de faire cohabiter différentes normes sur une même antenne, de diminuer les interférences avec d’autres utilisateurs, d'améliorer le débit des transmissions, d'éviter les phénomènes d'évanouissements, d'assurer une meilleure efficacité dans la réception du signal... Afin de s'adapter avec un tel environnement évolutif et variable avec un minimum d'encombrement et de complexité, les antennes agiles en fréquence, en diagrammes de rayonnement et en polarisation ont été déployées. Le développement des composants actifs tels que les diodes PIN, les diodes varicaps et les MEMS, utilisés pour produire l'agilité, a facilité l'évolution rapide de ces antennes.Les travaux menées dans le cadre de cette thèse s'inscrivent dans ce contexte. Nous nous sommes intéressé à l'étude et la conception de nouvelles topologies d'antennes agiles.Nous avons essayé tout d'abord de définir le concept d'antenne agile et d'identifier les différentes techniques de reconfigurabilité avant de proposer une classification des antennes agiles en fonction de la fonctionnalité proposée, à savoir l'agilité en fréquence, en diagrammes de rayonnement et en polarisation.Les travaux présentés dans ce mémoire sont principalement axés sur l'étude de chacune de ces fonctionnalités. En effet, plusieurs topologies d'antennes ont été étudiées et expérimentalement caractérisés:- Une antenne carré multi bande avec fente fractale capable de commuter entre quinze bandes de fréquences de 0.5 à 6 GHz.- Une antenne elliptique ULB à rejet de bandes reconfigurable fonctionnant de 0.76 à 6 GHz.- Une antenne dipôle constitué de deux boucles circulaires identiques capables de piloter son diagramme de rayonnement dans trois directions différentes à 1.54 GHz.- Un dipôle avec réflecteurs et directeurs fonctionnant en trois modes, capable de rediriger son diagramme de rayonnement dans une direction privilégiée tout en modifiant l’angle d’ouverture du faisceau rayonné.- Une antenne à double boucles rectangulaires capable de commuter entre une polarisation linéaire à 1.54 GHz ou à 1.63 GHz, une polarisation circulaire droite et une polarisation circulaire gauche.Le choix de la technique de reconfigurabilité est les dicté par besoins de l’application visée. / With the emergence of new standards, new telecommunication systems must be able to cohabit different standards on the same antenna, to reduce interference with other users, improve the flow of communications, avoid the detrimental fading loss, ensure greater efficiency in the signal reception ... In order to adapt with such evolving and changing environment with minimal congestion and complexity, antennas with agile frequency, radiation patterns and polarization properties have been deployed. The development of active components such as PIN diodes, varactors diodes and MEMS switches used to produce agility, facilitated the rapid development of these antennas.Works carried out during this thesis fit into this context. We are interested in the study and design of new topologies of agile antennas.We tried at first to define the concept of agile antenna and identify the different techniques of agility before proposing a classification of agile antennas based on the proposed feature, namely agility in frequency, radiation patterns and polarization.Works presented in this thesis are mainly focused on the study of each of these features. Indeed, several topologies have been studied and experimentally characterized:- A square multiband antenna with fractal slot able to switch between fifteen frequency bands from 0.5 to 6 GHz.- An elliptical UWB antenna with reconfigurable rejection bands operating from 0.76 to 6 GHz.- A dipole antenna consists of two identical circular loops able to tilt its radiation pattern in three different directions at 1.54 GHz.- A dipole with reflectors and directors, working in three modes, able to steer its radiation pattern in a different direction while changing the opening angle of the radiated beam.- Rectangular bi-loop single-feed antenna able to toggle either between Linear Polarization (LP) and Circular Polarization (CP) or between two CP (Right Hand (RHCP) and Left Hand Circular Polarization (LHCP).The choice of used agility technique is dictated by needs of the targeted application.

In recent years, product development organizations have started adopting agile methods beyond its intended application on software development as part of organizational aspirations to increase market responsiveness and decrease lead times. Such extended adoption of agile is now commonly known as large-scale agile transformation, yet case studies and research-based guidance on implementing agile at scale is scarce. Available literature lists several general challenges and success factors surfacing during the full course of transformation. This thesis aims to complement existing research through investigating critical factors of a large-scale transformation specifically at early stages of agile adoption. This is performed by applying Laanti's agile maturity model and Roger's innovation adoption theory to a case study of a large fintech company who recently initiated their transformation. Although many of the general challenges discovered were proven to appear even at early stages of adoption, we found four factors particularly important for early-stage adoption of large-scale agile, namely 1) having agile support tailored to team maturity, 2) involving project managers in agile coaching, 3) breaking down silo barriers and 4) developing agile customer contracts. In addition to the critical factors found, we propose an extension to Roger's adoption model in cases when external stakeholders are believed to be affected by the adoption of an innovation. Further studies on early-stage adoption of large-scale agile are required to confirm our conclusions. / Som ett led i att öka marknadsresponsivitet och minska ledtider, har det idag blivit alltmer vanligt för organisationer som utvecklar produkter att applicera agila arbetssätt utanför mjukvaruutveckling. En sådan utökad adoption av agile kallas för storskalig agile transformation. Fallstudier och forskningsbaserade råd för implementering av agile i stor skala är fortfarande få. Syftet med denna studie är att bidra till och komplettera existerande forskning genom att utforska kritiska faktorer för storskaliga agila transformationer i ett tidigt adoptionsstadie. Detta görs genom att applicera och kombinera Laanti's agila mognadsmodell och Roger's teori om innovationsadoption i en fallstudie på ett stort fintech-företag som nyligen initierade sin agila transformation. Fyra kritiska faktorer specifika för tidigaadoptionsstadier identifierades, närmare bestämt vikten av att 1) anpassa agila stödfunktioner till varje teams agila mognad, 2) involvera projektledare i agile coachning, 3) bryta ner silobarriärer mellan funktioner och 4) utveckla agila kundkontrakt. Dessutom föreslår vi en utökning av Roger's innovationsegenskaper för värdering av potentiell adoptionsframgång av innovationer som påverkar externa intressenter. Ytterligare studier på stor-skalig agil transformation i tidiga stadier krävs för att bekräfta våra slutsatser.