Introduction: This study was conducted at Volvo Cars’ R&D division to investigate how test facilities and workshops can implement an agile way of working. Three departments with different levels of agile implementation were therefore investigated to fulfill our purpose. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to highlight key factors with the implementation of agile working methods at Volvo Cars' R&D department, as well as evaluate the possible advantages and disadvantages of agile, lean, and traditional working methods in test facilities and workshops. The long-term purpose was to support future development and integration of new ways of working in the car manufacturing industry, together with other industries in similar situations. Method: To enable this study and achieve a result related to the study's question, the study was conducted with a qualitative method. Information was collected through literature studies and qualitative interviews at Volvo Cars and with Carl Starendal. Additionally, a benchmark was conducted at an external company. Where the literature studies formed the basis for the study's theoretical framework and the interviews were conducted with the aim of creating a deeper analysis of the issues. Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework presents the three different working methods that are recurring throughout the study, corporate culture and how this can affect the implementation of new working methods, and Kotter's (1995) theory of change management. In addition, it accounts for the development of hardware versus software. Results: The study showed that there were factors that affect the outcome of the implementation, initially the company culture was a major factor that influenced the implementation of the three departments involved at Volvo Cars. As the culture showed to be deeply rooted in the working routines, a strong guiding coalition was therefore required to drive through the change. Furthermore, it turned out that support and training was required for employees to feel involved to enable a high motivation for the agile implementation. Communication between departments and stakeholders were complex as not everyone worked agile or embraced it enough. Finally, the study examines strengths and weaknesses of the different ways of working. / Inledning: Denna studie har genomförts på Volvo Cars division för Research and Development för att studera hur man kan implementera agila arbetssätt inom testmiljöer och verkstäder. Tre olika avdelningar med olika grad av agil implementering har därför studerats. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att belysa nyckelfaktorer för implementering av agilt arbetssätt hos Volvo Cars R&D-avdelning, samt utvärdera eventuella fördelar och nackdelar med agilt, leant och traditionellt arbetssätt inom testverksamhet och verkstad. Det långsiktiga syftet är att stödja framtida utveckling och integration av nya arbetssätt inom biltillverkningsindustrin, tillsammans med andra industrier i liknande situationer. Metod: För att möjliggöra denna studie och uppnå ett resultat relaterat till studiens frågeställning genomfördes studien med en kvalitativ metod. Information samlades in genom litteraturstudier, kvalitativa intervjuer på Volvo Cars och Carl Starendal, samt benchmark på externt företag. Där litteraturstudierna utgjorde grunden för studiens teoretiska ramverk och intervjuerna genomfördes i syfte att skapa en djupare analys av frågeställningarna. Teoretiskt Ramverk: Det teoretiska ramverket presenterar de tre olika arbetssätten som är återkommande genom studien, företagskultur och hur denna kan påverka en implementering av nya arbetssätt behandlas, samt Kotters (1995) teori om förändringsledning. Dessutom redogörs det för utveckling av hårdvara kontra mjukvara. Resultat: Studien visar att det finns faktorer som påverkar utfallet av implementeringen, inledningsvis var företagskulturen en stor faktor som påverkat implementeringen hos de tre berörda avdelningarna på Volvo Cars. Då kulturen visade sig varit djupt rotade i rutiner och arbetssätt, krävdes därför ett starkt vägledande ledarskap som drev igenom förändringen. Vidare visar det sig att stöttning och utbildning krävdes för att medarbetare skulle känna sig delaktiga. Samt för att bilda motivation för den agila implementeringen. Studien behandlar även kommunikationen mellan team och intressenter, så som provbeställare och leverantörer. Då den beskrevs som komplex eftersom alla parter inte hade nått samma nivå av agil implementering. Slutligen behandlar studien för och nackdelar med de olika arbetssätten.

The IT industry’s main capital is not built into plants, buildings or machines, instead the core assetsof this industry is the knowledge of its employees. Within this knowledge intensive industry,organizational learning and efficient knowledge management becomes key for development,productivity and competitive advantage.Moreover, there is a current trend within IT organizations, away from traditional projectmanagement methods towards projects managed agile. One major difference between agile projectmanagement and traditional project management is the type of knowledge that is generated. Dueto this, different strategies and for knowledge management is required in order to achieveorganizational learning. However, there are no established recommendations how this is done inan organization managing projects both traditional and agile. Therefore, this study investigatedwhat strategies and methods to apply to enhance organizational knowledge in a large ITorganization - managing projects using both agile and traditional methods.This has been done by conducting a case study at Scania IT, a large IT company managing projectusing both traditional and agile project management methods. Moreover, the findings from thecase study were triangulated using a benchmark study and expert interviews.This investigation concludes that a personalization strategy is preferably applied in large ITorganizations managing projects using both agile and traditional methods. Furthermore, the studyshows that intra-project learning is the basis from which organizational knowledge can be formed.For organizations using both traditional and agile project management methods, the agile approachof continuous reflections should be adopted in all projects - regardless of project managementmethod - to enhance intra-project knowledge. Furthermore, to extrapolate project knowledge toorganizational knowledge, focus should be put on networks and knowledge carriers. Efficientnetworks will promote knowledge sharing between project while knowledge carriers enableorganizational knowledge to be formed.

Software development is constantly growing in complexity and several newtools have been created with the aim to manage this. However, even with thisever evolving range of tools and methodology, organizations often struggle withhow to implement a new development-process, especially when implementingagile methods. The most common reason for this is because teams implementagile tools in an ad-hoc manner, without fully considering the effects this cancause. This leads to teams trying to correct their choice of methodologysomewhere during the post-planning phase, which can be devastating for aproject as it adds further complexity to the project by introducing new problemsduring the transition process. Moreover, with an existing range of tools aimedat managing this process transition, none of them have been thoroughlyevaluated, which in turn forms the problem that this thesis is centred around.This thesis explores a method transition scenario and evaluates a SoftwareProcess Improvement method oriented around the problems that theimprovement process is aiming to solve. The goal with this is to establish ifproblem oriented Software Process Improvement is viable as well as to providefurther data for the extensive research that is being done in this field. We wishto prove that the overall productivity of a software development team can beincreased even during a project by carefully managing the transition to newmethods using a problem driven approach.The research method used is of qualitative and inductive character. Data iscollected by performing a case study, via action research, and literature studies.The case study consists of iteratively managing a transition over to newmethods, at an organization in the middle of a project, using a problem drivenapproach to Software Process Improvement. Three iterations of methodimprovement are applied on the project and each iteration acts as an evaluationon how well Problem Driven Software Process Improvement works.By using the evaluation model created for this degree project, the researchershave found that problem driven Software Process Improvement is an effectivetool for managing and improving the processes of a development team.Productivity has increased with focus on tasks with highest priority beingfinished first. Transparency has increased with both development team andcompany having a clearer idea of work in progress and what is planned.Communication has grown with developers talking more freely about userstories and tasks during planning and stand-up meetings. The researchersacknowledge that the results of the study are of a limited scope and alsorecognize that further evaluation in form of more iterations are needed for acomplete evaluation.

Project management is today a current and highly discussed area. How projects within the construction industry are managed has not changed significantly during the last decades. The construction market, the amount of different actors and the way that projects are procured today has however changed. This has led to a gap between the managerial view on how construction projects should be conducted today and how they actually are executed. This is reason enough to question this conservative industry and look into what possibilities there might be in the future.   The Agile project management approach is evolved from the software industry where it has grown and developed through empirical progress. It is suited for large complex projects where it is difficult to specify the product in advance. It is today used in different industries but mostly in the software business where the customer detects their needs through means of repeated tests and improvements to a prototype.   This thesis has researched what opportunities there might be in implementing the Agile project management approach in the design phase of construction projects.   The major advantages found with implementing the Agile approach is an increase in the client’s involvement. The Agile approach almost forces the client to increase their participation in the project compared to the situation today. It can also decrease the uncertainty and improve risk management. By the use of time management and specific meetings it will also be beneficial for keeping track of the project’s progression and status. / Projektledning är idag ett högaktuellt ämne diskuteras intensivt. Hur projekt inom byggbranschen styrs och leds har inte förändrats nämnvärt under de senaste decennierna. Byggmarknaden, mängden av olika aktörer och hur att projekten upphandlas dag har dock förändrats. Detta har lett till ett spricka mellan ledarskapssynen på hur byggprojekt skall utföras idag och hur de faktiskt genomförs. Detta är skäl nog att ifrågasätta denna konservativa bransch och titta närmre på vilka möjligheter det kan finnas i framtiden.   Den Agila projektledningsmetoden har utvecklats inom mjukvarubranschen där den har vuxit och förbättrats genom empiriska framsteg. Den är lämpad för stora komplexa projekt där det är svårt att ange och definiera produkten i förväg. Den används idag i olika branscher, men främst i mjukvaruindustrin där kunden upptäcker sina behov med hjälp av upprepade tester och förbättringar av en prototyp.    Denna avhandling har undersökt vilka möjligheter det kan finnas i att använda Agila projektledningsmetoder under projekteringsfasen i byggprojekt.   De största fördelarna som finns med att använda den Agila metoden är en ökning av kundens engagemang och involvering i projekten. Den Agila metoden tvingar nästan kunden att öka deras deltagande i projektet jämfört med hur situationen ser ut idag. Det kan också leda till minskad osäkerhet och förbättrad riskhantering. Genom användning av ”time management” och särskilda möten kommer de Agila metoderna också att vara till nytta för att hålla reda på projektets framåtskridande och status.

Innovation is the valuable outcome of new idea implementation. New technologies are disrupting industries, and innovative implementations bring competitive advantages. However, what is the perception of design and innovation in organizations such as Scania IT and how can design practices develop innovation? This thesis goal is to explore how Design Thinking methodologies are being used in innovation processes within the automobile industry and specifically SCANIA IT. How innovation is fostered and supported, which frameworks and processes are being used to generate, evaluate and develop new ideas and services. The research question that this thesis aims to examine is the following: What is the perception of design and innovation in their current work practices, and how can Design Thinking support Scania IT service design innovation processes? In the paper data and results of the on-premises study is presented. A total of nine interviews and two workshops with a total of 17 participants were conducted. The thematic analysis that follows reveals a matrix of topics and concepts. / Innovation är det värdefulla resultatet av implementering av nya idéer. Ny teknik stör industrier och innovativa implementeringar ger konkurrensfördelar. Men vad är uppfattningen om design och innovation i organisationer som Scania IT och hur kan designa praktiker utveckla innovation? Målet med detta examensarbete är att utforska hur Design Thinking-metoder används inom innovation processer inom bilindustrin och specifikt SCANIA DET. Hur innovation främjas och stöds, vilka ramar och processer som används för att generera, utvärdera och utveckla nya idéer och tjänster. Forskningsfrågan som denna avhandling syftar till att undersöka är följande: Hur ser uppfattningen ut om design och innovation i deras nuvarande arbetssätt och hur kan Design Thinking stödja innovationsprocesser för Scania IT-tjänstdesign? I papper presenteras data och resultat från den lokala studien. Totalt genomfördes nio intervjuer och två workshops med totalt 17 deltagare. Den tematiska analysen som följer avslöjar en matris av ämnen och begrepp.

Data warehousing is a new and emerging field. Projects tend to be complex and time consuming. Because of this complexity, teams tend to commit to more than they can deliver. This causes delayed delivery. Applying Agile development styles to data warehousing is one of the alternative methodologies that are being investigated to help teams to accelerate the delivery of business value. Scrum is one of the frameworks that falls within the Agile stream. Scrum focuses on project management and makes use of iterative and incremental development. It tries to deliver the smallest piece of business value the fastest. The paper evaluates the implementation of Scrum in a data warehouse team of a financial investment company. The researcher did an action research study on the team to see if Scrum can be used as a viable alternative framework to bring agility to Data Warehouse development. She examined the changes that the team experienced during and after the implementation of Scrum, focusing on team structure and roles within the teams. The researcher defined a framework to evaluate how well the team implemented Scrum. The researcher also evaluated the quality of work delivered, and the predictability and productivity of the team as metrics to see if Scrum made a difference within the team. The research paper examined why the implementation failed and what issues Scrum highlighted within the team as well as within the way that the company implemented it. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Informatics / unrestricted

The increased competition and volatile market today have led to the increased interest in agile management control systems. Previous studies have been made on the subject where researchers argue that there is a need for organizations to become agile. However, many practitioners seem hesitant to only implement agile approaches. This study explores how hybrid management control systems are developed and used over time in a large organization. This is a case study that uses semi-structured interviews to collect data. This study found that an agile management control system was not a one-size-fits-all solution. The reason for this is because organizational context and obstacles prevent the organization from fully committing to one management idea. This study concludes that organizations are hesitant to change long-time used practices. Also, managers and employees have different preferences where managers value traditional approaches more while employees prefer agile approaches. Therefore, organizations incorporate parts from various management systems that fit their organization and develop a hybrid management control system.

Gamification is applied in several aspects of software engineering. There are several concrete examples of theapplication of gamification to modern development approaches, such as Agile. Nevertheless, a classification ofcore elements that gamified Agile development should entail, to be used as a reference for systematically andconsistently design gamified Agile development processes, is missing. The goal of this thesis is to, starting fromconcrete instances of gamified Agile development, generalize the common aspects and propose a classificationof core elements as a reference taxonomy. We designed a research method based on the following four coreactivities: (i) analysis of the state of the art in Gamification applied to Agile development processes, (ii)definition of a taxonomy for Gamified Agile Development, (iii) formalization of the taxonomy in a metamodel,(iv) validation of the metamodel by instantiation of existing concrete examples of gamified Agile development.The contributions of this thesis are a structured taxonomy for gamified Agile development and its formalizationin an instantiable metamodel. The metamodel was validated by instantiating it and comparing it to the existingexamples from literature.

The Covid-19 situation has changed the work environment for a lot of companies in Sweden. Due to restrictions from Sweden's health care association, people have been working from home to as large extent as possible. Even though the work environment in the software industry was started to be digitized before Covid-19, it has been a huge readjustment for the employees. The software industry has been selected for this study for its significant importance for the BNP in Sweden. SMEs have been selected to cover as large a portion of the companies as possible. This study goes through how Covid-19 has affected the agile way of working within agile teams in software SMEs. To do this investigation, a grounded theory approach with qualitative interviews from 11 different software companies, and 13 participants has been made. The analysis of the study resulted in six main impacts that Covid-19 has had on agile teams in the software SMEs: Communication, Structure, Motivation, Health, Relationship, and Responsibility.

Agila arbetssätt har blivit allt mer populära hos organisationer. Sedan starten där agila arbetssätt enbart förknippades med systemutveckling har agila arbetssätt spridit sig till allt fler områden inom organisationer och används nu även allt mer i både IT och verksamhet. Dock kantas övergången från traditionella arbetssätt till agila arbetssätt av en rad utmaningar, varför det är viktigt att förstå vad som ligger till grund för att en agil transformation ska bli lyckad.  Studien undersöker vilka faktorer som ligger till grund för framgångsrika agila transformationer. Syftet med studien är att identifiera och beskriva kritiska framgångsfaktorer vid agila transformationer hos organisationer. Utifrån tidigare studier och befintlig litteratur har en analysmodell tagits fram för att på ett visuellt sätt sammanfatta de mest kritiska framgångsfaktorerna för agila transformationer.  Denna studie har genomförts med en kvalitativ ansats i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Sju företag och åtta respondenter har deltagit i studien, där samtliga respondenter i hög grad har varit delaktiga i respektive organisations agila transformation.  Slutsatser som kan dras av denna studie är att stöd från högsta ledning samt en gemensam förståelse och målbild i organisationen för den agila transformationen är de mest kritiska framgångsfaktorerna vid en agil transformation. Faktorer som utbildningsinsatser, kommunikation, tidigare erfarenhet av agila arbetssätt bland medarbetarna och extern support är avgörande för att stödja den gemensamma förståelsen.