Leanness, agility, resilience, greenness, and sustainability of a supply chain are critical factors that organizations have to consider to increase the competitiveness of their supply chain. Lean & Green (L&G) practices have been proven to enhance performance related to sustainability when deployed. Simultaneously, agility and resilience have gained significant attention due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as its outbreak revealed the fragility of various supply chains globally. The LARGS (lean, agile, resilient, green, and sustainable) framework is an essential tool which considers all LARGS paradigms holistically to facilitate LARGS performance improvements. In this study, a systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to explore the current development of the LARGS framework. A case study was performed in Airinum, a company which produces personal protective equipment (PPE). Furthermore, an LCA was conducted using collected internal data as a tool to identify the hotspots of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the ecological footprint (EF) of the supply chain operations. Moreover, with the help of interviews conducted with company representatives and questionnaires answered by Airinum’s partners, L&G practices were evaluated and proposed for implementation. The L&G practices were prioritized according to (1) weight, (2) integration categories, (3) potential agility risks, and (4) potential resilience risks. To consider the triple bottom line (TBL), potential economic and social sustainability influences were also investigated. The results from the LARGS framework indicate that the case company would benefit from frequent interaction with suppliers and customers to improve the production process and reduce waste. Integration of the material and information flow facilitates accurate supply and demand forecasting in addition to real-time monitoring of the material flow. Green transportation was found to be an essential practice for the reduction of CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the company would benefit from using a higher proportion of renewable and recycled materials in addition to using various tools to monitor and decrease resource consumption. Results indicate that the practices may influence economic sustainability while those proposed have no significant effect on the social sustainability performance of the company. Future research is directed toward the validation of the proposed LARGS framework.

Globalization allows companies to reach a larger customer base and to focus on niche markets, driving specialization. Conversely, it also lets customers choose from a wider array of options on any given market, which all together leads to increased competition. Such global scale competition is straining profitability and urges companies to innovate both strategy and operations in search of competitive advantages. The ensuing increased rate of change has placed an emphasis on achieving flexibility to ensure alignment with market needs, with companies successful in quick modifications flourishing even in face of unpredictable and unceasing turbulence. The trend toward increasing turbulence is acutely experienced by the automotive industry. Due to the commoditization of hardware in light of digitalization, the automotive industry is undergoing a shift in profitability toward software. The adaptation of strategy to the market is vital to survival, which in turn means that the operationalization of the strategy is crucial. One way to actualize the strategy is through project portfolio management (PPM). As corporate strategy and project portfolios are tightly connected, PPM is essential to implementing the strategy. It is of interest to study the flexible qualities of PPM in an individual industry moving from stable to turbulent, in order to gain insight into the challenges of that industry. The flexible properties of PPM in the automotive industry is thus of utmost importance to the survival of companies. The built-in flexibility of PPM is however not always enough and there is an increasing interest in agile PPM (APPM). So far, there is little advancement on the topic of APPM, and the need for further understanding is obvious with consideration to recent market developments, especially in the automotive industry. This thesis has employed a single case study to understand what challenges traditional companies in the automotive industry face when trying to become more agile in their project portfolio management in order to align their organization around agile practices on the team level and increase responsiveness to external changes. Adopting an abductive approach, empirical data was collected using interviews, observations, documents as well as a survey. The results of this study are twofold. Firstly, an exhaustive mapping of a major automotive company’s PPM process is presented. Secondly, this mapping is utilized to establish what PPM processes could be made more agile and what the main challenges are. / Globalisering möjliggör för företag att utöka sin kundbas och fokusera på nischmarknader, vilket driver specialisering. Kunderna kan samtidigt välja från ett större utbud av alternativ på marknaden som leder till en ökad konkurrens. Sådan global konkurrens bidrar till en lägre lönsamhet och tvingar företag att förnya sin strategi och verksamhet, i jakt på konkurrensfördelar. Den snabba förändringen har ökat kravet på att uppnå flexibilitet för att säkerställa anpassning till marknadens behov, där företag som lyckats med snabba förändringar kan prestera trots oförutsägbar och oupphörlig turbulens. Trenden mot ökad turbulens är tydligt märkbar inom bilindustrin. Allt eftersom differentierbarheten för hårdvara minskar i ljuset av digitalisering, pågår en förskjutning av lönsamheten mot mjukvara inom bilindustrin. Anpassning av strategin till marknaden är avgörande för överlevnad, vilket i sin tur innebär att strategins operationalisering är avgörande. Ett sätt att realisera strategin är genom hantering av projektportföljen (PPM). Eftersom företagsstrategi och projektportföljer är tätt sammankopplade, är PPM viktigt för att uppnå strategiska mål. PPM:s flexibla egenskaper inom bilindustrin är således av största vikt för företagens överlevnad. Det är intressant att studera flexibla egenskaper inom PPM i en stabil bransch som är under förändring för att få insikt i utmaningarna som branschen står inför. Den inbyggda flexibiliteten hos PPM är dock inte alltid tillräcklig och det finns ett ökande intresse för agil PPM (APPM). Hittills finns det få framsteg på APPM-området och behovet av ytterligare kunskap är uppenbart med tanke på den senaste marknadsutvecklingen, särskilt inom bilindustrin. I denna avhandling används en enskild fallstudie för att förstå vilka utmaningar som traditionella företag inom bilindustrin står inför när de försöker bli mer agila i sin projektportföljshantering, för att kunna linjera företaget kring agila rutiner på teamnivå och öka responsförmågan gentemot externa förändringar. Genom att utnyttja ett abduktivt tillvägagångssätt samlades empiriska data in med hjälp av intervjuer, observationer, dokument samt en enkätundersökning. Resultatet av denna studie är tvåfaldigt. Först och främst presenteras en uttömmande kartläggning av ett omfattande bilföretags PPM-process. Sedan används denna kartläggning för att fastställa vilka PPM-processer som kan göras mer agila och vilka huvudsakliga utmaningar som finns i samband med detta.

Many software methodologies are being used for the development of video games. However, there are very few studies that cover how these methodologies are deployed and what they affect in the game development process. This study aims to explore the connection between agile development modifications applied in video game studios and their effect on cross-disciplinary communication. The research was conducted in three parts; talks of professional game developers were analysed, a field study in a studio was conducted, and a survey was designed to gain more insights from game developers around the world. After obtaining the results in three parts, a content analysis was carried out to find patterns in agile development that affect communication across disciplines. The found patterns were the overlapping work of developers, the amount of cross-disciplinary meetings, and doing experiments to find a methodology that best fits the development team. This research contributes to the field of game development with a focus on the impact on communication between different disciplines with the usage of agile development.

Agile work practices have been adopted by most software development organizations and by many large organizations from other industries. The introduction of agile work practices is assumed to positively affect work characteristics and, in turn, well-being of employees. So far, there is only very little and methodologically limited empirical research on this topic. Based on job demands–resources theory, we developed and tested a model on the direct and indirect relationships between agile work practices, job demands and resources, and occupational well-being. Data were provided by 260 employees working in agile development teams who participated in two surveys that were approximately six weeks apart. Results of structural equation modeling provided support for the hypothesized model, suggesting that agile work practices have a negative indirect effect on emotional fatigue through lower job demands. At the same time, agile work practices also had a positive indirect effect on emotional engagement through higher job resources. Our research contributes to the literature by integrating agile work practices with job demands–resources theory, bridging an important gap between research and practice. Overall, the findings suggest that the implementation of agile work practices may have a positive impact on occupational well-being by improving employees’ perceptions of key work characteristics.

The traditional project methodology which is influenced by the waterfallmodel and planning tools such as the work breakdown structure and thecritical path method has been found to be redundant when contextualizedwithin the construction industry. Specifically, as they have been proven to beunable to ensure valuable and efficient work processes during the project’sdesign phase. Suggestively, both variables shall be fulfilled. This has beenfigured to be possible by utilizing the agile project method Scrum. In the strive to optimize the reoccurring issues of the project design, theinformation, work, and values must recreate flows. Variations averts this fromever happening by clogging the flows. Make-do is the primary cause ofvariations during the construction project and emerges from an unfulfilledplanning and a hierarchical communication. Within the levels of the pyramid inwhich the flows are expected to stream, the flows are put into an unavoidablerisk of encountering variations during each project hand-over. The moreactors that are taking part within the chain of flows, the greater the risk ofthe information becoming distorted, the workflow of being done in vain, andthe distance of the value flow to ever become attained. This wholeorganizational situation surrounding how the information misguides the workdraws its parallels with the telephone game, in which, during the game, thegiven information is jeopardized relative to the number of participating“children”. By establishing Scrum during the design phase, the communication paths areshortened by relating the design manager’s responsibilities to that of theScrum Master. The transformation implies that the design manager loses ittitle of being a project manager by converting the management responsibilityto the design workers. What remains is the design manager’s responsibility ofcoordinating the workers which is translated by assigning the work; this is anadded dimension within the prioritization system depicted by the ProductBacklog. Instead of having a design phase that is set out by an early providedplanning with the work breakdown structure and critical path method, theplanning is complemented by the design manager’s interface management ofthe product backlog which follows the required product specifications thatmaterializes upon the occurring Sprint meetings between group of designworkers and the project manager. / Den traditionella projektmetoden som upprättas med vattenfallsmodellen och planeringsverktyg som arbetsfördelningsstrukturen och kritiska linjen har länge blivit förklarad bristfällig inom byggindustrin. Detta genom att metoden har suttits i ett sammanhang där projekten inte åstadkommit värdefulla eller effektiva arbetsprocesser under byggprojektets design-fas—projekteringen. Förslagsvis ska båda av dessa två variabler bli uppnådda. Detta är förklarat möjligt med den agila metoden Scrum. För att optimera projekteringens återuppstående brister ska projektets information, arbeten och värden flöda i strömmar. Variationer avvärjer ifrån detta och täppar till flödena. Få det gjort är det främsta variationsskälet inom byggprojekten och uppstår när planeringarna inte blir fulländade och kommunikationen sker hierarkiskt. Inom pyramidnivåerna som kommunikation förväntas flöda inom ställs samtliga flöden inför en oundviklig mängd variationer vid varje projektöverlämning. Desto fler aktörer som deltar inom denna flödeskedja, desto större är risken av att informationen blir förvrängd, arbetsflöden sker förgäves och att värdeflöden inte blir uppnådda. Det hela organisatoriska scenariot kring hur informationen missvisar arbeten och värden liknar därför viskleken som, under lekens gång, sätter den tillgiva informationen för en risk av att bli missuppfattad relativt till mängden deltagande ”barn”. Med Scrum förkortas projekteringens kommunikationsvägar genom att hänföra projekteringsledaren med Scrum-mastern. Omvandlingen innebär att titeln förlorar sitt ledningsansvar som blir överlåtet till projekteringskonsulterna. Kvar återstår projekteringsledarens samordnaransvar som blir förklarat med arbetstilldelningen; detta blir en tillagd dimension i den prioriteringsordnade product backlogen. I stället för att projekteringen bedrivs av en tidigt förutsatt planering med arbetsfördelningsstrukturen och kritiska linjen kompletteras den med projekteringsledarens gränssnittshantering av backlogen enligt specifikationerna som uppstår under sprint-mötena mellan projekteringsgrupperna och projektledaren.

[pt] Com o propósito de rotinizar agilmente suas práticas de trabalho, equipes de projetos ágeis estabelecem metarrotinas intencionando obter alta eficácia no processo de adaptabilidade organizacional. Rotinas são conceituadas como padrões repetitivos e reconhecíveis de ações interdependentes realizadas por múltiplos atores (FELDMAN e PENTLAND, 2003, p. 95), enquanto que metarrotinas são rotinas que modificam rotinas existentes e orientam a busca e escolha de novas rotinas (...) (VAN DRIEL e DOLFSMA, 2009, p. 52). É nesse sentido que a metarrotina pode ser considerada o coração da agilidade, visto ser uma rotina-chave que facilita às equipes de projeto adaptarem agilmente suas próprias práticas de trabalho. Este estudo apresentou como objetivo investigar a variação na formação das competências coletivas por equipes ágeis para o estabelecimento da metarrotina do projeto. Competências coletivas estão relacionadas aos fenômenos de aprendizagem coletiva (MICHAUX, 2011), presentes em equipes ágeis atuam como um coletivo de trabalho (CAROLY e BARCELLINI, 2013). É neste contexto que uma pesquisa fenomenográfica, na qual entrevistas qualitativas foram realizadas com profissionais que vivenciaram projetos gerenciados sob método ágil, permitiu a estruturação e teorização do fenômeno de estudo com base nas suas concepções e dimensões explicativas (COLLIER-REED e INGERMAN, 2013). O principal resultado do estudo foi o desenvolvimento de um framework, estruturado como um modelo de múltiplos fatores influenciadores para a formação das competências coletivas por equipes ágeis, especificamente para o estabelecimento da metarrotina do projeto. / [en] With the purpose of agilely routinizing their work practices, agile project teams enact metaroutines intending to obtain high effectiveness in the organizational adaptability process. Routines are conceptualized as repetitive and recognizable patterns of interdependent actions performed by multiple actors (FELDMAN and PENTLAND, 2003, p. 95), while metaroutines are routines that modify existing routines and guide the search for and selection of new routines (…) (VAN DRIEL and DOLFSMA, 2009, p. 52). It is in this sense that the metaroutine can be considered the heart of agility, since it is a key routine that facilitates project teams to adapt their own work practices agilely. This study aimed to investigate the variation in the formation of collective competences by agile teams for the enactment of the project s metaroutine. Collective competencies are related to collective learning phenomena (MICHAUX, 2011), present in agile teams that act as a work collective (CAROLY and BARCELLINI, 2013). The phenomenographic method was chosen because it is a qualitative approach capable of identifying variations in a social phenomenon from individual experiences (COLLIER-REED and INGERMAN, 2013). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 professionals participating in scrum teams, in the period between September and December 2022.The main result arising from this study was the development of a framework, presenting a set of influential factors in the formation of collective competencies by agile teams for the project metaroutine enactment.

Information is everywhere, modern life depends on information. The faster we process data and generate meaningful outcomes, the better. Any IT project produces a lot of artifacts like software code, requirement documents, financial reports, traceability metrics, status reports, and so on. With all this documentation, we are often overloaded with information that makes the picture murkier. Having the wherewithal to capture the needed key performance indicators, there is still a gap between expectation and reality. This thesis is going to fill this gap between available metrics and desired indicators. The agile software development model has been around for a long time now. Today’s organizations are bigger than ever before and are competing in a changing landscape faster than ever before. Scaled agile models have helped the industry to ramp up on the human resources front but these models have not matched the needs of software maturity. Software status gathering and presenting tools are largely waterfall or small-scale agile-centered. The core of the agile approach is value creation but there is no single universal means to measure value. Our research intention is to present a standard value proposition in agile and provide metrics that are better suited for project managers. With help from empirical data, we not only identified the soar areas but also tried to remedy major concerns. To reach our goal, we used face-to-face interviews as our research strategy to get an account of firsthand experiences with the existing KPIs and what are the challenges. Our data collection was done through interviews with domain experts or people with extended knowledge of the subject. Finally, we performed a thematic analysis of the data to find what are the common themes emerging out of the shortcomings of the existing tools and what are the common desired requirements from KPIs. We have given a generic definition of value as well as proposed some KPIs that might come in handy for the practitioners of SAFe.

[pt] Os defeitos nas especificações de requisitos podem ter consequências graves durante o ciclo de vida de desenvolvimento de software. Alguns deles resultam em uma falha geral do projeto devido a características de qualidade incorretas ou ausentes, como segurança. Existem várias preocupações que tornam a segurança difícil de lidar; por exemplo, (1) quando as partes interessadas discutem os requisitos gerais nas reuniões, muitas vezes não estão cientes que também devem discutir tópicos relacionados à segurança. (2) Normalmente as equipes de desenvolvimento não possuem conhecimentos de segurança suficientes. Isto geralmente leva a aspectos de segurança não especificados ou mal definidos. Essas preocupações tornam-se ainda mais desafiadoras em contextos de desenvolvimento ágil, nos quais a documentação leve geralmente está envolvida. O objetivo desta dissertação é projetar e avaliar uma abordagem para suportar a revisão de aspectos relacionados à segurança em especificações de requisitos ágeis de aplicativos web. A abordagem projetada considera estórias de usuário e especificações de segurança como entradas e relaciona essas estórias de usuário a propriedades de segurança através de técnicas de Processamento de Linguagem Natural. Com base nas propriedades de segurança relacionadas, nossa abordagem identifica os requisitos de segurança de alto nível do OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) a serem verificados e gera uma técnica de leitura focada para dar suporte aos revisores na detecção de defeitos. Avaliamos nossa abordagem rodando dois experimentos controlados. Comparamos a eficácia e a eficiência de inspetores novatos que verificam aspectos de segurança em requisitos ágeis usando nossa técnica de leitura contra o uso da lista completa de requisitos de segurança de alto nível do OWASP. Os resultados (estatisticamente significativos) indicam que o uso da nossa abordagem tem um impacto positivo (com tamanho de efeito muito grande) no desempenho dos inspetores em termos de eficácia e eficiência. / [en] Defects in requirements specifications can have severe consequences during the software development life cycle. Some of them result in overall project failure due to incorrect or missing quality characteristics such as security. There are several concerns that make security difficult to deal with; for instance, (1) when stakeholders discuss general requirements in (review) meetings, they are often not aware that they should also discuss security-related topics, and (2) they typically do not have enough expertise in security. This often leads to unspecified or ill-defined security aspects. These concerns become even more challenging in agile development contexts, where lightweight documentation is typically involved. The goal of this dissertation is to design and evaluate an approach to support reviewing security-related aspects in agile requirements specifications of web applications. The designed approach considers user stories and security specifications as input and relates those user stories to security properties via Natural Language Processing (NLP). Based on the related security properties, our approach then identifies high-level security requirements from the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) to be verified and generates a focused reading technique to support reviewers in detecting defects. We evaluate our approach via two controlled experiment trials. We compare the effectiveness and efficiency of novice inspectors verifying security aspects in agile requirements using our reading technique against using the complete list of OWASP high-level security requirements. The (statistically significant) results indicate that using our approach has a positive impact (with very large effect size) on the performance of inspectors in terms of effectiveness and efficiency.

No description available.

Organizations has become more hybrid enabling the workers to work partially from the office and partially from home. As remote work was found to have an impact on team collaboration, communication, productivity, and performance, concerns have been raised about Agile Software Development (ASD) teams working remotely. Thus, the purpose of the study is to understand the impact hybrid work has on productivity in ASD teams. The study aims to contribute with knowledge regarding the relationship with hybrid work and productivity. A single case study was conducted, with the use of a sequential mixed method research design. The SPACE framework was utilized to define productivity in software development and was also utilized to support the distributed survey. Moreover, three dimensions of SPACE were selected; job satisfaction, performance, collaboration and communication. Additionally, a focus group interview was conducted to provide a deeper understanding of the survey findings. The empirical findings indicate the hybrid work to impact job satisfaction, and collaboration and communication positively. While the performance was high, there was a low impact of hybrid work. The empirical findings imply that investments in the tools and resources are crucial for the job satisfaction. Furthermore, meetings that involve high participation in collaboration and communication should require physical presence. By allowing for continuous meetings regarding the well-being of workers, a sustainable work-life balance can potentially be achieved. Limitations can be found in the study where the findings are restricted to the context of a single case study. Thus, further research can be conducted to enrich the findings with other settings and strategies. / Organisationer har blivit mer hybrida vilket gör det möjligt för arbetarna att arbeta delvis från kontoret och delvis hemifrån. Eftersom distansarbete har visat en inverkan på samarbete, kommunikation, produktivitet och prestanda i team, har det väckts rädsla om att team i agil mjukvaruutveckling (ASD), ska arbeta på distans. Syftet med studien är att förstå vilken inverkan hybrid arbete har på produktiviteten i ASD-team. Studien syftar till att bidra med kunskap om sambandet med hybrid arbete och produktivitet. En enskild fallstudie genomfördes med användning av en sekventiell forskningsdesign med blandad metod. SPACE-ramverket användes för att definiera produktivitet i mjukvaruutveckling och användes dessutom för att underbygga den distribuerade undersökningen. Dessutom valdes tre dimensioner av SPACE ut; arbetsglädje, prestation, samarbete och kommunikation. Vidare genomfördes en fokusgruppsintervju för att skapa en djupare förståelse av resultaten från undersökningen. De empiriska resultaten indikerar hybrid arbetet har en positiv inverkan på arbetstillfredsställelse, samarbete och kommunikation. Det visade sig att prestandan i arbetet var hög men att hybrid arbete inte längre påverkade dess resultat. De empiriska resultaten tyder på att investeringar i verktyg och resurser är avgörande för arbetstillfredsställelsen. Dessutom bör möten med högt engagemang i samarbete och kommunikation kräva fysisk närvaro. Genom att införa kontinuerliga möten angående arbetarnas välbefinnande kan en hållbar balans mellan arbete och privatliv potentiellt uppnås. Begränsningar kan hittas i studien där resultaten är begränsade till sammanhanget för en enskild fallstudie. Således kan ytterligare forskning utföras för att berika resultaten med andra miljöer och strategier.