As the Army transitions to the Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN) deployment cycle, it must adjust its many operations in support of ARFORGEN. Specifically, the Initial Military Training (IMT) must be able to adjust the scheduling of its classes for newly enlisted service members to finish training such that they fulfill Brigade Combat Team (BCT) requirements within their common due windows. We formulate this problem as a lot streaming problem. Lot streaming splits a batch of jobs into sublots,which are then processed over the machines in an overlapping fashion. To schedule classes for the IMT, there are two stages that must be coordinated: Basic Training (BT) and Advanced Individual Training (AIT). For the Army Force Generation problem, the classes are considered as sublots that are streamed from one stage to the next. For this process, the model formulation must address determination of class sizes and scheduling of soldiers and classes at the two stages such that (1) the start times of the soldiers at Stage 2 are greater than their completion times at Stage 1, and (2) the assignment of requisite number of soldiers is made to each BCT, so as to minimize the total flow time. We propose a decomposition-based approach for the solution of this problem. In an effort to decompose the problem, the original lot streaming problem is reformulated such that the master problem selects an optimal combination of schedules for training classes and assigning soldiers to BCTs. A complete schedule selected in the master problem includes the assignments of soldiers to classes in BT, AIT, and their assignments to the BCTs, so as to minimize the total flow time as well as earliness and tardiness for regular Army units. Earliness and Tardiness are defined as the length of the time a soldier waits before and after the due date, respectively, of the BCT to which he or she is assigned. Our decomposition-based method enables solution of larger problem instances without running out of memory, and it affords CPU time reductions when compared with the CPU times required for these problem instances obtained via direct application of CPLEX 12.1. Our investigation into the structure of the problem has enabled further improvement of the proposed decomposition-based method. This improvement is achieved because of a result, which we show, that the first and second-stage scheduling problems need not be solved as one combined subproblem, but rather, they can be solved sequentially, the first stage problem followed by the second stage problem. The combination of Stage 1 and Stage 2 problems as one subproblem creates several additional enumerations of possible schedules the model must generate. By reducing this number of enumerations, the computational effort involved in solving the model reduces significantly, thereby allowing reductions in CPU time. In the Sequential approach, the completion times of soldiers determined at Stage 1 are passed to Stage 2 as bounds on their completion times at Stage 2. We prove that solving the combined subproblem sequentially as two subproblems is optimal when the first stage has no limit on the batch size and the ready times of the soldiers at Stage 1 are the same. For the Army Force Generation problem, we use unequal ready times, and therefore, solving the scheduling problems for the first two stages as sequential subproblems can lead to suboptimal solutions. Our experimental investigation shows efficacy of solving larger-sized problem instances with this method. We also recommend various potential additions to improve the Sequential approach for application to the overall Army problem. We have also demonstrated the use of our methodology to a real-life problem instance. Our methodology results in schedules for IMT with an estimated 28% reduction in mean flow time for soldiers over what is currently experienced in practice. We apply this Sequential approach to various extensions of the problem on hand that pertain to hybrid flow shop and agile manufacturing environments. Results of our computational investigation show the effectiveness of using the Sequential approach over direct solution by CPLEX from the viewpoint of both optimality gap and the CPU time required. In particular, we consider two different model configurations for a hybrid flow shop and three different model configurations for an agile manufacturing facility. / Ph. D.

Studien syftar till att visualisera jämförelsen av effektiviteten hos Monitor ERP före och efter deras geografiska flytt till Malaysia. Studien fokuserar på att identifiera hur arbetsflöden och teamdynamik påverkas av geografiska och kulturella skillnader. Målet är att visualisera arbetsbelastningen och förstå hur dessa faktorer influerar användningen av agila metoder i en distribuerad arbetsmiljö.För att uppnå dessa mål tillämpades en blandning av kvantitativa och kvalitativa metoder. Kvantitativa data samlades in genom att hämta data från Monitor ERP:s planeringsverktyg, medan kvalitativa data inhämtades genom intervjuer och observationer med teammedlemmar. Dessa data kombinerades med visualiseringstekniker för att tydligt illustrera mönster och trender över tiden. Resultaten av datanalysen validerades genom datatriangulering för att öka studiens trovärdighet och reliabilitet.Resultaten från studien indikerar skillnader i användningen före och efter företagets flytt. Det framkom att kulturella och tidsmässiga skillnader kan påverka teamens prestanda och samarbetsdynamik. Visualiseringarna tyder på att arbetsprocessen blev mer effektiv efter flytten, då det illustrerar en ökning av arbetsmängden och produktiviteten.Slutsatsen av studien är att geografisk spridning och kulturella skillnader har en påverkan på implementeringen av agila metoder. Det rekommenderas att företag som Monitor ERP anpassar sina agila strategier för att hantera dessa utmaningar effektivt. / The study aims to visualize the comparison of the effectiveness of Monitor ERP be-fore and after their geographical relocation to Malaysia. The study focuses on identi-fying how workflows and team dynamics are affected by geographical and cultural differences. The goal is to visualize the workload and understand how these factors influence the use of agile methods in a distributed work environment.To achieve these objectives, a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods was applied. Quantitative data was collected by retrieving data from Moni-tor ERP's planning tools, while qualitative data was obtained through interviews and observations with team members. These data were combined with visualization techniques to clearly illustrate patterns and trends over time. The results of the data analysis were validated through data triangulation to increase the credibility and reli-ability of the study.The results of the study indicate differences in usage before and after the company's move. It was found that cultural and temporal differences can affect team perfor-mance and collaboration dynamics. The visualizations suggest that the work process became more efficient after the move, as it shows an increase in workload and productivity.The conclusion of the research is that geographic dispersion and cultural differences have an impact on the implementation of agile methods. It is recommended that companies like Monitor ERP adapt their agile strategies to effectively manage these challenges.

[pt] A presente pesquisa trata da concepção de uma proposta pedagógica, denominada Ensino Ágil, e sua implementação na disciplina Projeto Básico Desenvolvimento DSG1003, nas turmas da habilitação de Mídia Digital e Comunicação Visual, do curso de Design da PUC-Rio. Tem por objetivo discutir a pertinência do Ensino Ágil em situações de ensino aprendizagem inseridas no contexto da Cibercultura levyniana, presente na atual Era da Informação Móvel. Como arcabouço teórico da pesquisa, foi estabelecida uma relação entre a Teoria Geral de Sistemas, de Ludwig Von Bertalanffy, e o Estruturalismo, de Jean Piaget, bem como seus reflexos nos princípios do Manifesto Ágil para desenvolvimento de software, que, por sua vez, inspiraram a concepção do Ensino Ágil. No desenvolvimento da presente dissertação, foram contempladas questões relativas ao processo de aprendizagem significativa e o papel das emoções nas relações de ensino aprendizagem, dentre outros conceitos atinentes à Psicologia da Educação. A pesquisa realizada traz como principal conclusão que a flexibilidade e a agilidade do Ensino Ágil possibilitam sua adaptação a diferentes perfis cognitivos, sociais e emocionais de alunos. Como resultado da pesquisa, constatou-se o desenvolvimento de habilidades e competências planejadas para a disciplina DSG1003. / [en] The present research deals with the conception of a pedagogical proposal, which is called Agile Teaching, and its implementation in the discipline Basic Project Development DSG1003, in the Digital Media and Visual Communication classes, in the Design course at PUC-Rio. The research aims to discuss the relevance of Agile Teaching in teaching learning situations inserted in the context of Levynian Cyberculture, present in the current Mobile Information Age. As a theoretical framework for the research, was established a relationship between Ludwig Von Bertalanffy s General Systems Theory and Jean Piaget s Structuralism, as well as their reflections on the principles of the Agile Manifesto for software development, which, in turn, inspired the concept of Agile Teaching. In the development of this dissertation, it was addressed issues related to the meaningful learning process and the role of emotions in teaching learning relationships, among other concepts pertaining to educational psychology. The research has as its main conclusion that the flexibility and agility of Agile Teaching enable its adaptation to different cognitive, social and emotional profiles of students. As a result of the research, it was verified the development of skills and competencies planned for the discipline DSG1003.

This study explores operationalizing UX practices in agile software development teams to integrate accessibility in B2B software products. We conducted a qualitative case study, collecting data through a user-centered approach with interviews, a workshop, prototyping, and user testing. Our findings highlight that the sporadic involvement of UX professionals, the B2B context’s restriction of communication with end-users, and the perception of accessibility as a non-critical concern, all limit the operationalization of UX practices. Additionally, the importance of implementing structured approaches to integrate UX practices. This study contributes theoretically by broadening the literature on integrating accessibility through UX practices within agile processes, providing insights into the challenges and strategies of B2B environments, and practically by introducing a prototype ecosystem to help product teams embed UX practices into their workflow for enhancing accessibility.

Esta dissertação de mestrado fez parte do projeto Qualipso (Quality Platform for Open Source Software) que teve como principal objetivo melhorar a confiabilidade de sistemas de software livre. Nesse contexto, o enfoque desta pesquisa é um dos atributos de qualidade de software: usabilidade. As práticas de usabilidade no desenvolvimento de software livre, são aplicadas na maioria das vezes, em projetos patrocinados por grandes empresas ou que possuam especialistas em usabilidade como membros da equipe. Mas, em projetos menores da comunidade, compostos geralmente por desenvolvedores, raramente ela é considerada. Porém, a usabilidade é um atributo fundamental para a qualidade durante o uso de um sistema. Com base em valores compartilhados entre as comunidades de métodos ágeis e de software livre, esta dissertação propõe a adaptação de práticas de usabilidade no contexto de métodos ágeis para o contexto de comunidades de software livre. Por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica, levantamos as principais práticas de usabilidade tanto no âmbito de métodos ágeis, quanto no âmbito de software livre, e as classificamos de acordo com as fases do Design Centrado em Usuário, descrevendo cada uma com o formato nome-contexto-problema-solução-exemplos. As práticas foram exploradas em projetos de software livre, o que possibilitou maior entendimento de problemas enfrentados em contextos reais. Essa experiência resultou na proposta de adaptação de práticas de usabilidade ágil no contexto de comunidades de software livre. Dessa forma, descrevemos a realização de uma pesquisa-ação no projeto Arquigrafia-Brasil, um estudo de caso no projeto Mezuro e a aplicação de práticas de usabilidade em quatro projetos do Centro de Competência em Software Livre do IME-USP. / This Masters thesis was part of the Qualipso project (Quality Platform for Open Source Software) whose main objective was to improve the reliability of free and open source software systems. Within such context, the focus of this research is one of the attributes of software quality: usability. The usability practices in free and open source software development are applied most often in projects sponsored by large companies or employing usability experts as team members. But on smaller projects in the community, generally composed by developers, it is rarely considered. However, usability is an essential attribute to the quality in use of a system. Based on values shared between the communities of agile methods and free and open source software, this thesis proposes the adaptation of usability practices in the context of agile methods to the context of free and open source software communities. Through the study of the literature in the field, we gathered the main usability practices both within agile methods, as in free and open source software, and we classified according to User-Centered Design phases, describing each one with the format name-context-problem-solution-examples. The practices were explored in free and open source software projects, which enabled greater understanding of problems faced in real contexts. This experience resulted in the adaptation proposal of agile usability practices into the context of free and open source software communities. We describe the implementation of an action research in the Arquigrafia-Brazil project, a case study in the Mezuro project and the application of usability practices in four projects of the IME-USP FLOSS Competence Center.

Esta dissertação de mestrado fez parte do projeto Qualipso (Quality Platform for Open Source Software) que teve como principal objetivo melhorar a confiabilidade de sistemas de software livre. Nesse contexto, o enfoque desta pesquisa é um dos atributos de qualidade de software: usabilidade. As práticas de usabilidade no desenvolvimento de software livre, são aplicadas na maioria das vezes, em projetos patrocinados por grandes empresas ou que possuam especialistas em usabilidade como membros da equipe. Mas, em projetos menores da comunidade, compostos geralmente por desenvolvedores, raramente ela é considerada. Porém, a usabilidade é um atributo fundamental para a qualidade durante o uso de um sistema. Com base em valores compartilhados entre as comunidades de métodos ágeis e de software livre, esta dissertação propõe a adaptação de práticas de usabilidade no contexto de métodos ágeis para o contexto de comunidades de software livre. Por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica, levantamos as principais práticas de usabilidade tanto no âmbito de métodos ágeis, quanto no âmbito de software livre, e as classificamos de acordo com as fases do Design Centrado em Usuário, descrevendo cada uma com o formato nome-contexto-problema-solução-exemplos. As práticas foram exploradas em projetos de software livre, o que possibilitou maior entendimento de problemas enfrentados em contextos reais. Essa experiência resultou na proposta de adaptação de práticas de usabilidade ágil no contexto de comunidades de software livre. Dessa forma, descrevemos a realização de uma pesquisa-ação no projeto Arquigrafia-Brasil, um estudo de caso no projeto Mezuro e a aplicação de práticas de usabilidade em quatro projetos do Centro de Competência em Software Livre do IME-USP. / This Masters thesis was part of the Qualipso project (Quality Platform for Open Source Software) whose main objective was to improve the reliability of free and open source software systems. Within such context, the focus of this research is one of the attributes of software quality: usability. The usability practices in free and open source software development are applied most often in projects sponsored by large companies or employing usability experts as team members. But on smaller projects in the community, generally composed by developers, it is rarely considered. However, usability is an essential attribute to the quality in use of a system. Based on values shared between the communities of agile methods and free and open source software, this thesis proposes the adaptation of usability practices in the context of agile methods to the context of free and open source software communities. Through the study of the literature in the field, we gathered the main usability practices both within agile methods, as in free and open source software, and we classified according to User-Centered Design phases, describing each one with the format name-context-problem-solution-examples. The practices were explored in free and open source software projects, which enabled greater understanding of problems faced in real contexts. This experience resulted in the adaptation proposal of agile usability practices into the context of free and open source software communities. We describe the implementation of an action research in the Arquigrafia-Brazil project, a case study in the Mezuro project and the application of usability practices in four projects of the IME-USP FLOSS Competence Center.

Användandet av agila metodiker har ökat under de senaste decennierna. Detta har lett till en uppskalning av agila metodiker då även stora organisationer vill uppnå fördelarna som kommer med det agila arbetssättet. Att skala upp agila metodiker, och använda dessa i storskaligt agila miljöer (författarnas koncept skagila miljöer, som återfinns i sektionen ’Begreppet ’skagil’'), kommer dock med flera nya organisatoriska utmaningar. En utmaning, som omnämns i både litteratur och i arbetets empiriska undersökning på företaget Avanza, är inter-teamsamordning i skagila miljöer. Avanza har identifierat problemen med beroenden mellan team i skagila mjukvaruutvecklingsprojekt. För att möta problemet med beroenden initierades det här arbetet med syftet att, utifrån Avanzas nuvarande projekt design, undersöka hur teamöverskridande arbete kan samordnas för att möta beroenden i projektprocessen. För att uppnå syftet genomfördes en fallstudie på Avanza innehållande intervjuer med tolv respondenter och observation av interna dokument. Den empiriska undersökningen bekräftade ursprungsproblematiken gällande inter-teamsamordning och bidrog även med information om företagets nuvarande projektdesign. Resultatet visade att projektorganisationen verkar som en hybrid organisation med starka, agila inslag. Dock visade sig Avanza uppleva sin projektdesignen som helt agil. Vidare ansågs projektets beroenden bidra till agilt slöseri, vilket påverkar både produktivitet och effektivitet negativt i mjukvaruutvecklingsprocessen. Fyra huvudområden av agilt slöseri identifierades vilka var väntan, rörelse, defekter och tilläggsprocesser. Genom att klustra ihop liknande slöseri framtogs tre problemområden kopplade till Avanzas projektprocess, nämligen ’viss frånvaro av proaktivt angreppssätt och planering’, ’viss frånvaro av forum för hantering av inter-teamberoenden’ och ’skillnader i implementering av agila metodiker och projektprioritering bland teamen’. För att möta problemen fastställdes sex åtgärder, nämligen implementering av en mer proaktiv projektledarroll, anammning av hybridkulturen, skapande av rollspecifika team, implementering av arrangerade forum för teamsynkronisering, kodifiering och utveckling av befintliga mekanismer och samordning samt skapande av ett gemensamt förhållningssätt till agila principer i projekt. Arbetets slutsatser är till viss del generaliserbara och skulle kunna adopteras av andra företag eller projektorganisationer som har liknande problem och projektdesign som Avanza. Dock krävs en viss ansträngning för att först identifiera vilken projektdesign intressentföretag har samt att identifiera projektrelaterat slöseri. Avanza är även verksamma inom tech-branschen där projektorganisationen verkar kring mjukvaruutveckling. Därför kan det antas att slutsatserna mer sannolikt, passar andra organisationer som jobbar med mjukvaruutveckling. / The usage of agile methodologies has rapidly increased over the last decades. This has led to an upscaling of agile methods since larger organizations want to gain the benefits of the agile way of working. However, this has not come without issues, and using agile at scale (authors’ concept scagile, in upcoming section ’Begreppet ’skagil”) has introduced new organizational challenges. One challenge that is mentioned both in literature and in the empirical findings at the case company, Avanza, is inter-team coordination in scagile environments. Today Avanza is struggling with dependencies between teams in scaled agile software projects. To address this issue this study was initiated with the purpose to, based on Avanza’s current project design, investigate how cross-team collaboration could be coordinated to face and overcome dependencies in the project process. To accomplish this a case study, containing interviews with twelve respondents and observation of internal documents, was made. The empirical findings confirmed the original issues related to inter-team coordination and also provided valuable information about the company’s project design. Regarding the project design the findings showed that the project organization is a hybrid organization with strong agile influences. However, the alleged perception of the project design was a fully agile organization. Further, the dependencies in the projects seem to cause agile waste, which has a negative influence on productivity and efficiancy in software projects. Four main areas of agile waste were detected, namely waiting, motion, defects and extra processes. By clustering similar waste, three main problem areas were detected, viz ’a certain absence of a proactive approach and planning’, ‘a certain absence of forums for handling inter-team dependencies’, and ‘differences between teams regarding the implementation and usage of agile principles, and project prioritization’. To face these issues, six measures were determined, namely implementation of a more proactive project management approach, embracing the hybrid culture, creating role specific teams, arranging forums for team synchronization, codifying and developing the current coordination mechanisms and deciding on a shared approach for project methodologies. The findings of this study is to some extent generalizable and could be adopted by other companies, or project organizations, that are struggling with the same problem areas and have the same project design as Avanza. However, some effort is required to first determine current project design and to identify project related waste. Further, the client company is operative in the fin-tech industry where the project organization orbits around software development. Therefore it can be assumed that the findings are more likely to fit another software organization.

Agile software development aims to minimize risk by using a short and iterative process, a test-centric development approach by continuous integration, and test automation. Scrum aims to maximize collaboration and collective responsibility for quality by using a team approach. Regardless of this, the risk of project failure due to budget and time overruns is still a severe problem in software development projects. Despite the power that testing offers to mitigate these risks, testing remains a challenge to implement in agile teams regarding a test first or a test early context. This qualitative case study of two agile teams with differing approaches to agile methodology aims to provide some clarity on what driving forces contribute to an agile teams’ possibilities or what impediments contribute to an agile teams’ challenges pertaining to “why do we test software”.

Agile principles for software development are now the industry standard for innovative projects. Agile is often hailed for being flexible, but there is also a commonly held 'truth' that agile principles and software security do not work well together. For this reason it is not uncommon to place all security responsibilities with a separate team, which goes against the agile principles of being team-centered and may affect flexibility or timeframe of a project. Additionally, software security is difficult and requires extensive experience and knowledge, something that varies a lot among software developers. This study presents a threat modeling process tailored for the specific needs and capabilities of the agile developer team. The process combines features of attack trees and abuser stories with other supplementary techniques in a pedagogical instruction manual to create an accessible and easy-to-get-started method intended to be driven by the developers themselves. The process has been developed through extensive review of extant threat modeling methods and the circumstances of the agile team, and trialed through user tests at an agile ITorganization in the financial services. / Agila principer för mjukvaruutveckling är nu industristandard för innovativa projekt. Agila metoder hyllas ofta för sin flexibilitet men det finns också en vidspridd uppfattning att agila metoder och mjukvarusäkerhet inte går bra ihop. Av den anledningen är det inte ovanligt att säkerhetsansvar och -uppgifter drivs av en separat säkerhetsgrupp, vilket går emot de agila principerna om fokus på utvecklarteamet. Detta kan få effekter både för projektets flexibilitet och dess tidsram. Dessutom är IT-säkerhet ett svårt ämne som kräver både erfarenhet och avsevärd kunskap, något som funnits variera mycket bland mjukvaruutvecklare. Den här studien presenterar en hotmodelleringsprocess som skräddarsytts för utvecklarteamets specifika behov och styrkor. Processen kombinerar funktioner från attackträd och abuser stories med andra, komplementära tekniker i en pedagogisk instruktionsmanual för att leverera en lättillgänglig och snabbstartad metod menad att drivas av utvecklarna själva. Processen har utvecklats genom omfattande studier av etablerade hotmodelleringsprocesser, samt den agila teammiljön, och testats och vidareutvecklats genom användartester hos en agil IT-organisation inom finansbranschen.

In today’s volatile market, retail companies struggle for survival as they have to become more flexible and dynamic. Thus, they change the organization, implementing agile methods. However agile is more than a set of practices and therefore the implementation process needs to be accompanied by organizational development to accomplish successful organizational change. This has been shown to be difficult for retail companies due to their size, defined silos, comfortable long-established ways of doing things and strong bureaucratic hierarchical culture. This thesis studies the implementation of agile in a large-scale retail organization and uses organizational development as a tool for deeper understanding and analysis. The study has been conducted at one of Sweden's leading retail organizations, where the research design contains two phases: one pre-study phase where a deeper understanding of the company and the transformation is achieved resulting in a problem formulation and the second phase where the main study is directed by the problem formulation and leads to an analysis and conclusion. The analysis is based on empirics gathered from three separate teams and is divided into three interconnected change phases, “Preparation”, “Implementation” and “Desired state”. From the analysis in the preparation and implementation phases; strengths and challenges within the organization were identified. Together with a maturity model to evaluate the implemented agile practices and an organizational culture assessment instrument to evaluate people and culture, the strengths and challenges were then used to estimate their current state and compare it to their future desired state. In conclusion, the strengths of the case company were that, when implemented, the observed teams incorporated the agile ceremonies and ways of work successfully. However, there were challenges identified in relation to resistance within management, there was a general lack of support from the sponsors and confusion about the managerial roles. There was also a lack of communication, cooperation and synchronizations between teams. / I dagens flyktiga marknader kämpar företag inom dagligvaruhandeln för att överleva då de måste bli mer flexibla och dynamiska i deras strategi. För att bemöta detta ändrar företagen sin strategi genom implementering av agila metoder. Emellertid handlar att vara agil inte bara om att använda sig av olika verktyg och övningar för att ändra hur man arbetar, utan för att implementeringen av agila metoder ska vara lyckad, måste den följas med av en lyckad organisationsförändring. En sådan agil implementering och organisationsförändring har visats vara komplicerad i just dagligvaruhandeln på grund av organisationernas ofta stora storlek, definierade silos, komfortabla gamla traditioner och starka hierarkiska organisationskultur. Denna uppsats studerar implementationen av agilt i ett storskaligt företag inom dagligvaruhandeln och använder sig av organisationsutveckling som ett verktyg för att nå en djupare förståelse och analys. Analysen är uppdelad i tre olika sammanhängande faser “Förberedelse”, “Implementering”, och “Önskat Tillstånd”. Empirin analysen är baserad på kommer från tre olika separata team, vilka är i olika faser av den agila transformationen. I förberedelse- och implementeringsfaserna identifieras styrkor och utmaningar hos företaget. Dessa används sedan tillsammans med en mognadhetsmodell, för att evaluera de agila tillvägagångssätten samt ett bedömningsinstrument för organisationskultur, för att evaluera personer och kultur, i syfte att sedan utvärdera det nuvarande tillståndet i jämförelse med det önskade. Sammanfattningsvis lyckades de observerade teamen att framgångsrikt implementera de agila metoderna och arbetssätten. Däremot identifierades flera utmaningar i relation till motstånd inom management. Det fanns en generell förvirring kring chefs rollernas betydelse och det saknades stöd från ledningsgruppen. Slutligen identifierades även förbättringsområden inom kommunikation, samarbete och synkronisering mellan olika team.