Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the interplay between agile and mechanistic management control and the motivation of the employees affected by them, and thereby contribute to the understanding of how management control interplays with motivation. Research question: How does agile and mechanistic management control interplay with employees’ motivation in the management consulting profession? Methodology: Qualitative research with Semi-structured interviews. Seven management consultants from different firms were interviewed. Findings: Agile management control was found to be somewhat more commonly occurring than mechanistic management control among the respondents. Agile management control was seen as more motivating than mechanistic. Personal development was found to be the most prevalent part of intrinsic motivation in this study. Contributions: This paper contributes to the existing literature by offering a perspective of management control’s interplay with motivation specifically for management consultants. This interplay can be seen as being focused on personal development, possibly due to the employees’ motivation to choose this field.

<p>Предмет докторске дисертације представља истраживање ефеката примене агилног прилаза управљању пројектима изван софтверске индустрије, кроз анализу разлике у утицају који агилни прилаз може имати на успех пројекта, у поређењу са традиционалним прилазом. Основни циљ докторске дисертације је да на основу теоријских налаза и емпиријских резултата пружи подршку процесу одабира и подешавања прилаза управљању пројектима у циљу унапређења перформанси пројекта. За сврхе емпиријског дела истраживања коришћене су напредне статистичке методе обраде података. Резултати истраживања применљиви су у свим организацијама који користе пројектно управљање. За научну заједницу, резултати истраживања имаће значај за даљи развој теорије контигенције (теорија модерног управљања) у управљању пројектима.</p> / <p>Predmet doktorske disertacije predstavlja istraživanje efekata primene agilnog prilaza upravljanju projektima izvan softverske industrije, kroz analizu razlike u uticaju koji agilni prilaz može imati na uspeh projekta, u poređenju sa tradicionalnim prilazom. Osnovni cilj doktorske disertacije je da na osnovu teorijskih nalaza i empirijskih rezultata pruži podršku procesu odabira i podešavanja prilaza upravljanju projektima u cilju unapređenja performansi projekta. Za svrhe empirijskog dela istraživanja korišćene su napredne statističke metode obrade podataka. Rezultati istraživanja primenljivi su u svim organizacijama koji koriste projektno upravljanje. Za naučnu zajednicu, rezultati istraživanja imaće značaj za dalji razvoj teorije kontigencije (teorija modernog upravljanja) u upravljanju projektima.</p> / <p>The subject of the doctoral dissertation is to investigate the effects of agile<br />project management beyond the software industry, by analyzing the difference<br />in the impact that an agile approach can have on the project success,<br />compared to the traditional approach. The primary goal of the doctoral<br />dissertation, based on theoretical findings and empirical results, is to support<br />the process of selecting and tailoring down project management approach, in<br />order to improve project performances. In the empirical part part of the<br />research, advanced statistical methods have been used. The research<br />findings are applicable to all organizations using project management. For the<br />scientific community, the results of the research will have relevance for the<br />further development of contingency management theory (modern<br />management theory) in project management.</p>

Background: Big data analytics has been referred to as a hype the past decade, making manyorganizations adopt data-driven processes to stay competitive in their industries. Many of theorganizations adopting big data analytics use agile methodologies where the most importantoutcome is to maximize business value. Multiple scholars argue that big data analytics lead toincreased business value, however, there is a theoretical gap within the literature about how agileorganizations can capture this business value in a practically relevant way. Purpose: Building on a combined definition that capturing business value means being able todefine-, communicate- and measure it, the purpose of this thesis is to explore how agileorganizations capture business value from big data analytics, as well as find out what aspects ofvalue are relevant when defining it. Method: This study follows an abductive research approach by having a foundation in theorythrough the use of a qualitative research design. A single case study of Nike Inc. was conducted togenerate the primary data for this thesis where nine participants from different domains within theorganization were interviewed and the results were analysed with a thematic content analysis. Findings: The findings indicate that, in order for agile organizations to capture business valuegenerated from big data analytics, they need to (1) define the value through a synthezised valuemap, (2) establish a common language with the help of a business translator and agile methods,and (3), measure the business value before-, during- and after the development by usingindividually idenified KPIs derived from the business value definition.

Till följd av utbrottet av covid-19-pandemin gick många företag över till distansarbete. Syftet med denna studie att undersöka vilka effekter det ofrivilliga distansarbetet har haft på anställda som arbetar med agil utveckling. För att besvara detta formulerades två frågeställningar: Hur har ledare i agila team upplevt att deras psykosociala arbetsmiljö har påverkats av det påtvingade distansarbetet under Covid-19-pandemin? Samt: Hur har ledare i agila team upplevt att gränsdragningen mellan privatliv och arbetsliv har förändrats? För att besvara frågeställningarna genomfördes semistrukturerade intervjuer med 7 deltagare som innehar ledande positioner i agila utvecklingsteam. För att analysera det som framkom i studien användes en gränsteori samt krav-kontroll-stödmodell. Slutsatsen visar att studiedeltagarna har hög kontroll över sin arbetssituation, trots att de har behövt arbeta enligt nya arbetsmetoder. Det framkom att det finns möjligheter att få hjälp/stöd från kollegor och chef, men att det inte finns utrymme för spontanitet i lika hög grad som tidigare. De uppgav vidare att gränserna mellan arbetsliv och privatliv har suddats ut. Flera menade dock att det inte har varit något problem då de identifierar sig med sitt jobb. / As a result of the outbreak of the covid-19-pandemic, many companies switched to teleworking. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of involuntary teleworking on employees working with agile development. To answer this, two questions were formulated: How have leaders in agile teams experienced that their psychosocial work environment has been affected by the forced teleworking during the Covid-19-pandemic? As well as: How have leaders in agile teams experienced that the demarcation between private life and working life has changed? To answer the questions, semistructured interviews were conducted with 7 participants who hold leading positions in agile development teams. To analyze what emerged in the study, a border-theory and job-demand-control-support model were used. The conclusion shows that the study participants have high control over their work situation, even though they have had to work according to new working methods. It emerged that there are opportunities to get help from colleagues and the manager, but that spontaneity does not exist as much as before. They further stated that the boundaries between work and private life have been blurred. However, many believe that there has been no problem as they identify with their job.

Most people are used to recording videos on their mobile phones. However, becoming a streamer is another step further in complexity. This thesis evaluates how a streaming scheduling system can be developed to enhance the usability. It goes from idea to finished system using a design-build-test approach. To accomplish the objective the project uses three phases (research, design-build-test, and final prototype) to investigate how to build a streaming scheduling system for users lacking technical proficiency. A finalized prototype was built in the design-build-test phase, based on findings in the research phase. After the prototype was finalized, it got implemented and tested on Kvix streaming platform. The final hi-fi prototype was tested using an online questionnaire, consisting of a system usability scale and open-ended questions. The final proposed solution had a satisfaction score of 82.81 (grade A) with a probability of 70% on the system usability scale which indicates that it is effective, efficient and satisfactory.

The construction industry has a clear process it follows therefore the working method within it also has become rigid. Through long time the stage-gate model has been used by the project management. Construction projects are often complex, have long stages and long decisions routes. When a stage is completed questions have been raised and lead to that change is needed to be made before moving on to next stage. This takes time, costs more than calculated and the function gets compromised. The purpose with this thesis is to investigate if the current project management approach can be performed more efficiently by applying agile project management to the design stage. This thesis is performed with a qualitative research approach. It started with a thoroughly literature review of relevant topics such as agile project management, the construction process and change management. When a solid base of knowledge was gathered about the research area an interview study was conducted and a survey was sent out. The findings are a result from the interview study and the survey. The interview questions and findings are divided into four focus areas of agile project management which are project planning, meeting structure, group collaboration and communication. The discussion connects the literature with the information from the interviews and the discussion is presented with the reflections from the authors. The conclusions present the answers on the research questions. The final chapter about further research is presenting perspectives that have not been answered in this thesis. The thesis concludes that project management methods within construction projects are not as rigid as it is described in the literature. The lack of knowledge and awareness of other working methods creates a culture of "this is how it always has been done" within the four focus areas of agile project management. All of the reference projects were time pressured and it was in those situations where ii most tendencies to adjust management method was shown. The studied projects had fixed meeting structures and when emergency occurred, extra meetings were held. The project management teams had good collaboration due to that they were co-located and not too big groups. The co-location also facilitated the communication which was compared to team members that were not co-located and struggled with the communication. The communication generally worked well vertically and was struggling horizontally. Agile project management cannot be achieved to 100% and it is difficult to apply all of its characteristics on the construction industry since it was developed from the software industry which has other traits than construction. On the other hand, agile project management is a mindset of continuously improvement and flexibility of the used working methods which can be used by the construction industry. The construction industry has to follow some specific processes such as applying for building permits and is affected by political decisions. Therefore the current project management methods are restricted to follow certain frameworks. The framework is hard to change though it leaves space for changed methods and attitudes within the framework and the design stage. All types of construction projects can use the agile mindset and it is important that the whole organization relates to the agile mindset to achieve greatest outcome. Steps towards agile can be done in current projects by emphasis more on reconciliations and let the projects progression decide the meeting structure. / Byggprocessen är en väletablerad process inom byggindustrin som byggprojekt genomgår. Genom de tydliga och historiska riktlinjerna som processen följer har byggindustrin fått anseendet att vara stel och konservativ. För att hantera byggprocessen har projektledningen följt Stage-gate modellen med tydliga delmål och beslutsgrindar. Byggprojekt är ofta komplicerade och stora vilket leder till långa beslutsvägar. När ett projekt når en grind vid ett avslut av ett delmål uppstår ofta frågor som leder till förändringar av delmålet. För att behandla förändringarna så behöver processen genomgå ett omtag, att göra om delmålet innan processen kan gå vidare till nästa delmål. Omtagen tar tid, kostar pengar och det kompromissas med funktionen. Denna uppsats har som mål att undersöka om den aktuella projektledningsmetoden kan effektiviseras genom att introducera agil projektledning i projekteringen. Uppsatsen genomförs med en kvalitativ metod. Det första steget är att finna relevant litteratur om berörda ämnen som agil projektledning, byggprocessen och förändringsledning. Med fördjupad kunskap och förståelse inom ämnena genomfördes en intervjustudie och en enkät sändes ut. Resultaten identifierades från intervjuerna och svaren från enkäten. Intervjufrågorna och resultatet är uppdelat i fyra olika agila kategorier som anses gå att applicera på byggindustrin. Kategorierna är projektplanering, mötesstruktur, gruppsamarbete och kommunikation. Resultatet följs utav diskussionen som binder samman litteraturen med resultatet och författarnas reflektioner. Därefter presenteras slutsatsen och avslutningsvis rekommenderas frågeställningar till fortsatta undersökningar. Projektledningsmetoderna som används inom byggprojekt upplevdes inte lika stela som litteraturen beskriver dock fanns det lite kunskap och medvetenhet om andra typer av projektledningsmetoder. Avsaknaden är en bidragande faktor till att den upplevda kulturen anses vara konservativ. Inom de fyra kategorierna fanns det möjligheter till att arbeta mer agilt. När projekten är tidspressade visades mest benägenhet på att förändra projektledningsmetoden. Detta kunde ses tydligt på mötesstrukturen i projekten där den var fast ifrån början men blev mer rörlig då kritiska situationer uppstod. Gruppsamarbetet fungerade bra inom projektledningen för att de var samlokaliserade och inte för stora grupper. Detta underlättade även för en fungerande kommunikation då det märktes att de som inte var samlokaliserade hade svårigheter med kommunikationen. De horisontella kommunikationsvägarna hade generellt sett svårare att fungera än de vertikala kommunikationsvägarna. Eftersom agilt inte är en standard utan är ett arbetssätt som alltid strävar efter att förbättras är det svårt att uppnå ett 100 % agilt arbetssätt. Inom byggindustrin finns vissa ramverk som ska följas vilket gör att projektledningen begränsas. Med fasta ramverk finns lite utrymme för förändring men det finns möjlighet till att förändra processen och tankesättet inom ramverket. Alla typer av byggprojekt kan därför anamma delar av agil projektledning och för att uppnå största möjliga effekt gäller det att hela organisationen är engagerad. Andra enkla steg för att arbeta mer agilt inom projektledningen är att lägga mer vikt vid avstämningsmöten och låta projektets utveckling bestämma mötesstrukturen.

The established use of IT systems has increased the use of information in modern enterprises.From this information use, the concept of Business Intelligence has developed to enable more efficientand informed decision-making. As the business’ requirements of Business Intelligence reports changesrapidly due to changes of the business’ needs and more analytical organisations, traditional BusinessIntelligence development faces problems of ad-hoc analyses due to the inefficient adaption to changingneeds.This Master Thesis serves the purpose of deepen the understanding of the establishment of an agiledevelopment program of Self-service BI, addressing the concerns of more effectively meeting the changingrequirements of traditional Business Intelligence development. This study explores enablers through aqualitative case study, conducted at a Swedish bank, consisting of four group interviews discussing theestablishment of such program in Organisational, Processes, Technical and External dimensions,respectively. The qualitative case study was then followed by a discussion of governance of such programfor alignment to enablers.The qualitative case study resulted in 15 enablers of an agile development program of Self-Service BI,considering further enablers compared to more general literature of BI success factors, addressing theperspective of both an agile development program and Self-Service BI applications. The discussion ofgovernance of the program then identified eight governance mechanisms, which might align the programto the enablers, for successful establishment and development of applications.The findings of the study can be considered to culminate into a structure of an agile development programof Self-Service BI. The Thesis presents, from the findings, a framework for structuring such program,consisting of three development phases; Ordering process, Agile development, and Maintenance/Supportand Training, and with the discussed governance for steering the development.

Software security for agile methods, particularly for those designed for individual developers, is still a major concern. With most software products deployed over the Internet, security as a key component of software quality has become a major problem. In addressing this problem, this research proposes a solo software development methodology (SSDM) that uses as minimum resources as possible, at the same time conforming to the best practice for delivering secure and high-quality software products. Agile methods have excelled on delivering timely and quality software. At the same time research also shows that most agile methods do not address the problem of security in the developed software. A metasynthesis of SSDMs conducted in this thesis confirmed the lack practices that promote security in the developed software product. On the other hand, some researchers have demonstrated the feasibility of incorporating existing lightweight security practices into agile methods. This research uses Design Science Research (DSR) to build, demonstrate and evaluate a lightweight SSDM. Using an algorithm adapted for the purpose, the research systematically integrates lightweight security and quality practices to produce an agile secure-solo software development methodology (Secure-SSDM). A multiple-case study in an academic and industry setting is conducted to demonstrate and evaluate the utility of the methodology. This demonstration and evaluation thereof, indicates the applicability of the methodology in building high-quality and secure software products. Theoretical evaluation of the agility of the Secure-SSDM using the four-dimensional analytical tool (4-DAT) shows satisfactory compliance of the methodology with agile principles. The main contributions in this thesis are: the Secure-SSDM, which entails description of the concepts, modelling languages, stages, tasks, tools and techniques; generation of a quality theory on practices that promote quality in a solo software development environment; adaptation of Keramati and Mirian-Hosseinabadi’s algorithm for the purposes of integrating quality and security practices. This research would be of value to researchers as it introduces the security component of software quality into a solo software development environment, probing more research in the area. To software developers the research has provided a lightweight methodology that builds quality and security into the product using minimum resources. / School of Computing / D. Phil. (Computer Science)

Kravprioritering är ett av de viktigaste och mest inflytelserika stegen vid tillverkning av en mjukvaruprodukt. Processen är iterativ; den sker under hela produktens agila mjukvaruutvecklingsprocess. Genom kravprioritering beslutas det om vilka krav som ska utvecklas, i vilken ordning och varför.  Målet med denna studie är att undersöka hur mjukvaruutvecklande företag gör för att kravprioritera, samt identifiera vilka prioriteringsmetoder de eventuellt använder sig av. Studiens syfte är att få en förståelse för varför en väl avvägd prioritering är viktig, vilka särskilda prioriteringsfaktorer som ger värde till en produkt och att se hur dessa faktorer är relaterade till resultatet. Syftet är även att undersöka vilka svårigheter som finns i en prioriteringsprocess, samt att skapa en översikt över några av de mest vedertagna prioriteringsmetoderna inom agil mjukvaruutveckling.  Studien utförs i samarbete med mjukvaruföretaget Monitor ERP för att analysera företagets prioriteringsprocesser som används för att utveckla deras affärssystem Monitor. Metoden som används är en kvalitativ undersökning som består av observationer av möten kring prioriteringsarbete och semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Bearbetning av insamlat material skedde genom att organisera, analysera och sammanställa resultat enligt begrepp och kategorier som framkom utifrån litteraturstudien. Resultatet redovisar arbetsprocesser, gemensamma mål, prioriteringsaspekter och utmaningar i prioriteringsarbetet hos Monitor ERP. En väl avvägd prioritering visade sig vara viktigt för att kunna leverera rätt funktionalitet i tid, för att kunna ge trovärdiga estimeringar om utvecklingen och det i sin tur leder till att kunder får förtroende för både produkten och företaget. En rad olika prioriteringsfaktorer som ger värde till programvaran Monitor identifierades, varav många bidrar till att öka kundnöjdheten och kvaliteten på produkten. Monitor ERP använder inte några särskilda prioriteringsmetoder, utan utvecklingsfilosofin Minimum Viable Product används som grund till deras prioriteringsval. Under prioriteringsarbetet upplevdes utmaningar såsom begränsade resurser, oförutsägbara uppgifter, svårigheter med tidsestimering och en utmaning i balansen mellan kundnytta och kundfokus. / Prioritizing requirements is one of the most important and influential steps in the creation of a software product. The process is iterative; it takes place during the entire agile software development. Through prioritizing requirements, it is decided which requirements are to be developed, in which order, and why.  The aim of this study is to investigate how companies that design software prioritize requirements and to identify which prioritization methods they might use during this process. The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding for why a well-balanced prioritization is important, which specific prioritization factors give value to a product, as well as identifying how these factors are related to the result. The purpose is also to investigate the difficulties that exist in a prioritization process, and to create an overview of some of the most used prioritization methods in agile software development.  This study is conducted in collaboration with the software company Monitor ERP in order to analyze the company's prioritization processes used to develop their business management system Monitor. The method used is a qualitative study that consists of observations of meetings about prioritization processes, and semi-structured interviews. Processing of collected material was done by organizing, analyzing, and compiling results according to concepts and categories that emerged from the literature study. The results documents work processes, common goals, prioritization aspects and challenges in the requirements prioritization at Monitor ERP.  A well-balanced prioritization proved to be important to be able to deliver the right functionality on time and to be able to provide dependable estimates of development, which in turn leads to customers gaining confidence in both the product and the company. A number of prioritization factors that give value to the Monitor software were identified, many of which contribute to increasing customer satisfaction and product quality. Monitor ERP does not use any specific prioritization methods, but the development philosophy Minimum Viable Product is used as a basis for their prioritization choices. During the prioritization process, challenges such as limited resources, unpredictable tasks, difficulties with time estimation, and a challenge in balancing customer value and customer focus were experienced.

La presente tesis tiene como finalidad el diseño y desarrollo de un modelo de gestión por procesos para mejorar el problema de los desperdicios y reprocesos de la cadena de producción de polos de una mediana empresa de confecciones, a fin de encaminarlo hacia la metodología Lean Manufacturing. Esta propuesta se llevará a cabo en una empresa que pertenece al rubro textil y/o confecciones que se emplea fundamentalmente en la elaboración de prendas de vestir. Esta tesis propone un modelo de gestión con fundamentos agiles basado en la gestión por procesos, se espera que las Pymes del rubro textil y confecciones aumenten su productividad. En el primer capítulo, se realizará la revisión literaria de artículos científicos sobre conceptos relacionados. En el segundo capítulo se realizará el diagnóstico del sector mediante la exploración de fuentes secundarias. Así mismo, se realiza el diagnóstico de la situación actual mediante fuentes primarias de la mediana empresa. En el tercer capítulo, se realiza la interpretación del problema y se propone un modelo de gestión ágil para la implantación de distintas herramientas Lean. En el cuarto capítulo se lleva a cabo la implementación piloto del modelo propuesto. Así mismo, se detalla la estructura del paquete de trabajo, cronograma y el presupuesto de la implementación de la propuesta. Además, se presenta la validación del modelo, los impactos que genera en la empresa y los primeros resultados de la adopción. Por último, en el quinto capítulo se mencionan las principales conclusiones y recomendaciones de la presente investigación. / The purpose of the present thesis is the design and development of a process management model to improve the waste and reprocessing problem of shirt production chain of a medium sized confections company, in order to guide it towards the Lean Manufacturing methodology. This proposal will take place in a company that belongs to the textile and/or confections industry, which is mainly used in the manufacture of clothing. This thesis proposes a management model with agile fundamentals based on management processes, it is expected that SMEs in the textile sector and confections increase their productivity. In the first chapter, the literary review of scientific articles on related concepts will be carried out. In the second chapter, a diagnosis of the sector will be carried out by exploring secondary sources. Likewise, a diagnosis of the current situation of the medium-sized company was made through quantitative data. In the third chapter, the interpretation of the problem is carried out and an agile management model is proposed for the implementation of different Lean tools. In the fourth chapter, the pilot implementation of the proposed model is carried out. Likewise, the structure of the work package, schedule and budget for the implementation of the proposal are detailed. In addition, the validation of the model, the impacts and the first results of the adoption are presented on this document. Finally, in the fifth chapter the main conclusions and recommendations of the present investigation are mentioned. / Tesis