Context. Continuous delivery deals with concept of deploying the user stories as soon as they are finished rather than waiting for the sprint to end. This concept increases the chances of early improvement to the software and provides the customer with a clear view of the final product that is expected from the software organization, but little research has been done on the quality of product developed and the ways to measure it. This research is conducted in the context of presenting a checklist of quality metrics that can be used by the practitioners to ensure good quality product delivery. Objectives. In this study, the authors strive towards the accomplishment of the following objectives: the first objective is to identify the quality metrics being used in agile approaches and continuous delivery by the organizations. The second objective is to evaluate the usefulness of the identified metrics, limitations of the metrics and identify new metrics. The final objective is to is to present and evaluate a solution i.e., checklist of metrics that can be used by practitioners to ensure quality of product developed using continuous delivery. Methods. To accomplish the objectives, the authors used mixture of approaches. First literature review was performed to identify the quality metrics being used in continuous delivery. Based on the data obtained from the literature review, the authors performed an online survey using a questionnaire posted over an online questionnaire hosting website. The online questionnaire was intended to find the usefulness of identified metrics, limitations of using metrics and also to identify new metrics based on the responses obtained for the online questionnaire. The authors conducted interviews and the interviews comprised of few close-ended questions and few open-ended questions which helped the authors to validate the usage of the metrics checklist. Results. Based on the LR performed at the start of the study, the authors obtained data regarding the background of continuous delivery, research performed over continuous delivery by various practitioners as well as a list of quality metrics used in continuous delivery. Later, the authors conducted an online survey using questionnaire that resulted in ranking the usefulness of quality metrics and identification of new metrics used in continuous delivery. Based on the data obtained from the online questionnaire, a checklist of quality metrics involved in continuous delivery was generated. Conclusions. Based on the interviews conducted to validate the checklist of metrics (generated as a result of the online questionnaire), the authors conclude that the checklist of metrics is fit for use in industry, but with some necessary changes made to the checklist based on the project requirements. The checklist will act as a reminder to the practitioners regarding the quality aspects that need to be measured during product development and maybe as a starting point while planning metrics that need to be measured during the project.

Viele Industrieunternehmen sind auf der Suche nach neuen Strategien für eine zukunftssichernde Produktentwicklung. Die Gründe dafür sind in den Herausforderungen zu suchen, die häufig in schnelle Änderungen von Kundenwünschen, der Verbreitung moderner Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien, kürzeren Technologielebenszyklen, Forderungen nach ökologischer Nachhaltigkeit wie auch in der weiteren zunehmenden Vernetzung der Wirtschaft zu suchen. Die heutige Entwicklungsumgebung in Unternehmen, mit meist starren Abteilungsstrukturen, wenig Kommunikation mit den Kunden und zwischen den Abteilungen im Unternehmen sowie der Auslieferung eines auf einem einmal erstellen Lastenheft basierenden Produkten wird den Anforderungen nicht mehr gerecht. In diesem Zusammenhang rücken agile Vorgehensweisen gepaart mit additiven Fertigungsverfahren für physische Produkte in den Fokus der Entwicklung.

<p dir="ltr">The early COVID-19 pandemic presented a sudden and shared challenge to educators across the country. This dissertation focuses on the challenges presented to writing program administrators (WPAs), a group in higher education who provides leadership and guidance to courses which frequently fulfill writing requirements for students such as First Year Composition. In asking what we can learn from these WPAs who supported teaching and learning in difficult times, I arrive at an understanding of education which is always changing and in crisis. I position writing program administration—which is often poorly-understood, capacious work—within what we know about wicked problems (Rittel & Webber, 1973), which are iterative and socially situated in ways that call for responsiveness and collaboration. To respond to this exigence, I begin to describe an approach of <i>agile writing program administration</i>, which centers the needs of students and teachers through changes that affect teaching and learning.</p><p dir="ltr">My study began with a survey (n=55) collecting information from WPAs on how they targeted support to instructors in 2020’s Emergency Remote Teaching. I then conducted a series of two interviews (n=13) that included narratives of that support, reflections on programmatic decisions, and analysis of texts created to support instructors and students. This data analysis led me to four themes that describe agile WPAs in the early pandemic: centering humans; promoting accessibility and usability; responding to users; and strategizing to respond to change.</p><p dir="ltr">Responding to Lindquist's (2021) call for the field of writing studies to revisit its commonplaces of work, I reconsider commonplaces of writing program administration: its activities, what it takes for granted, and what often goes unseen with this work. Most importantly, I move away from any commonplace understanding of education as stable. Instead, I argue that writing program administration, like any wicked problem, is an iterative problem which therefore requires iterative response. Just as the pandemic didn't definitively end, the issues facing down a WPA continue and change and multiply. WPAs are asked to navigate changes in student populations and needs, updates to local and statewide policies, and an increasingly contingent instructional labor force in higher education. An agile framework for writing program administration can inform more practical and intentional ways for WPAs to achieve their goals of supporting, first and foremost, the instructors and students involved in these writing programs.</p>