User experience (UX) design is becoming increasingly crucial for developing successful software today. It can determine whether or not users stay engaged with a product or service and it can also affect the time spent completing tasks which can make a large difference to employees when they try to get their job done. It is therefore important that organizations have their users in mind when developing software and that there is a maturity for UX and user-centered work. Since there are organizations where UX is not highly valued and where the maturity for UX is low it is interesting to find out what can be done to increase the UX work within these organizations, which was the aim of this thesis. The problem was addressed by studying a specific organization that expressed difficulty getting UX work to fit in their working routines, partly due to the fact that they were also working with agile software development. The organization’s maturity for UX was evaluated using Nielsen’s UX maturity model which is a model that describes eight different stages of UX maturity. Data was collected through a survey where questions were based on the UX maturity model and was then followed up with five semi-structured interviews. The results showed that the highest level of maturity yet reached within the organization was stage four, where there is a budget and plan for UX in some projects and where some teams have defined UX roles. A lower level of maturity could also be identified for some teams. Based on these findings, actions for how the organization can increase their UX maturity were discussed. These actions were concluded to be: plan for UX, find a way to show UX results, meet with real users, have UX professionals lead the way and structure UX work to fit with agile processes. / Användarupplevelsen (UX) är ytterst viktig vid utvecklingen av framgångrika produkter. En bra användarupplevelse kan vara avgörande för om användaren väljer att fortsätta använda en produkt eller tjänst. Den kan också ha en påverkan på tiden som det tar för en användare att slutföra en uppgift vilket kan göra stor skillnad för effektiviteten hos t.ex. anställda. Det är därför av vikt att system utvecklas med användaren i fokus och att det finns en mognad för UX och användar-centrerat arbete inom organisationer. Eftersom att det finns organisationer där användarupplevelsen inte värderas högt och där UX-mognaden är låg så är det intressant att ta reda på vad som kan göras för att denna UX-mognad ska öka. Målet med den här masteruppsatsen var att ta reda på just det. I det här arbetet studerades en specifik organisation som upplevde svårigheter med att få användar-centrerat arbete att passa ihop med deras övriga arbetsrutiner, bl.a. agil utveckling. Organisationens UX-mognad utvärderades med hjälp utav Nielsens UX-mognads modell som är en modell som beskriver åtta steg av UX-mognad. Data samlades in genom en enkät som var baserad på den här mognadsmodellen samt fem stycken semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultaten visade att den högsta mognadsgraden som hittills hade uppnåtts inom organisationen var steg fyra, där det finns UX-budget och planering för UX i vissa projekt och där vissa team har utnämnda UX-roller. En lägre mognadsgrad kunde även identifieras för vissa team. Baserat på resultaten diskuterades fem stycken handlingar fram som kan bidra till en ökad UX-mognad för organisationen. Dessa handlingar var: planera för UX, hitta sätt att visa UX-resultat, träffa riktiga användare, låt de med UX-kompetens visa vägen samt strukturera UX-arbetet så att det passar med agila arbetsprocesser.

Context: Software testing is the process of assessing quality of a software product to determine whether it matches with the existing requirements of the customer or not. Software testing is one of the “Verification and Validation,” or V&V, software practices. The two basic techniques of software testing are Black-box testing and White box testing. Black-box testing focuses solely on the outputs generated in response to the inputs supplied neglecting the internal components of the software. Whereas, White-box testing focuses on the internal mechanism of the software of any application. To explore the feasibility of black-box and white-box testing under a given set of conditions, a proper test automation framework needs to be deployed. Automation is deployed in order to reduce the manual effort and to perform testing continuously, thereby increasing the quality of the product. Objectives: In this research, cloud hosted application is automated using TestComplete tool. The objective of this thesis is to verify the functionality of cloud application such as test appliance library through automation and to measure the impact of the automation on release cycles of the organisation. Methods: Here automation is implemented using scrum methodology which is an agile development software process. Using scrum methodology, the product with working software can be delivered to the customers incrementally and empirically with updating functionalities in it. Test appliance library functionality is verified deploying testing device thereby keeping track of automatic software downloads into the testing device and licenses updating in the testing device. Results: Automation of test appliance functionality of cloud hosted application is made using TestComplete tool and impact of automation on release cycles is found reduced. Through automation of cloud hosted application, nearly 24% of reduction in level of release cycles can be observed thereby reducing the manual effort and increasing the quality of delivery. Conclusion: Automation of a cloud hosted application provides no manual effort thereby utilisation of time can be made effectively and application can be tested continuously increasing the efficiency and / AUTOMATION OF A CLOUD HOSTED APPLICATION

Background. Agile Software Development (ASD) promises agility and flexibility in dealing with uncertainty by prioritizing interaction between people supported by informal communication and knowledge sharing. The lack of practices to manage the knowledge as a resource might jeopardize the application of knowledge in the production of goods and service. The utilization of Knowledge Management (KM) strategies can significantly support achieving and sustaining competitive advantage and brings several benefits to software development. However, how to manage knowledge in ASD is still not well understood or investigated.  Objectives. The main objective of this thesis is to contribute to the software engineering field by providing a different perspective on directions that KM can take to improve knowledge-based resource (KBR) management in ASD. The detailed objectives are: (i) Understand the current ASD environment regarding KM; (ii) Identify KBRs in ASD and its implications for KM; and (iii) Provide an initial set of variables to evaluate knowledge criticality of knowledge items in ASD.  Method. We used a mixed-methods approach to address the objective of this thesis. The methods selected to conduct the studies include systematic literature review, grounded theory, and improvement case study. The data collection comprised a literature review, semi-structured interviews, and practitioners’ feedback through static validation.  Results. From our SLR we observed that that KM strategies in ASD promote mainly knowledge transfer through practices that stimulate social interaction to share tacit knowledge in the project layer, increasing the risk of losing knowledge by keeping the knowledge localized inside a few individual’s minds. When it comes to coordination, practitioners utilize KBRs in their routines, through social collaboration within teams’ environment/settings. However, this process is nonsystematic, which brings inefficiency to KBR utilization resulting in knowledge loss. It can generate negative implications to the course of the software development, including meaningless searches in databases, frustration because of recurrent problems, and unawareness of knowledge sources. To support decision making related to knowledge retention, we have developed an initial version of the method to evaluate the criticality (KCEM) of a knowledge item, which is divided into two categories, relevance, and scarcity.  Conclusion. The current results of this thesis are of particular interest. However, we recognize that the work is unfinished. As a complement to this thesis, we have planned our long-term objective, which is to contribute to creating scalable KM solutions for companies adopting ASD.We divide this long-term objective into three studies: Carry out a complementary study to apply KCEM in different companies; explore efficient ways of storing codified knowledge in combination with the KCEM, and investigate how to define metrics to evaluate the outcomes of KM practices. / S.E.R.T.E.R.T. Research Profile

Scrum is one of the Agile software development processes broadly adopted in industry. Scrum promotes frequent customer involvements and incremental short release. Sprint planning is a critical step in Scrum that sets up next release goals and lays out plans to achieve those goals. This thesis presents a Sprint Planning dEcision Support System (SPESS) which is a tool to assist the managers for Sprint planning. Among considering other Sprint planning factors, SPESS takes into consideration developer competency, developer seniority and task dependency. The results are that the assignments of the tasks of each Sprint to developers guarantee that each team member contributes to their fullest potential, and project planning is optimized for the shortest possible time. Keywords—Scrum, Sprint planning, planning poker, competence, task dependence, Hungarian algorithm, Essence. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Context: Knowledge is the major aspect of an organization which enables the enterprise to be more productive and to deliver the high complexity services. Knowledge management plays a key role in agile software development because it supports cultural infrastructure esteems like collaboration, communication, and knowledge transfer. This research aims to explore how organizations that adopts Agile Software Development (ASD) implement knowledge management utilizing practices that supports the key process areas. Several knowledge management maturity models have been proposed over a decade ago but not all of the models that is specially stated knowledge Management Maturity Model (KMMM) for Agile software development. To fulfil this research gap, we introduce the maturity model which emphasize knowledge management in ASD among the practitioners. This maturity model helps to assess their knowledge management in organization and provides a road map to the organizations for any further improvement required in their processes.  Objectives: In this thesis, we investigate the key process areas of knowledge management maturity models that could support agile software development. Through investigation about the key process areas, we found that the organizations should emphasis on key process areas and its practices in order to improve the software process. The objectives of this research include: Explore the key process areas and practices of knowledge management in the knowledge management maturity models.  Identify the views of practitioners on knowledge management practices and key process areas for Agile software development. To propose the maturity model for Knowledge management in Agile software development among the practitioner’s opinions.  Methods: In this research, we conducted two methods: Systematic mapping and Survey to fulfil our aim and objectives. We conducted Systematic mapping study through the snowballing process to investigate empirical literature about Knowledge management maturity models. To triangulate the systematic mapping results, we conducted a survey. From the survey results, we obtained the responses and were analyzed statistically using descriptive statistics. Results: From Systematic mapping, we identified 18 articles and analyzed 24 practices of Knowledge management maturity models. These practices are indicated in key process areas such as process, people, technology. Through the systematic mapping results, 9 KM practices that were found from KMMM literature were listed in the survey questionnaire and answered by software engineering practitioners. Moreover, 5 other new practices for agile have suggested in the survey that was not found in KMMM literature. To address the systematic mapping and survey results, we propose the maturity model which emphasize knowledge management practices in ASD among the practitioners. Conclusions: This thesis lists the main elements of practices that are utilized by the organization and also show the usage of maturity levels at each practice in detail. Furthermore, this thesis helps the organization's to assess the current levels of maturity that exist to each practice in a real process. Hence, the researchers can utilize the model from this thesis and further they can improve their Km in organizations.

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore critical issues and challenges that might arise in agile software development processes with Scrum. It also sought to provide management guidelines to help organizations avoid and overcome barriers in adopting the Scrum method as a future software development method. A qualitative research method design was used to capture the knowledge of practitioners and scrutinize the Scrum software development process in its natural settings. An in-depth case study was conducted in two organizations where the Scrum method was fully integrated in every aspect of two organizations' software development processes. One organization provides large-scale and mission-critical applications and the other provides small- and medium-scale applications. Differences between two organizations provided useful contrasts for the data analysis. Data were collected through an email survey, observations, documents, and semi-structured face-to-face interviews. The email survey was used to refine interview questions; all of the interviews were audio-taped and transcribed, and later coded for analysis. Triangulation in the data collection process provided useful information for different perspectives on the issues, allowed for cross-checking, and yielded stronger substantiation of concepts and common categories. The research presented four common categories of issues and challenges of the Scrum method, and management guidelines to help organizations that are already using the Scrum method or planning to employ it in the future. The framework for a hybrid software development model is then proposed as a future study.

The objective of this thesis is to obtain knowledge regarding how effective user centred evaluation methods are and how user centred evaluations are conducted by IT professionals. This will be achieved by exploring user centred evaluation in experimental and practical settings. The knowledge gained in these studies should inspire suggestions for further research and suggestions for improvements on the user centred evaluation activity. Two experimental studies were conducted. One compares the results from using three user centred evaluation methods, and the other examines two factors while conducting heuristic evaluation. The results show that the think-aloud evaluation method was the most effective method in finding realistic usability problems of the three methods. The number of critical problems found during think-aloud evaluation increases, if heuristic evaluation is conducted prior to the think-aloud evaluations. Further, two studies of user centred evaluation in practical settings were performed. The IT professionals participating in those studies were using the software development process Scrum to plan their work. The results show that user centred evaluation is infrequently conducted in Scrum projects, compared to testing activities like acceptance testing. The main type of evaluation is qualitative. Few participants measure user performance or use surveys to gather quantitative results on the usability and the user experience. IT professionals get feedback from users in an informal way and gather informal feedback from peers. Many participants use a mixture of methods for gathering feedback on their work. The outcome of this thesis shows that IT professionals should be encouraged to include users whenever possible when evaluating software, for example by using the think-aloud method. Using heuristic evaluation prior to conducting think-aloud evaluations is also recommended. In addition, IT professionals are encouraged to evaluate their software in an informal way frequently, rather than waiting for the right time to conduct a thorough quantitative evaluation. To advance this field further, researchers who want to improve the evaluation activity for the IT professionals should study how user centred evaluation methods could be combined in an efficient way and how the use of qualitative evaluation methods could be made more effective. / QC 20120522

Agile software development challenges the traditional way of software development and project management. In rapidly changing environments, changing requirements and tight schedule constraints require software developers to take a different approach toward the process of software development. However, beyond a few case studies, surveys and studies focused on specific practices such as pair programming, the effectiveness and applicability of agile methods have not been established adequately. The objective of my research is to improve the understanding of and gain insights into these issues. For this purpose, I develop a system dynamic simulation model that considers the complex interdependencies among the variety of practices used in agile development. The model is developed on the basis of an extensive review of the literature as well as quantitative and qualitative data collected from real projects in seven organizations. The development of the model was guided by dynamic hypotheses on customer involvement, refactoring and quality of design. The model was refined and validated using data from independent projects. The model helps in answering important questions on the impact of customer behavior, cost of making changes and economics of pair programming. Experimentation with the model suggests that the cost of change is not constant; instead, its value changes cyclically and increases towards the later phase of development. Also, the results of simulation show that with no pair programming, fewer tasks are delivered and it costs more to deliver a task when compared to development with pair programming. Further, customer behavior has a major impact on project performance. The quality of customer feedback is found to be very critical to the successful of an agile software development project. The primary contribution of this research is the simulation model of agile software development that can be used a tool to examine the impact of agile practices and management policies on critical project variables including project scope, schedule, and cost. This research provides a mechanism to study agile development as a dynamic system of practices rather than using a static view and in isolation. The results from this study are expected to be of significant interest to practitioners of agile methods by providing them a simulation environment to examine the impact of their practices, procedures and management policies.

<p>På senare tid har agila systemutvecklingsmetoder trätt fram på marknaden, metoder som värderar flexibilitet, kundmedverkan och fokus på utvecklingsteamet och fungerande mjukvara snarare än fokus på utvecklingsverktygen och dokumentation. Vi vet dock inte vilken typ av systemutvecklingsmetod som verkligen är bättre än den andra. Den här uppsatsen består av en historisk översikt av systemutvecklingsmetoder och en undersökning kring graden av belåtenhet med olika typer av systemutvecklingsmetoder och attityden till de agila värderingarna. Genom en kvantitativ studie har svenska organisationer som utövar systemutveckling tillfrågats angående detta. Resultaten är inte helt säkra, men anspelar på att utövare av mer traditionella systemutvecklingsmetoder var något mer nöjda med sin metod än utövare av agila metoder var, men de agila utövarna var istället mer nöjda med hur deras metod hjälper dem med att tillgodose kundernas behov och önskemål än de traditionella utövarna var. Båda typerna av systemutvecklare var mer positiva till de agila värderingarna än deras motsatser, men de agila metodutövarna var positiva till en större utsträckning.</p> / <p>Recent times have seen the emergence of agile software development methods, valuing flexibility, customer collaboration, and focus on the development team and working software rather than focus on tools and documentation. What is unknown is which type of software development method is really better than the other. This thesis consists of a historical overview of software development methods and an investigation of the level of satisfaction with different types of software development methods and the attitude towards the agile values. Through a quantitative study, Swedish software development organizations have been heard regarding these issues. The results, although not fully statistically supported, indicate that practisers of more traditional software development methods were slightly more satisfied with their methods than practisers of agile methods were, but the agile method practisers were instead more satisfied with how their method helped them in satisfying their customers’ wants and needs than the traditional method practisers were. Both types of software developers were more positive towards the agile values than their counterparts, but the practisers of agile software development methods were so to a greater extent.</p>

The objective of the study was to generate a ‘theory’/ ‘hypothesis’  on the important factors to focus on in implementing agile project methods in globally distributed teams. Using the grounded theory method, five key categories emerged from the so-called theoretical sampling, which entails the joint collection of data, coding and analysis. The study involved 33 individuals in four different companies, three in the Philippines and one in Sweden. The data collected for this thesis consisted of individual interviews in the Philippines and Sweden (Sept-Dec 2014), focus group sessions, observations of formal agile practices and experiences in the substantive area, conducted in the Philippines during the period Sept-Nov 2014.  The following five key categories emerged as the main concerns of the individuals involved in implementing agile project methods in globally distributed teams in software development projects:  (i) Working Communication, (ii)  Self-organizing Teams, (iii) People-centric organization, (iv) Continuous Learning and (v) Sustaining Infrastructure.  The respondents meant that these concerns should be addressed and resolved in such a way that the implementation of Agile project methods would resemble the case of a collocated Agile project team. The key categories, their fundamental characteristics and the subconcepts behind them were presented and analyzed in relation to the empirical data.The analysis included reported incidents and direct citations from the respondents, focus groups and from observations during the field study, in order to shed light on the process used to arrive to the categories, as well as explain the characteristics of the concepts in the emerging ‘grounded hypothesis’.