Field studies, interviews and participative observations have been the main methods in this master thesis where the author has studied, and partially participated, in the development process of a booking system called FRI. Idavall is the small company that develops this suc-cessful software despite small resources. Characteristic for Idavall is in the way they manage to involve their about 1300 users in the development process. The development process is highly flexible which is required when rapidly changes are common. The overall question in this thesis is: How do Idavall manage to develop this software in a flexible way and successfully involve their users in the development process? Idavall arranges FRI-meetings, courses and demonstrations where users meet each other and a representative from Idavall. All participants discuss FRI and have the opportunity to propose changes, improvements and report bugs. One of the most important parts of the busi-ness idea of Idavall is to offer a proper, friendly and professional support. The support is one of the most important possibilities to be informed about the users? needs, wishes and propos-als. This, what I called, user driven development has a lot of common with Participatory De-sign (PD) where users participate in the design of new software. PD implies that users of software should take part in decisions that affect the system and the way it is used and de-signed. Idavall make use of a kind of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which is a concept used in the marketing arena. The objective of CRM is to create a strong, mutual and trustful relationship between supplier and customer. By using CRM in combination with PD it is possible to enhance the user participation and enable user driven development. The company has a flexible development process, which is built on an informal way of driving the process. Informal meetings are common where decisions about changes and im-provements are taken quickly. New versions are delivered about 20 times a year. The employ-ees meet several times a day in the central located coffee room and discuss problems. The development process has a lot of common with Extreme Programming (XP), which is a software development methodology that aims to make software development more flexi-ble and focus on highly flexible environments with quickly changing requirements. XP is de-scribed briefly and comparisons are made to the development process of FRI as well as short-comings of XP in the context of PD.

Denna rapport är en fallstudie som återspeglar framtagandet av en webbplats åt det norska Diabetesforbundet. Webbplatsen är ett community där personer skapar användarkonton och interagerar med varandra med hjälp av ett antal funktioner som finns att tillgå. Då själva utvecklingen av webbplatsen har varit huvudmålet med examensarbetet fokuserar denna rapport på att förklara den praktiska implementeringen. De tekniker och metoder som använts i det praktiska arbetet såsom kontextuellt utforskande och användbarhet definieras och förklaras för att sedan användas vid argumentation kring designval för webbplatsen. Den utvecklingsmetod som använts i det praktiska arbetet har varit en Agile Software Development-metod som kallas Extreme Programming. Denna metod fokuserar på parprogrammering, kontinuerlig testning och utveckling med många delmål. Slutsatser om bland annat webbstandarder, webbläsarkompatibilitet, användbarhet och säkerhet kommer även att presenteras och all kod följer de standarder som satts upp av W3C för XHTML 1.0 Strict och CSS Level 3. / This thesis takes form of a case study which reflects on the development of a website for Diabetesforbundet, the Norwegian Diabetes Association. The website is a community where people can create accounts and use a number of different functions to interact with each other. The focus of this thesis lies in explaining the practical implementation of the website since this aspect is the main purpose of our degree project. We define and explain the techniques and methods used in the practical work like Contextual Inquiry and usability and thereafter put them to use to explain our design choices on the website. The development methodology we have chosen for the practical aspect of this degree project is Extreme Programming. This software development methodology focuses on pair programming, continual testing and incremental implementation. Conclusions made on web standards, web browser compatibility, usability and security will be presented and all written code follows the standards set by W3C for XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS Level 3.

Although there is a growing influence of psychology and human resources in modern management, this area is being often neglected in theory and particularly in praxis of project management. This area offers a big potential for improvement of performance of project teams and increase of teamwork efficiency. Therefore this thesis is focused on human factor in project management and the opportunity for using psychology, especially the theory of motivation and teamwork. There were set more main goals of thesis they can be split in two groups. In the first group there are research goals aimed on teamwork in project teams managed by agile or traditional methods, establishment of project teams, characteristics of projects suitable for agile approach and implementation of agile methods in a company. The proposal of solution of identified problem areas belongs to the second group of goals. According to the research results agile project teams are closer to psychological concept of team, whilst traditional project teams are closer to work groups. Therefore agile project teams have better potential for being more efficient and performing higher than the project teams managed by traditional methods. Another finding in this thesis is regarding setting up the project teams and their daily work. Although agile methods seem to be more efficient from the teamwork perspective, they don't offer general solution for all problems in project management and their usage is not necessary suitable for all kinds of projects and company environment. That's why the characteristics of appropriate projects for being managed by agile methods were also investigated. Successful implementation and application of agile methods is strongly influenced by company environment and other factors that were identified in theoretical part of the thesis and subsequently verified by the research. The thesis brings a lot of verified information regarding work in project teams and emphasizes the significance of management, motivation and development of project teams. For identified problem areas with significant potential for improvement were prepared two solution proposals included in final parts of the thesis. The first solution is a model for implementation of project methodology in a company; the second one is a model aimed on project team performance increase. Both proposed solutions offers specific tools and techniques ready for application in company environment.

Theme of this thesis is how to choose between agile methodologies of software development. Several agile methodologies, such as SCRUM, Kanban and eXtreme programming are described and also methods of choosing between methodologies or management techniques are discussed. New method of multi-criteria decision process on how to choose between Agile methodologies based on multi-dimensionality is presented with option of improving agile experience by adopting additional techniques. Diploma thesis can serve as managers' hand-book for those who want to change their current software development methodologies or are searching for ways of improving their agile adoption.

A crescente demanda por sistemas e a alta velocidade com que seus requisitos evoluem têm evidenciado que desenvolvimento de software exige flexibilidade, pois muitas decisões precisam ser tomadas durante o projeto. Além disso, as dificuldades para a produção de sistemas vão muito além das questões técnicas. Fatores estratégicos, comerciais e humanos são responsáveis por algumas das variáveis que contribuem para tornar o desenvolvimento de sistemas de software uma atividade altamente complexa. Modelos tradicionais de desenvolvimento de software propõem processos prescritivos que não consideram toda essa complexidade. Por outro lado, Métodos Ágeis de desenvolvimento de software sugerem uma abordagem mais humanística com foco na entrega rápida e constante de software com valor de negócios. Porém, para conseguir isto, é preciso escolher um conjunto de práticas de desenvolvimento adequado às características do projeto e da equipe. Desta forma, a natureza única de cada projeto e a necessidade de alta qualidade e produtividade tornam importante a busca por práticas de desenvolvimento. A partir de projetos que conduzimos usando métodos ágeis na academia e na indústria, identificamos e descrevemos 22 práticas para desenvolvimento de software que podem ser adotadas por equipes para aumentar o seu desempenho e/ou a qualidade do software. / The growing demand for systems and the high speed with which their requirements evolve has shown that software development requires flexibility because many decisions need to be taken during the project. Also, the difficulties for the production of software systems go far beyond the technical issues. Strategic, commercial and human factors are responsible for some variables that contribute to make the software development a highly complex activity. Traditional models of software development propose prescritive processes that do not consider all this complexity. On the other hand, Agile Methods of software development suggest an humanistic approach focused on fast and often business valuable software deliveries. But, in order to get it, one needs to choose an appropriated group of development practices accordingly to the project and team features. In this way, the individuality of each project and the need for better quality and productivity motivate the search for software development practices. Based on projects that we conducted by using agile methods in academic and industry environments we identified and described 22 software development practices that can be used by teams to increase their performance and/or the software quality.

As metodologias ágeis e em especial a Programação eXtrema (XP) surgem como um contraponto aos métodos tradicionais de desenvolvimento de software. Nos encontramos em um momento no qual considera-se aceitável encontrar defeitos em programas de computador, até mesmo naqueles sistemas pelos quais temos que pagar muito dinheiro. Melhorar o ensino de técnicas para que equipes possam colaborar no desenvolvimento de software de qualidade é essencial para que esta área do conhecimento alcance a maturidade que esperamos. O ensino de XP é uma tarefa relativamente complexa pois exige que pessoas passem por uma mudança cultural, para aceitar seus valores, princípios e práticas. Diferentes organizações precisam adaptar a metodologia para que ela funcione bem em seu contexto local. Encontrar maneiras de facilitar o ensino e a adoção das práticas ágeis é fundamental para melhorar a qualidade do software desenvolvido no país. Este trabalho pesquisa o ensino de XP em contextos acadêmicos, governamentais e industriais. Três estudos de caso foram conduzidos e analisados para sugerir padrões que podem auxiliar o ensino da metodologia por um educador em qualquer contexto. / Agile methodologies, specially eXtreme Programming (XP), appear as a counterpoint to traditional software development methods. We live in a moment were it is considered acceptable to find bugs in computer programs, even those for which we pay a lot of money. It is essential to improve the way we teach techniques with which teams can collaborate on the development of quality software so that this area of knowledge reaches the maturity we wish. Teaching XP is a relatively complex task because it implies that people must go through a cultural change to accept its values, principles, and practices. Different organizations need to adapt the methodology so that it will work well in their local context. Finding ways to facilitate teaching and adopting agile practices is fundamental to improve the quality of software being developed in the country. This work researches the process of teaching XP in academic, governmental and industrial con- texts. Three case studies were conducted and analyzed so that we could suggest patterns that can support educators teaching the methodology in any context.

This project is devoted to using of agile methodologies in the process of the web development. First, the most widely used traditional and agile methodologies of the software development are theoretically examined. Based on the identified procedures are chosen those that solve the biggest problems associated with the project management of the web development. From the findings is given a rough design of the system with usage of agile procedures. In the final part of the project is mentioned design implemented as the system prototype.

Most Agile Software Development methodologies are aimed towards large companies and large-scale projects. The purpose of this report was to identify, and potentially modify, Agile Development methodologies and strategies suitable for small-scale projects. Initially a comprehensive study was conducted on a few selected agile methodologies in order to find the most suitable one to be used for a loosely defined small-scale project. The result of the study led to the methodology Kanban being used experimentally on that project. The report goes through how Kanban was utilized and modified to better suit the project as well as bring forward interesting details regarding the outcome of the actual project. The produced methodology, with Kanban at its core, can especially be of use for small IT companies looking for an agile methodology fitting their project(s). It could also be used to further develop alternative variants of the agile methodology Kanban with focus on small-scale projects. / De flesta agila utvecklingsmetodiker riktar sig mot storskaliga projekt och företag. Syftet med denna rapport var att identifiera lämpliga agila utvecklingsmetodiker och strategier för småskaliga projekt. Inledningsvis genomfördes en omfattande studie av ett fåtal agila metodiker med målet att hitta den mest lämpliga för ett löst definierat småskaligt projekt. Resultat av studien ledde till att metodiken Kanban experimenterades med och användes för projektet. Rapporten går igenom hur Kanban nyttjades och modifierades för att bättre passa projektet i fråga. Den framtagna metodiken, med Kanban som grund, kan vara speciellt användbar för mindre IT-företag som letar efter en agil metodik som passar deras projekt. Den skulle även kunna användas för att vidareutveckla alternativa agila Kanban-metodiker för småskaliga projekt.

Goal of my work is to introduce software development process metods specialized to Rational Unified Process metod from IBM. I aplicate inception and elaboration phases of RUP on practical example.