Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Methodologies of flexible software development'

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2019<br>Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.<br>Includes bibliographical references (pages 157-158).<br>As the software industry evolves, various software development methodologies have become widely used in the industry. Most commonly used methodologies are Waterfall and Agile, along with less known alternatives, such as spiral and hybrid methodologies. When deciding on the methodologies, program managers tend to choose one based on the team preference or historical pattern. However, each software project is unique in its own way and has characteristics that are distinct from the previous projects the team has worked on. For each project, it is crucial to adopt a suitable methodology that help teams to produce the software that meets customer needs within schedule and budget constraints. Therefore, a practical question for every program manager is "How to find a suitable methodology for a specific project?" This thesis is aimed to help program managers answer this question.<br>We first explore how to evaluate each software development methodology based on the two-level decomposition of software development methodology, then analyze the project characteristics based on the situational inputs in three categories: scope, schedule and budget. Thereafter, the thesis proposes a framework to match software development methodology with a specific project. This thesis extends West's work in [1] by introducing a systems approach to assess a software project and a framework to determine the degree of compatibility between a methodology and a software project. The benefits of leveraging the systems approach are: ** The decomposition of methodologies highlights which elements in a methodology play key roles of providing the advantageous ilities over other methodologies. ** The decomposition of a project enables a program manager to evaluate the input elements of a project and gain a systems view on the project characteristics.<br>The framework allows program managers to compare several candidate methodologies and choose the most compatible one using the mismatch scores, weighted summations that indicate the incompatibilities between the candidate methodologies and the project based on the ilities ranking decided by the program managers. To demonstrate how to use this framework for a real world project, an example project is given. The detailed steps of calculating the mismatch scores between three methodologies and the project are shown. The proposed framework can be used as a guideline for program managers to find methodologies for different projects with the information gathered from project stakeholders. This framework has some limitations. A major one is that, since the framework is quantitative based, induvial experience is used to evaluate the elements of methodologies and factors of projects.<br>Further work can be done to improve the objectivity of the evaluation through the surveys of industrial experts and members of teams adopting this framework.<br>by Yuqing Ke.<br>S.M. in Engineering and Management<br>S.M.inEngineeringandManagement Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program

Lean Software Development is a new approach to provide a quality philosophy in software development companies. Lean offers a set of principles that helps companies to identify inefficient processes and waste. Therefore, by applying these principles, we can reduce costs, by shorting development time, incrementing productivity.In this study a software company with seven employees is analyzed. The company develops software and wants to increase its maturity and the quality of its processes. Currently, it has few documented processes. Furthermore, the company want a common way of working for every project. The challenge relies in adapting the set of principles provided by Lean to this particular case of study.We seek to analyze the current situation of the company to find out about the problems and limitations of the current way of working. After that we will state recommendations about the use of Lean combined with Agile practices such as Scrum and XP.As a result we present a proposal for implementation adapted from these philosophies to the needs and characteristics of the company.We have found that there are several ways in which the company can benefit from the implementation of Lean practices in combination with Scrum and XP. The result is a new framework that can be applied for other small software development companies in a similar situation.

From the second half of the '90s, some software engineering practitioners introduced a new group of software development methodologies called Agile Methodologies (Ams): they have been developed to overcome the limits of the traditional approaches in the software development. FLOSS (Free Libre Open Source Software) has been proposed as possible different solution to the software crisis that is afflicting the ICT worldwide business. If the AMs improve the quality code and allow to respond quickly to requirement changes, FLOSS approach decreases the development costs and increases the spreading of competences about the software products. A debate is shaping about the compatibility of these two approaches. Software development teams have been spreading around the world, with users in Europe, management in the USA and programmers in the USA and India. The scattering of team members and functions around the world introduces barriers to productivity, cultural and languages differences can lead to misunderstanding of requirements, time zone differences can delay project schedules. Agile methods can provide a competitive advantage by delivering early, simplifying communication and allowing the business to respond more quickly to the market by changing the software. Trying to distribute a development project in an agile way isn't easy and will involve compromises. The goal of this thesis is to determine the application of the AMs in several contexts so to define which of these can be used effectively in non traditional software projects as the distributed development.

The computer industry has a poor record of system development using the traditional life-cycle approach. The main cause of user dissatisfaction is the unacceptably large amount of time between specification and delivery of a system. In addition, users have limited opportunity to influence how the system will look when implemented once development has commenced. With the advent of 4GLs, system development using a prototyping approach has become a viable option. This has reduced the development tlme significantly and, together with the use of prototyping, has allowed users to become more involved in the development process. However, this change in the development process has meant that often the use of an accepted methodology/system life cycle has been ignored or altered. This has resulted in systems where the definition-of-requirements phase was often fast-tracked or omitted totally and the system documentation is insufficient for effective maintenance. Thus, this approach has not proved to be as successful as expected. However, the opportunities that prototyping offers should not be discarded because of the use of inappropriate software development methodologies, languages or tools. This study seeks to identify factors that may influence the success or failure of a prototyping project and to assess the importance of any developmentmethodologies being used. Information was gathered via interviews, questionnaires and, where deemed necessary, the reviewing of development procedures used. Conclusions have been drawn from data gathered from various organisations in Western Australia that have used prototyping for a number of projects, thus, suggesting a refinement of the development process. Two main areas appeared to affect the success of a software development project. The first is the lack of flexibility in the methodology used and inappropriateness of the development tools and languages. The second is insufficient requirements analysis. The results indicate that a methodology is required that provides a good framework, but is flexible enough to handle different types and sizes of project. It should specifically address prototyping and include guidelines as to how to select the most suitable prototyping approach for each project. It should contain examples of different deliverables and various development cycles appropriate for each type of prototyping. There should be automated tools available to handle documentation and code generation where possible. The development of a methodology with the above characteristics is required if the advantages of prototyping are to be maximised in the future.

This paper presents a hierarchical modeling method that can be used to simulate a Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) at all levels of detail. The method was developed specifically to aid the software development needed for the hierarchy of computers that are present in an FMS. The method was developed by modeling an existing FMS. The models developed of the existing FMS are described in detail to provide an example of how to model other FMSs. The basic building blocks needed for designing other FMSs with this modeling method are provided. The models were written in the SIMAN simulation language. SIMAN was found to be an easy language to use for the hierarchical modeling of FMSs.<br>M.S.

<p> The purpose of this qualitative, multi-case study was to explain Tuckman&rsquo;s attributes within software development when using a collocated software designed methodology in a non-collocated setting. Agile is a software development methodology that is intended for use in a collocated setting; however, organizations are using it in a non-collocated setting, which is increasing the software errors in the final software product. The New Agile Process for Distributed Projects (NAPDiP) was developed to fix these software errors that arise when using Agile in a non-collocated setting but have not been effective. This research utilized Tuckman's team theory to explore the disparity related to why these errors still occur. The research question asked is how software development programmers explain Tuckman's attributes (i.e., forming, storming, norming, performing) on software development projects. The study adopted a qualitative model using nomothetic major and minor themes in the exploration of shared expressions of sentiments from participants. The study&rsquo;s population came from seven participants located in the United States and India who met the requirement of using the Agile development methodology and work for organizations on teams with a size of at least thirty individuals from various organizations. A total of seven participants reached saturation in this multi-case study supporting the research question explored. The findings of the research demonstrated that development teams do not meet all stages and attributes of Tuckman&rsquo;s team development. Future research should explore additional ways that software development teams satisfy a more significant number of Tuckman&rsquo;s team development stages.</p><p>

Development of a game in the form of software for game-based learning poses significant technical challenges for educators, researchers, game designers, and software engineers. The game development consists of a set of complex processes requiring multi-faceted knowledge in multiple disciplines such as digital graphic design, education, gaming, instructional design, modeling and simulation, psychology, software engineering, visual arts, and the learning subject area. Planning and managing such a complex multidisciplinary development project require unifying methodologies for development and software quality evaluation and should not be performed in an ad hoc manner. This dissertation presents such methodologies named: GAMED (diGital educAtional gaMe dEvelopment methoDology) and IDEALLY (dIgital eDucational gamE softwAre quaLity evaLuation methodologY). GAMED consists of a body of methods, rules, and postulates and is embedded within a digital educational game life cycle. The life cycle describes a framework for organization of the phases, processes, work products, quality assurance activities, and project management activities required to develop, use, maintain, and evolve a digital educational game from birth to retirement. GAMED provides a modular structured approach for overcoming the development complexity and guides the developers throughout the entire life cycle. IDEALLY provides a hierarchy of 111 indicators consisting of 21 branch and 90 leaf indicators in the form of an acyclic graph for the measurement and evaluation of digital educational game software quality. We developed the GAMED and IDEALLY methodologies based on the experiences and knowledge we have gained in creating and publishing four digital educational games that run on the iOS (iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch) mobile devices: CandyFactory, CandySpan, CandyDepot, and CandyBot. The two methodologies provide a quality-centered structured approach for development of digital educational games and are essential for accomplishing demanding goals of game-based learning. Moreover, classifications provided in the literature are inadequate for the game designers, engineers and practitioners. To that end, we present a taxonomy of games that focuses on the characterization of games.<br>Ph. D.

Startups are newly created companies with little or no operating history and with limited resources and markets. Software startup are aiming to develop cutting edge software products under highly uncertain conditions, overcoming fast-growing markets under multiple influences. The significance of startups for economic development is growing in software business due to their ability to quickly create innovative technologies and their potential to scale to a wide market. The objective of this thesis is to identify and analyze existing scientific literature regarding software development methodologies and practices used in startup companies published between Jan 2006 and Dec 2016. A systematic literature review was conducted to explore the previous research on software development methods and practices in startups. A review protocol was developed and used as a procedure to conduct the review. The data was collected from three databases i.e. IEEE Xplore, Scopus, ISI Web of Science. This research identified 30 relevant primary studies out of a total 1249 papers to answer defined research questions. The result show that agile and Lean Startup methodologies are the most used methodologies across startup companies. Due to the flexible nature of startups, tailoring specific methodology is a common practice among startup companies. Additionally, a total of 95 software development work practices are extracted from primary studies. This thesis concludes that software development methodologies in startups are informal, customized, and highly dependent on the experience of project managers. It is also noted that principles related to these development methodologies are not strictly followed due to limited resources and uncertainty in the market. Furthermore, the results shows that software startups choose development methodologies and practices which are flexible, light-weight and allow rapid changes.

For many years, most IT departments used the same software development methodology called waterfall. This methodology outlines distinct phases for project completion; each phase needing to be completed prior to the start of the next. The primary accounting standard for allocating costs for software development is written in the language of waterfall. Costs are either capitalized or expensed depending on the type of activity that was performed. IT departments have been moving toward a new group of software development methodologies called agile. These methodologies do not follow the phases of waterfall. This makes the current accounting standard for software development difficult to interpret and determine the appropriate transaction. This further hinders IT organizations attempts to better quantify business value of software projects. To examine this issue, a new construct called accounting clarity is introduced in this research. Accounting clarity is an agreement between IT and accounting regarding the treatment of software development costs. This study shows that it is essential for both IT and accounting to work together to determine a solution. The accounting clarity construct is developed from the “ilities” of software quality models and the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) Level 3 key process area (KPA) of intergroup coordination. Intergroup coordination provides the concepts for accounting clarity as the two groups must coordinate to determine the appropriate accounting treatment. The “ilities” are characteristics that should be followed and measured throughout a software development project to ensure long term maintainability of software. This study proposes that accounting clarity should be one of the "ilities" in the software quality model. A portion of the study of accounting clarity examines the relationship between accounting clarity and project control, proposing a positive relationship between the two variables. Then the study examines factors that help to increase accounting clarity. These factors were derived from teamwork and coordination literature. To test the hypothesized relationships, a survey methodology was used. Individuals working on agile software development projects were participants in the survey. This study contributes to both the IT and accounting literature. The research provides a framework to examine other contexts in which the current accounting standards are unclear. As changes happen more frequently in business, this is more likely to occur on a frequent basis. The study has practical implication for software development as it highlights the importance of understanding the accounting implications prior to the project and continuously throughout the lifespan of the software. Adding accounting clarity to the “ilities” of software quality helps software development teams include this in project plans with any software development methodology.

This thesis presents a procedural approach to evaluating software development methodologies. The evaluation procedure adopts a unique approach based on the fundamental assumption that the requirements govern the process by which software is constructed. To begin with, this research partitions desirable software characteristics into three categories, viz., objectives, principles and attributes. The thesis claims (claims are substantiated with literature references) that there exist definitive relationships (or linkages) among the software objectives, principles and attributes. These linkages form the foundation of the evaluation procedure. The procedure constitutes two processes, top-down process and bottom-up process. These processes are used to assess the software product and the employed software development methodology. The top-down process begins by identifying the objectives and travels down through principles and product attributes; thus, evaluating the adequacy of the methodology. The bottom-up process, on the other hand, starts at the attribute level and goes up through principles and objectives. The bottom-up process highlights the effectiveness of the methodology. Attributes are identified in the product via properties. This research establishes several properties (called factors in the report) for each attribute. A measurement approach is also presented to help assess the extent to which attributes are present. The feasibility and validity of the evaluation procedure are illustrated through the analysis of two real life methodologies.<br>M.S.

The purpose of this study was to describe the software development industry in South Africa by determining the current and future trends in adopting software development methodologies. The main objective was to determine which factors influence the selection of software development methodologies and whether they are effective in delivering projects successfully within the South African context. This study found that the Agile method is the most dominant methodology adopted in the software development industry in South Africa and is also the preferred methodology to be used in the future. It is common practice for companies to adopt more than one software development methodology and the Waterfall method is the next methodology most widely used. There is little adoption of CMMI. All identified factors influence the selection of software development methodologies, however, the distinguishing factors influencing the selection of Agile methods over the Waterfall method in the South African context is team size of between one and five members, project duration of less than three months, iteration length of between two and four weeks and the use of new technology. The most important measurement of project success within the South African context is the delivery of projects on time. The majority of respondents believe that their current dominant methodology is effective in delivering projects successfully. Copyright<br>Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011.<br>Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)<br>unrestricted

Context. In recent years there has been observed a significant shift from plan-driven development towards agile, which is considered as a vast improvement to processes. However, it has also been spotted that agile methodologies are hardly ever applied in their pure form. Moreover, hybrid processes as combinations of plan-driven and agile practices emerge. In addition, agile adoption has been reported to result in both: benefits and limitations. Objectives. In this study the following matters are investigated: 1) the commonness of plan driven and agile practices usage, 2) common practices combinations, 3) patterns for agile adoption over time, 4) hybrid development models and 5) the actual effects of agile adoption in terms of benefits and limitations as perceived by practitioners. Methods. The thesis presents an empirical investigation of software development organizations. The objectives are achieved through a targeted survey based on existing evidence and a multidimensional data analysis. The mean for obtaining data is a web-based questionnaire with an interactive board with practices and time indication sliders (to capture applied development models and practices adoption strategies) and hierarchical cumulative voting (to measure the relative significance of benefits and limitations). The data analysis is supported by hierarchical cluster analysis and an extended hierarchical voting analysis framework (EHV-F). Results. In total, 45 practitioners have been successfully surveyed. The commonness of 7 plan-driven and 14 agile practices usage was investigated. The relative significance of agile adoption benefits (32 factors in 10 categories) and limitations (23 factors in 7 categories) was measured with respect to global view (all respondents and perspectives), different agile adoption strategies as well as distinguished development models. Conclusions. It is concluded that agile practices dominate over plan-driven, however, hybrid approaches, being combinations of plan-driven and agile practices, are frequently applied. It is also concluded that some practices are commonly used together since they facilitate each other (e.g. continuous integration with testing which facilitate short iterations and releases). Some agile practices are still unsuccessfully applied and eventually abandoned (e.g. pair programming), what should be further investigated by researchers. Incremental agile adoption strategy was found to be the most beneficial approach. It is also concluded that agile adoption leads first of all to improved quality of working life, increased knowledge transfer and improved verification and validation processes. On the other hand, agile adoption is very demanding since it requires high professional skills from development teams as well as managers. Hence, more resources should be devoted to training on agile for all the parties involved in development. Agile is still commonly considered to be poorly scalable. Moreover, the quality of design with agile methods is not considered as a benefit at all. These areas should be further investigated by researchers.

Mathematical models have been used to capture the behaviour of biological systems, from low-level biochemical reactions to multi-scale whole-organ models. Models are typically based on experimentally-derived data, attempting to reproduce the observed behaviour through mathematical constructs, e.g. using Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs) for spatially-homogeneous systems. These models are developed and published as mathematical equations, yet are of such complexity that they necessitate computational simulation. This computational model development is often performed in an ad hoc fashion by modellers who lack extensive software engineering experience, resulting in brittle, inefficient model code that is hard to extend and reuse. Several Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) exist to aid capturing such biological models, including CellML and SBML; however these DSLs are designed to facilitate model curation rather than simplify model development. We present research into the application of techniques from software engineering to this domain; starting with the design, development and implementation of a DSL, termed Ode, to aid the creation of ODE-based biological models. This introduces features beneficial to model development, such as model verification and reproducible results. We compare and contrast model development to large-scale software development, focussing on extensibility and reuse. This work results in a module system that enables the independent construction and combination of model components. We further investigate the use of software engineering processes and patterns to develop complex modular cardiac models. Model simulation is increasingly computationally demanding, thus models are often created in complex low-level languages such as C/C++. We introduce a highly-efficient, optimising native-code compiler for Ode that generates custom, model-specific simulation code and allows use of our structured modelling features without degrading performance. Finally, in certain contexts the stochastic nature of biological systems becomes relevant. We introduce stochastic constructs to the Ode DSL that enable models to use Stochastic Differential Equations (SDEs), the Stochastic Simulation Algorithm (SSA), and hybrid methods. These use our native-code implementation and demonstrate highly-efficient stochastic simulation, beneficial as stochastic simulation is highly computationally intensive. We introduce a further DSL to model ion channels declaratively, demonstrating the benefits of DSLs in the biological domain. This thesis demonstrates the application of software engineering methodologies, and in particular DSLs, to facilitate the development of both deterministic and stochastic biological models. We demonstrate their benefits with several features that enable the construction of large-scale, reusable and extensible models. This is accomplished whilst providing efficient simulation, creating new opportunities for biological model development, investigation and experimentation.

Day after day, vendors of manufacturing machineries are challenged with the need of flexibility and reconfigurability of their products. Be able to rapidly provide various variants and configurations of the products in response to customers requests is an important asset for every company in the nowadays competition. Nevertheless, most of the automation software for special machines is still built in a monolithic way which does not support rapid reconfigurability to reflect hardware modifications. And once the machine is delivered to the customer site, the maintenance process begins. Maintenance costs are increasing with the globalized market due to travel costs for sending service personnel to the customer plants. In some cases, the issue would have been easily solved if only the technichian had been able to be on the site. This makes remote diagnosis, debugging and repair an obvious advantage. This thesis presents two approaches to solve the aforementioned issues. A modular and reconfigurable approach to software development for the automation to support rapid reconfigurations of the software, and a remote maintenance methodology that uses wireless and mobile technology to record and transmit video and machine operational parameters together for remote viewing and analysis.

Software projects are known for their failure rate, where many are being delivered late, over budget or being canceled while in development. The reason to it is changing requirements and intangibility of the software. Being so abstract it is difficult to imaging all the aspects of the software at the requirements stage. Also technology is playing a major role since processing power, storage space, and data transfer speeds are improving from year to year. Agile methodologies are addressing projects with unclear requirements making process of implementing new specifications along the project much easier and less costly. However the success rate of the software projects did not improve much since the introduction of Agile methodologies. This thesis is looking at what type of projects fit different methodologies and what are factors which practitioners should take into account when selecting methodology for a particular project, The thesis opens up with introduction which sets the research question and provides a brief background to the research topic. In subsequent chapter literature review is conducted to find out what does literature and other researchers have said on the same topic. Third chapter discusses underlying research philosophy and discusses the data collection tools. Next chapter discusses the findings of the research. Interviews has been conducted with project management professionals from Sweden, US, UK and Canada. It was identified through the analysis of patters that Agile methodologies are not well suited for projects involving databases, embedded development and computationally complex projects. Through the analysis of the questionnaire several project characteristics were identified which suit Agile methodologies better than traditional ones: unclear requirements, high risk of failure etc… In the last chapter the thesis concludes the findings and its theoretical and practical implications.

Abstract Management of product development activities has become increasingly important, as cycle times of product development have shortened. Smaller product development projects are often conducted rapidly at companies based on customer or sales requests to answer the need for faster cycle times. However, this is often done without fully realizing the impact of the new projects on the larger project portfolio or organizational effectiveness. The main objective of this dissertation is to increase knowledge on the use of agile development methods in small, rapid product development projects, and on the implementation of a rapid product development model. The dissertation is formulated as a qualitative, inductive study based on the research results of four original publications and a summary combining the results. The results of the dissertation show that it is beneficial to separate a rapid product development process for certain types of customer- or sales-initiated projects. A new rapid development model with principles and guidelines is introduced to help organizations facilitate this separation. The implementation of the model can be supported with agile development practices, of which self-managing teams are studied in more detail. There is significant overlap between case companies’ perceived success factors for rapid development and self-management. The results imply that a functional rapid development model can be utilized as a strategic asset at companies. The results also provide empirical evidence that agile development practices can be utilized in product development. In addition to providing empirical evidence in scientific discussion about combining product development and agile software development practices, the results can be used to create better definitions of product development processes in general<br>Tiivistelmä Tuotekehityksen johtamisesta ja hallinnasta on tullut entistä haastavampaa ja tärkeämpää, kun tuotekehitysprojektien läpimenoajat ovat lyhentyneet. Yritykset tekevät kasvamassa määrin lyhyitä tuotekehitysprojekteja asiakaspyyntöjen tai myynnin aloitteesta vastatakseen markkinoiden vaatimuksiin nopeasta kehityksestä. Tällaisten nopeiden tuotekehitysprojektien käynnistäminen ja toteutus tehdään usein ymmärtämättä yksittäisen projektin vaikutusta koko projektiportfolioon tai organisaation tehokkuuteen. Tämän väitöskirjan päätavoitteena on tutkia ohjelmistokehityksestä tunnettujen ketterien kehitysmenetelmien käyttöä nopeissa tuotekehitysprojekteissa ja uudenlaisen nopean tuotekehityksen mallin käyttöönotossa. Tutkimus on tehty laadullisena ja induktiivisena tutkimuksena perustuen neljään itsenäiseen tutkimusartikkeliin ja näiden tulokset kokoavaan kokoelmaosaan. Tutkimus osoittaa, että yrityksille on hyödyllistä erottaa erillinen prosessi tietyntyyppisille nopeille tuotekehitysprojekteille. Tutkimuksen tuloksena esitellään malli, joka tukee tätä erottamista periaatteiden ja ohjeiden avulla. Tätä mallia pystytään tukemaan ketterillä kehitysmenetelmillä, joihin liittyen on erityisesti tutkittu itseohjautuvia kehitystiimejä. Case-yritysten havainnoimilla nopean tuotekehityksen menestystekijöillä ja itseohjautuvien tiimien ominaisuuksilla on havaittavissa suurta päällekkäisyyttä. Tulokset osoittavat, että hyvin käytetty ja määritetty nopean tuotekehityksen malli voi olla strateginen kilpailuetu yrityksille. Tulokset lisäävät myös empiiristä tietoa ketterien menetelmien käytöstä tuotekehityksessä ja hyödyntävät siten ajankohtaista tieteellistä keskustelua. Tuloksia voidaan myös hyödyntää muiden tuotekehitysprosessien käyttötarkoituksen tarkempaan määrittämiseen

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-90).<br>Before organisations adopt agile methods, they need to ensure that they are prepared for the change. They also need to understand the problems they are trying to address by adopting agile methods. Agile methods deviate substantially from traditional methods of systems development (Tolfo & Wazlawick, 2008). This, therefore, makes it difficult for organisations to adopt agile methods even though they might see them attractive, as the adoption of such methods has an effect on organisational culture. If the culture cannot accommodate an agile approach, then the organisation will not be able to adopt agile (Lindvall, Basisli, Boehm, Costa, Dangle, Shull, Teseriero, Williams & Zelkowitz, 2002). Having a culture that is conducive to the adoption of agile methods is almost unanimously perceived by agile experts to be a necessary factor for the introduction of agile methodologies (eWorkshop, 2002). It is also important to understand the phases organisations go through during the process of adopting agile methods.

Model-Based Software Engineering (MBSE) a été proposé comme une méthodologie prometteuse de développement de logiciels pour surmonter les limites de la méthodologie traditionnelle basée sur la programmation pour faire face à la complexité des systèmes embarqués. MBSE favorise l’utilisation de langages de modélisation pour décrire les systèmes d’une manière abstraite et fournit des moyens pour générer automatiquement de différents artefacts de développement, p.ex. code et documentation, à partir de modèles. Le développement d’un système complexe implique souvent de multiples intervenants qui utilisent différents outils pour modifier les artefacts de développement, le modèle et le code en particulier dans cette thèse. Les modifications apportées aux artefacts évoquent le problème de cohérence qui nécessite un processus de synchronisation pour propager les modifications apportées dans l’un artefact aux autres artefacts. Dans cette étude, le problème de la synchronisation des modèles d’architecture basés sur les éléments UML composite structure (UML-CS) et UML state machine (UML-SM) du langage de l’Unified Modeling Language (UML), et le code orienté objet est présenté. UML-CSs sont utilisés pour décrire l’architecture du logiciel basée sur les composants et UML-SMs pour les comportements discrets liés aux événements des systèmes réactifs. Le premier défi est de permettre une collaboration entre les architectes de logiciels et les programmeurs produisant de modèle et de code, en utilisant différents outils. Il soulève le problème de synchronisation où il existe de modifications simultanées des artefacts. En fait, il existe un écart de perception entre les langages à base de diagramme (langages de modélisation) et les langages textuels (langages de programmation). D’une part, les programmeurs préfèrent souvent utiliser la combinaison familière d’un langage de programmation et d’un environnement de développement intégré. D’autre part, les architectes logiciels, travaillant à des niveaux d’abstraction plus élevés, favorisent l’utilisation des modèles et préfèrent donc les langages à base de diagramme pour décrire l’architecture du système. Le deuxième défi est qu’il existe un écart d’abstraction significatif entre les éléments du modèle et les éléments du code: les éléments UML-CS et UML-SM sont au niveau d’abstraction plus élevé que les éléments du code. L’écart rend la difficulté pour les approches de synchronisation actuelles car il n’y a pas de façon facile de réflecter les modifications du code au modèle. Cette thèse propose une approche automatisée de synchronisation composée de deux principales contributions corrélées. Pour aborder le premier défi, on propose un patron méthodologique générique de synchronisation entre modèle et code. Il consiste en des définitions des fonctionnalités nécessaires et plusieurs processus qui synchronisent le modèle et le code en fonction de plusieurs scénarios définis où les développeurs utilisent différents outils pour modifier le modèle et le code. Cette contribution est indépendante de UML-CSs et UML-SMs. La deuxième contribution traite du deuxième défi et est basée sur les résultats de la première contribution. Dans la deuxième contribution, un mapping bidirectionnel est présentée pour réduire l’écart d’abstraction entre le modèle et le code. Le mapping est un ensemble de correspondances entre les éléments de modèle et ceux de code. Il est utilisé comme entrée principale du patron méthodologique générique de synchronisation entre modèle et code. Plus important, l’utilisation du mapping fournit les fonctionnalités définies dans la première contribution et facilite la synchronisation des éléments de UML-CS et UML-SM et du code. L’approche est évaluée au moyen de multiples simulations et d’une étude de cas<br>Model-Based Software Engineering (MBSE) has been proposed as a promising software development methodology to overcome limitations of traditional programming-based methodology in dealing with the complexity of embedded systems. MBSE promotes the use of modeling languages for describing systems in an abstract way and provides means for automatically generating different development artifacts, e.g. code and documentation, from models. The development of a complex system often involves multiple stakeholders who use different tools to modify the development artifacts, model and code in particular in this thesis. Artifact modifications must be kept consistent: a synchronization process needs to propagate modifications made in one artifact to the other artifacts. In this study, the problem of synchronizing Unified Modeling Language (UML)-based architecture models, specified by UML composite structure (UML-CS) and UML state machine (UML-SM) elements, and object-oriented code is presented. UML-CSs are used for describing the component-based software architecture and UML-SMs for discrete event-driven behaviors of reactive systems. The first challenge is to enable a collaboration between software architects and programmers producing model and code by using different tools. This raises the synchronization problem of concurrent artifact modifications. In fact, there is a perception gap between diagram-based languages (modeling languages) and text-based languages (programming languages). On the one hand, programmers often prefer to use the more familiar combination of a programming language and an Integrated Development Environment. On the other hand, software architects, working at higher levels of abstraction, tend to favor the use of models, and therefore prefer diagram-based languages for describing the architecture of the system. The second challenge is that there is a significant abstraction gap between the model elements and the code elements: UML-CS andUML-SM elements are at higher level of abstraction than code elements. The gap makes current synchronization approaches hard to be applied since there is no easy way to reflect modifications in code back to model. This thesis proposes an automated synchronization approach that is composed of two main correlated contributions. To address the first challenge, a generic model-code synchronization methodological pattern is proposed. It consists of definitions of necessary functionalities and multiple processes that synchronize model and code based on several defined scenarios where the developers use different tools to modify model and code. This contribution is independent of UML-CSs and UML-SMs. The second contribution deals with the second challenge and is based on the results from the first contribution. In the second contribution, a bidirectional mapping is presented for reducing the abstraction gap between model and code. The mapping is a set of correspondences between model elements and code elements. It is used as main input of the generic model-code synchronization methodological pattern. More importantly, the usage of the mapping provides the functionalities defined in the first contribution and eases the synchronization of UML-CS and UML-SM elements and code. The approach is evaluated by means of multiple simulations and a case study

This study aims to identify the ways in which mobile telecommunications software systems are developed in practice in South Africa. The main objectives are to identify the systems development methodologies used, if any, during development, to highlight certain key aspects of mobile telecommunication software development and identify a list of necessities a systems development methodology should contain when used to develop mobile telecommunications software. In the highly competitive market of mobile telecommunications, it is extremely important that mobile telecommunications systems are developed in minimal time. with minimal cost while still ensuring quality and usability. As stated by Fitzgerald (1996), a big factor that could have a positive impact on the development process is the use of a systems development methodology. Because of the importance of systems development methodologies, this study identifies and discusses different types of systems development methodologies from the available literature and also three systems development methodologies designed specifically for developing mobile telecommunication systems. To determine how mobile telecommunication systems arc developed in practice. a qualitative research method was used. Case studies were done at three different mobile telecommunications software development companies in South Africa. Data were collected by conducting semi structured interviews with developers or project managers at each of the companies. Coding of the data was done with the help of ATLAS.ti and analysed by means of cross-case content analysis. It was found that mobile telecommunications software development companies in South Africa tended to make use of in-house developed systems development methodologies, focusing on flexibility and speed of development. This was driven by the constant interaction of software with other telecommunications systems and the speed at which mobile telecommunication software need to be developed. Key aspects of these in-house systems development methodologies were identified as well as a list of necessities which should be addressed during mobile telecommunication system development<br>Thesis (M.Sc. (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Software development is a process used by engineers and software developers to create and produce software, as a part of the digital transformation of several industries in 2020. Agile methodologies in Software development rose in popularity when the industry shifted from Product offering to Service offering, further stimulating the growth of Software companies. This dissertation presents an example on how to use both Software development and Agile methodologies to develop a Service or Product that explores the thematic of work schedule planning. The tool developed, named SmartShiP aims at automating and improving work schedule planning processes. Due to the incremental nature of SmartShiP, some of its core functionalities such as availability planning, intervention reporting and schedule generation are already implemented and their usage proves to be valuable for its users. The expansion to other teams is planned and further functionalities like multiple projects, different schedule strategies and code quality improvements are in the way; Sumário: Desenvolvimento de Software do SmartShiP O desenvolvimento de software é um processo utilizado por engenheiros e desenvolvedores de software para criar e produzir software. Sendo uma parte da transformação digital de muitas indústrias em 2020. A introdução de metodologias ágeis no desenvolvimento de software, acompanhou mudança da indústria de oferta de produtos para a oferta de serviços, estimulando ainda mais o crescimento das empresas de software. Esta dissertação é um exemplo de como usar desenvolvimento de Software e metodologias ágeis para desenvolver um serviço ou produto que explora a temática do planeamento de horários de trabalho, automatizando e melhorando os processos com recurso a uma ferramenta de Software desenvolvida - o SmartShiP. Devido a natureza incremental do SmartShiP, algumas das suas funcionalidades principais como planeamento de disponibilidade, justificação de intervenções e geração do calendário já estão actualmente implementadas e a sua utilização tem-se provado valiosa para os seus utilizadores. A expansão para outras equipas está planeada assim com mais funcionalidades como multiplos projectos, diferentes estratégias de planeamento e melhorias na qualidade do código, estão a caminho.

Integrated development environment products, called CASE technology by practitioners, are being purchased by enterprises to assist systems analysts with the analysis and design of information systems. This work surveys users of a commercially available CASE product. Ninty-one users from 47 enterprises in the U.S. and Canada responded to the personal computer based survey. This work analyses the perceptions of the respondents in an attempt to determine productivity improvement over manual methods. Using the perceptions of the respondents, the component parts of the CASE product were rank ordered in terms of improved productivity. In addition to this, a psychometric preference scaling method was used to interpret the relatedness of the component parts to each other, again based on the perceptions of the respondents.

Context: Over the recent years, ‘Lean Software Development’ (LSD) has been emerging as a significant practice in the Software Industry. The inherent nature of ‘Lean’ to efficiently handle frequently changing customer needs by minimizing ‘Waste’ is a major success factor in practicing it in the context of ‘Software Engineering’. In simple words, Lean Software Development is the true translation of Lean Manufacturing and Lean IT principles to Software Engineering. This work presents an in-depth analysis on the implication of lean methodologies from both ‘State of Art’ and ‘State of Practice’ in the context of Software Engineering. Objectives: The prime objective of the study is to investigate what methodologies were considered &amp; adopted under lean philosophy and to present relevant evidence on the implication of lean methodologies in reference to what defines ‘lean’ in Software Engineering. An extensive literature review was aimed to find the existing challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects and the respective lean mitigation methodologies that were employed by various software organizations to appease their negative impact. Industrial interviews were conducted by interviewing lean experts, with a motive to find the current state of lean implementation in software industry. The outcomes from the systematic literature review (State of Art) and the industry (State of Practice) are comparatively analysed to explore the similarities and differences on the state of lean implication. Finally, a set of guidelines are recommended that would benefit an Industrial Practitioner/Stakeholder/Academic Researcher in practicing the appropriate lean methodology in the context of software engineering. Methods: We conducted a ‘Systematic literature review’ (SLR) by systematically analyzing relevant studies and then interviewed industrial experts to validate our findings. The systematic literature review was conducted according to the guidelines proposed by Dr. Barbara Kitchenham stated in ‘Guidelines for performing Systematic Literature Reviews’ article. The thorough review helped us in identifying various challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects and the respective lean mitigation methodologies that were practiced in the context of software engineering. The associated benefits of practicing the lean methodologies are also presented. The extensive review included peer reviewed articles from electronic databases such as IEEE Explore, Inspec, Scopus and ISI. In addition to this, we conducted snowball sampling on the references of the selected articles to avoid the potential risk of losing relevant and valuable information. Also, other potential sources of information such as books, theses/dissertations, white papers and website/blog articles are included as a part of Grey Literature. In this study, the articles related to the implication of lean methodologies in the context of software engineering were considered. The review included 72 primary studies published between 1993 and 2012. The primary studies were selected based on the following criteria: If they presented the challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects. If they depicted the implication of lean mitigation methodologies (Tool/ Technique/ Method/ Process/ Practice/ Principle) that appeased the negative impact of the identified challenging factors that hampered the success of software projects. If they depicted the implication of lean methodologies (Tool/ Technique/ Method/ Process/ Practice/ Principle) in general or for a specific development/ Management/ Maintenance improvement activities that lead to the success of software projects in the context of software engineering. If they presented the benefits of practicing lean methodologies in the context of software engineering. The study quality assessment was done based on the quality criteria defined in the ‘Quality assessment criteria checklist’. The data such as Article ID, Article Title, Literature type (Peer- reviewed, Non-peer reviewed), Context of validation of the lean methodology (Industry/Academia), Subjects considered for the study (Researchers/students, Industrial practitioners), Type of article publication (Conference/ Journal/ Books/ Thesis Reports/ Doctoral dissertations/ Other), Research method used in the study (Case Study/ Experiment/ Experience Report/ Not stated/ Secondary Data Analysis/ Literature Review), Context of conducting the research (Industry/ Academia/ Not stated/ Both), Context of validation of the study (Strong/ Medium/ Weak), Publication date &amp; year, Source of the publication, are extracted as a part of Quantitative analysis. The secondary data analysis for both ‘State of Art’ (Systematic literature review) and ‘State of Practice’ (Industry) was carried by performing a generic data analysis designed to answer our research questions. The more specific data such as the challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects, the type of lean contribution presented i.e., the methodology being a Tool, Technique, Practice, Principal, Process or a Method, along with the benefits associated on their implication that helped us to answer our research questions are extracted as a part of qualitative analysis from the selected studies. The industrial interviews were conducted by interviewing potential lean experts who had decent experience in lean software development, to find the current state of lean implication in the software industry. In the end, a comparative analysis was performed to clearly understand the state of convergence and divergence between the results from extensive literature review and the industry with respect to the implication of lean methodologies in the context of software engineering. Results: A total of 72 primary articles were selected for data extraction. 56 articles were selected from the electronic databases that clearly depicted lean implementation in the context of software engineering. 9 articles were selected by conducting snowball sampling i.e. by scrutinizing the references of the selected primary studies and finally the grey literature resulted in 7 articles. Most of the articles discussed about lean implication in the context of software engineering. The depicted lean methodologies were validated in either Industry or Academia. A few articles depicted regarding lean principles and their benefits in the context of software engineering. Most of the selected articles in our study were peer- reviewed. Peer reviewing is a process of evaluating one’s work or performance by an expert in the same field in order to maintain or enhance the quality of work or performance in the particular field. This indicates that the articles considered for data extraction have been reviewed by potential experts in the research domain. Conclusions: This study provided a deeper insight into lean implication in the context of software engineering. The aim of the thesis is to find the challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects. A total of 54 challenges were identified from the literature review. The 72 primary articles selected from various resources yielded 53 lean methodologies. The lean methodologies were grouped into Principles, practices, tools and methods. Mapping between the identified challenges and the mitigation lean methodologies is presented. Industrial interviews were conducted to find the current state of lean implication in software engineering. A total of 30 challenges were identified from the industry. A total of 40 lean methodologies were identified from the interviews. Comparative analysis was done to find the common challenges and mitigation lean methodologies between the State of art and State of practice. Based on the analysis a set of guidelines are presented at the end of the document. The guidelines benefit an industrial practitioner in practicing the appropriate lean methodology. Keywords: Lean Methodology, Lean software development, lean software management, lean software engineering, Systematic literature review, literature review.<br>Context: Over the recent years, ‘Lean Software Development’ (LSD) has been emerging as a significant practice in the Software Industry. The inherent nature of ‘Lean’ to efficiently handle frequently changing customer needs by minimizing ‘Waste’ is a major success factor in practicing it in the context of ‘Software Engineering’. In simple words, Lean Software Development is the true translation of Lean Manufacturing and Lean IT principles to Software Engineering. This work presents an in-depth analysis on the implication of lean methodologies from both ‘State of Art’ and ‘State of Practice’ in the context of Software Engineering. Objectives: The prime objective of the study is to investigate what methodologies were considered &amp; adopted under lean philosophy and to present relevant evidence on the implication of lean methodologies in reference to what defines ‘lean’ in Software Engineering. An extensive literature review was aimed to find the existing challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects and the respective lean mitigation methodologies that were employed by various software organizations to appease their negative impact. Industrial interviews were conducted by interviewing lean experts, with a motive to find the current state of lean implementation in software industry. The outcomes from the systematic literature review (State of Art) and the industry (State of Practice) are comparatively analysed to explore the similarities and differences on the state of lean implication. Finally, a set of guidelines are recommended that would benefit an Industrial Practitioner/Stakeholder/Academic Researcher in practicing the appropriate lean methodology in the context of software engineering. Methods: We conducted a ‘Systematic literature review’ (SLR) by systematically analyzing relevant studies and then interviewed industrial experts to validate our findings. The systematic literature review was conducted according to the guidelines proposed by Dr. Barbara Kitchenham stated in ‘Guidelines for performing Systematic Literature Reviews’ article. The thorough review helped us in identifying various challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects and the respective lean mitigation methodologies that were practiced in the context of software engineering. The associated benefits of practicing the lean methodologies are also presented. The extensive review included peer reviewed articles from electronic databases such as IEEE Explore, Inspec, Scopus and ISI. In addition to this, we conducted snowball sampling on the references of the selected articles to avoid the potential risk of losing relevant and valuable information. Also, other potential sources of information such as books, theses/dissertations, white papers and website/blog articles are included as a part of Grey Literature. In this study, the articles related to the implication of lean methodologies in the context of software engineering were considered. The review included 72 primary studies published between 1993 and 2012. The primary studies were selected based on the following criteria: If they presented the challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects. If they depicted the implication of lean mitigation methodologies (Tool/ Technique/ Method/ Process/ Practice/ Principle) that appeased the negative impact of the identified challenging factors that hampered the success of software projects. If they depicted the implication of lean methodologies (Tool/ Technique/ Method/ Process/ Practice/ Principle) in general or for a specific development/ Management/ Maintenance improvement activities that lead to the success of software projects in the context of software engineering. If they presented the benefits of practicing lean methodologies in the context of software engineering. The study quality assessment was done based on the quality criteria defined in the ‘Quality assessment criteria checklist’. The data such as Article ID, Article Title, Literature type (Peer- reviewed, Non-peer reviewed), Context of validation of the lean methodology (Industry/Academia), Subjects considered for the study (Researchers/students, Industrial practitioners), Type of article publication (Conference/ Journal/ Books/ Thesis Reports/ Doctoral dissertations/ Other), Research method used in the study (Case Study/ Experiment/ Experience Report/ Not stated/ Secondary Data Analysis/ Literature Review), Context of conducting the research (Industry/ Academia/ Not stated/ Both), Context of validation of the study (Strong/ Medium/ Weak), Publication date &amp; year, Source of the publication, are extracted as a part of Quantitative analysis. The secondary data analysis for both ‘State of Art’ (Systematic literature review) and ‘State of Practice’ (Industry) was carried by performing a generic data analysis designed to answer our research questions. The more specific data such as the challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects, the type of lean contribution presented i.e., the methodology being a Tool, Technique, Practice, Principal, Process or a Method, along with the benefits associated on their implication that helped us to answer our research questions are extracted as a part of qualitative analysis from the selected studies. The industrial interviews were conducted by interviewing potential lean experts who had decent experience in lean software development, to find the current state of lean implication in the software industry. In the end, a comparative analysis was performed to clearly understand the state of convergence and divergence between the results from extensive literature review and the industry with respect to the implication of lean methodologies in the context of software engineering. Results: A total of 72 primary articles were selected for data extraction. 56 articles were selected from the electronic databases that clearly depicted lean implementation in the context of software engineering. 9 articles were selected by conducting snowball sampling i.e. by scrutinizing the references of the selected primary studies and finally the grey literature resulted in 7 articles. Most of the articles discussed about lean implication in the context of software engineering. The depicted lean methodologies were validated in either Industry or Academia. A few articles depicted regarding lean principles and their benefits in the context of software engineering. Most of the selected articles in our study were peer- reviewed. Peer reviewing is a process of evaluating one’s work or performance by an expert in the same field in order to maintain or enhance the quality of work or performance in the particular field. This indicates that the articles considered for data extraction have been reviewed by potential experts in the research domain. Conclusions: This study provided a deeper insight into lean implication in the context of software engineering. The aim of the thesis is to find the challenging factors that negatively influenced the success of software projects. A total of 54 challenges were identified from the literature review. The 72 primary articles selected from various resources yielded 53 lean methodologies. The lean methodologies were grouped into Principles, practices, tools and methods. Mapping between the identified challenges and the mitigation lean methodologies is presented. Industrial interviews were conducted to find the current state of lean implication in software engineering. A total of 30 challenges were identified from the industry. A total of 40 lean methodologies were identified from the interviews. Comparative analysis was done to find the common challenges and mitigation lean methodologies between the State of art and State of practice. Based on the analysis a set of guidelines are presented at the end of the document. The guidelines benefit an industrial practitioner in practicing the appropriate lean methodology. Keywords: Lean Methodology, Lean software development, lean software management, lean software engineering, Systematic literature review, literature review.<br>0091-8375920473

Analysis of flexible manufacturing cells (FMCs) shows their requirement for flexible, correct, reliable, safe and distributed control. A comparison of the state of the art in software engineering for parallel systems, and an examination of safety related systems, reveal a need for formal and rigorous techniques at all stages in the software life cycle. However, parallel software, safety related software and formal techniques are complex. It is better to avoid faults rather than eliminate or tolerate them, and although less flexible, avoidance is often simpler to implement. There is a need for a tool which overcomes many of these complexities, and this thesis discusses and defines such a tool in the form of a methodology. The novelty of the work is in the combination of the core goals to manage these issues, and how the strategies guide the user to a solution which will not deadlock and which is comprehensible. Place-transition Petri nets are an ideal representation for designing and modelling the interaction of concurrent (and distributed) processes. Occam is a high level real time parallel language designed to execute on one or a network of transputers. Transputers are processing, memory and communication building blocks, and, together with occam, are shown to be suitable for controlling and communicating the control as the DCS in FMCs. The methodology developed in this thesis adopts the mathematically based tools of Petri nets, occam and transputers, and, by exploiting their structural similarities, incorporates them in a steps and tasks to improve the development of correct, reliable and hence safe occam code. The four steps: identify concurrent and sequential operations, produce Petri net graphs for all controllers, combine controller Petri net graphs and translate Petri net graphs into occam; are structured around three core goals: Petri net/occam equivalence, comprehensibility and pro-activity; which are manifest in four strategies: output-work-backwards, concurrent and sequential actions, structuralise and modularise, and deadlock avoidance. The methodology assists in all stages of the software development life cycle, and is applicable to small DCSs such as an FMC. The methodology begins by assisting in the creation of DCS requirements from the manufacturing requirements of the FMC, and guides the user to the production of dependable occam code. Petri nets allow the requirements to be specified as they are created, and the methodology's imposed restrictions enable the final Petri net design to be translated directly into occam. Thus the mathematics behind the formal tools is hidden from the user, which should be attractive to industry. The methodology is successfully applied to the example FMC, and occam code to simulate the FMC is produced. Due to the novelty of the research, many suggestions for further work are given.

Diplomová práca sa zaoberá porovnaním metodiky použitej na projekte vývoja software a metodiky SCRUM. V rámci práce sú zmapované všetky role, udalosti a artefakty projektu u ktorých sú následne identifikované ich odlišnosti od definície metodiky SCRUM. Práca ďalej obsahuje návrh toho, čo je potrebné upraviť, alebo zmeniť, aby sa dosiahla správna aplikácia metodiky SCRUM a tým pádom aj optimalizácia vývojového procesu.

Agile software development methodologies are very popular for their efficiency and flexibility. This thesis focuses on agile software development methodology called Scrum. Basic description and comparison of traditional and agile methodologies is mentioned at first. Attention is paid to methodology Scrum which is shown on an example of usage by a specific company. It is convenient to use some software tool for organization of Scrum methodology. Therefore, an overview of the most common tools and basic comparison of software tools for organizing this methodology is presented. Conclusion of this thesis is recommendation for improvements for the investigated team, based on issues which were identified.

<p> Offshoring software projects have been common for a few decades and were once thought to be the savior of software development project issues that plagued in-house software developers. Even with many recent advances in software development and communication, many projects are still compromised in some way. This dissertation analyzes in-house and offshore projects that were conducted using the waterfall methodology to determine the real source of the issues. The main hypothesis here is that by implementing agile, at least in part, at the design/code phase of software development will not only reduce or eliminate issues that were identified using waterfall but prove that development problems are independent of whether a project is developed offshore or in-house. This study also shows that, in addition to agile mitigating project issues at one phase of software development, project stakeholders are more comfortable, if they are in the process of migrating to agile development, by implementing agile initially at only one phase of the process.</p><p>

Thesis (Ph. D. in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HASTS))--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology and Society, 2006.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-219).<br>In this dissertation, I examine how the members of a distributed software development team (LC) operating entirely virtually for four and half years developed useful social practices to collaborate across time and space. Based on various communication data from LC, I analyze the communicative structuring of distributed work in members' daily practices. I show that "temporal flexibility," often mentioned as key advantage of virtual organizing, is socially accomplished through "boundary management," as members negotiate different temporal boundaries and learn and adapt to others' temporal patterns. Second, I identify dynamic coordination practices in LC that interweave multiple modes of communication and coordination in evolving work contexts, and demonstrate how these coordination practices facilitate temporal flexibility in LC. Finally, I analyze how members used the asynchronous communication medium of email to coordinate their tasks, using the notion of genre and genre system.<br>(cont.) My analysis suggests that communicating, coordinating, and temporal structuring are not distinctive activities, but are closely bound up with each other in a local practice; time, communication, and coordination are dynamically reconfigured over time, reflecting evolving work, social relations, and local contexts. Key Words: distribute teams, virtual teams, virtual organizing, technology-mediated communication, temporal flexibility, coordinating, communicating, temporal structuring, social practices, communicative structuring, genre and genre system, reconfiguration of time, communication, and coordination.<br>by Hyun Gyung Im.<br>Ph.D.in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HASTS

Today’s software companies face the challenges of highly distributed development projects and constant changing requirements. To be competitive, the software time to market has to be reduced as much as possible while keeping the expected quality. Development methodologies try to address this challenges by introducing new practices, techniques and methods for communication, requirements management, quality assurance, etc. This thesis proposes the adoption of relevant Free/Libre/Open Source Software practices to improve industrial developments. Many FLOSS projects have proven very successful, producing high quality products with steady frequent releases. The selection of the FLOSS best practices that would benefit industrial developments, and its adaptation for a corporate environment is the aim of this study. To achieve this goal, a framework to compare FLOSS and industrial development methodologies has been created and executed. Three successful FLOSS projects where selected as study targets, as well as two Ericsson’s projects. The framework served to identify FLOSS methodology strengths and compare them with the Ericsson projects. Analysing the significant differences resulting from this comparison, FLOSS best practices were tailored to fit industrial development environments. The final results of the thesis are six adoption opportunities that aim to improve software quality and overall development productivity while increasing practitioners’ motivation and commitment.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design & Management Program, 2001.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaf 142).<br>Before companies started competing on Internet time, most companies involved in software product development carried out the different phases of the product development sequentially. If, during the later stages of product development (ex: coding), the company came across new information or the user needs changed then these changes would be incorporated into the next version of the product otherwise risk shipping the product late. Rapid innovation in the technological areas and the Internet has created very dynamic environment in all walks of life. In this environment, the user needs are changing very rapidly resulting in new challenges for the companies and its product development managers. They have to respond to the changing needs of the users very quickly either with rapid product releases and/or incorporating the changes into product under development. To achieve this, companies need a product development strategy that allows them to incorporate changes at any stage in the product development without affecting their time-to-market. This thesis focuses on strategies for rapid and flexible software product development. This research will study systematically the range of approaches that producers of software and hardware use for product development.<br>by Sharma Upadhyayula.<br>S.M.

Researchers have found that a positive correlation exists between information technology (IT) flexibility, IT effectiveness, and strategic alignment in organizations. It has been determined that within inflexible IT environments maintainability is reduced and key business factors become at risk. An IT flexibility measurement matrix was developed to assess IT flexibility however leadership characteristics were not identified for measurement with that model. Determining the leadership characteristics needed for IT flexibility was the purpose of this multiple case study. Leveraging the empowerment, situational leadership, IT-business equilibrium, and complexity change theories, the research questions were focused on the leadership characteristics exhibited by organizational and project team leadership. A purposeful sample of 20 IT nonmanagers participated in in-depth interviews and provided insights into leadership characteristics that were observed and practiced in flexible IT environments. Using deductive a priori coding and inductive data analysis, communication was identified as the leadership characteristic required by both organizational and team leadership. Other emergent leadership characteristics were having a vision, managing change, and servant leadership. The implications for positive social change are for organizations to use the results to develop leaders and teams to successfully manage flexible IT environments, enabling improved IT-business alignment. Academic institutions can provide structured training and cooperative education programs, partnering with IT organizations to develop and retain top IT talent. In addition, individuals can build knowledge and gain experience in these areas to strengthen personal and professional skills, thus increasing career potential.

Business process management (BPM) is a philosophical approach to organisation-wide management in which the focus is on the processes through which it operates, and in particular the streamlining and optimising of these processes, for which software solutions may be used. CTexT is an intrapreneurial software organisation that has been experiencing problems with software development due to a lack of formal processes relating to customer support, versioning, configuration, quality, risk and project management. The objective of the study is to determine whether the implementation of an electronic BPM system can effectively solve CTexT's development problems and thereby improve its overall software development capacity. More specifically, the focus is on i) the effect of the resulting standardisation on creativity and innovation, and ii) implementation matters, such as the type of processes that can be subjected to an electronic system, and how CTexT can overcome the time and cost constraints of such a system. The study investigates these questions by means of a literature investigation in combination with interviews with knowledgeable respondents from other innovative and software organisations. Interviews with six employees from CTexT determine the relevance of these findings and highlight critical areas for process improvement. Since BPM systems improve organisational efficiencies and are generally employed in larger corporate contexts marked by transactional and repetitive activities where they enforce administrative rules, the conclusion is drawn that a BPM system will not be suitable for an intrapreneurial organisation, and that it is likely to cause more disruption to the creative environment than improve its operations. It is further shown that although a BPM system is theoretically applicable to software development, it generally does not seem to be applied practically in the industry, and the suitability of this process as manageable through a BPM system is seriously questioned. Instead, the research points to improvement through the application of software development methodologies and a holistic approach towards BPM. The investigation at CTexT confirms that its development problems relate to flawed methodologies and that remedies should therefore focus on improving its methodologies and controlling certain aspects of the software development life cycle by means of suitable software tools.<br>Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007

This thesis presents the design and implementation of a software development platform (ATLAS) which offers some tools and methods to greatly simplify the construction of fairly sophisticated applications. It allows thus programmers to include advanced features in their applications with no or very little extra information and effort. These features include: the splitting of the application in distinct processes that may be distributed over a network; a powerful configuration and scripting language; several tools including an input system to easily construct reasonable interfaces; a flexible journaling mechanism --offering fault-tolerance to crashes of processes or communications--; and other features designed for graphics applications, like a global data identification- --addressing the problem of volatile references and giving support to processes of constraint solving--, and a uniform but flexible view of inputs allowing many different dialogue modes.<br/><br/>These can be seen as related or overlapping with CORBA or other systems like Horus or Arjuna, but none of them addresses simultaneously all aspects included in ATLAS; more specifically none of them offers a standardized input model, a configuration and macro language, a journaling mechanism or gives support to processes of constraints solving and parametric design.<br/><br/>The contributions of ATLAS are in showing how all these requirements can be addressed together; also in showing means by which this can be attained with little or no performance cost and without imposing on developers the need of mastering all these techniques. Finally, the design of the ATLAS journaling system is to our knowledge original in the simultaneous solution of all of its requirements.

As the world population ages, the healthcare system is facing new challenges in treating more patients at a lower cost than today. One trend in addressing this problem is to increase the opportunities of in-home care. To achieve this there is a need for safe and cost-effective monitoring systems. Biosignal PI is an ongoing open-source project created to develop a flexible and affordable platform for development of stand-alone devices able to measure and process physiological signals. This master thesis project, performed at the department of Medical Sensors, Signals and System at the School of Technology and Health, aimed at further develop the Biosignal PI software by constructing a new flexible software framework architecture that could be used for measurement and processing of different types of biosignals. The project also aimed at implementing features for Heart Rate Variability(HRV) Analysis in the Biosignal PI software as well as developing a graphical user interface(GUI) for the Raspberry PI hardware module PiFace Control and Display. The project developed a new flexible abstract software framework for the Biosignal PI. The new framework was constructed to abstract all hardware specifics into smaller interchangeable modules, with the idea of the modules being independent in handling their specific task making it possible to make changes in the Biosignal PI software without having to rewrite all of the core. The new developed Biosignal PI software framework was implemented into the existing hardware setup consisting of an Raspberry PI, a small and affordable single-board computer, connected to ADAS1000, a low power analog front end capable of recording an Electrocardiography(ECG). To control the Biosignal PI software two different GUIs were implemented. One GUI extending the original software GUI with the added feature of making it able to perform HRV-Analysis on the Raspberry PI. This GUI requires a mouse and computer screen to function. To be able to control the Biosignal PI without mouse the project also created a GUI for the PiFace Control and Display. The PiFace GUI enables the user to collect and store ECG signals without the need of an big computer screen, increasing the mobility of the Biosignal PI device.   To help with the development process and also to make the project more compliant with the Medical Device Directive a couple of development tools were implemented such as a CMake build system, integrating the project with the Googletest testing framework for automated testing and the implementation of the document generator software Doxygen to be able to create an Software Documentation.    The Biosignal PI software developed in this thesis is available through Github at https://github.com/biosignalpi/Version-A1-Rapsberry-PI<br>Allt eftersom världens befolkning åldras, ställs sjukvården inför nya utmaningar i att behandla fler patienter till en lägre kostnad än idag. En trend för att lösa detta problem är att utöka möjligheterna till vård i hemmet.För att kunna göra detta finns det ett ökande behov av säkra och kostnadseffektiva patientövervakningssystem. Biosignal PI är ett pågående projekt med öppen källkod som skapats för att utveckla en flexibel och prisvärd plattform för utveckling av fristående enheter som kan mäta och bearbeta olika fysiologiska signaler. Detta examensarbete genomfördes vid institutionen för medicinska sensorer, signaler och system vid Skolan för Teknik och Hälsa. Projektet syftade till att vidareutveckla den befintliga mjukvaran för Biosignal PI genom att skapa ett nytt flexibelt mjukvaruramverk som kan användas för mätning och bearbetning av olika typer av biosignaler.Projektet syftade också till att utvidga mjukvaran och lägga till funktioner för att kunna genomföra hjärtfrekvensvariabilitets(HRV) analys i Biosignal PIs mjukvara, samt att utveckla ett grafiskt användargränssnitt(GUI) för hårdvarumodulen PiFace Control and Display. Projektet har utvecklat ett nytt flexibelt mjukvaruramverk för Biosignal PI. Det nya ramverket konstruerades för att abstrahera alla hårdvaruspecifika delar in i mindre utbytbara moduler, med tanken att modulerna ska vara oberoende i hur de hanterar sin specifika uppgift. På så sätt ska det vara möjligt att göra ändringar i Biosignal PIs programvara utan att behöva skriva om hela mjukvaran.Det nyutvecklade Biosignal PI ramverket implementerades i det befintliga hårdvaru systemet, som består av en Raspberry PI, liten och prisvärd enkortsdator, ansluten till ADAS1000, en analog hårdvarumodul med möjlighet att registrera ett elektrokardiografi(EKG/ECG). För att kontrollera Biosignal PI programmet har två olika grafiska användargränssnitt skapats.Det ena gränssnitt är en utvidgning av original programvaran med tillagd funktionalitet för att kunna göra HRV-Analys på Raspberry PI, detta gränssnitt kräver dock mus och dataskärm för att kunna användas.För att kunna styra Biosignal PI utan mus och skärm skapades det även ett gränssnitt för PiFace Control and Display. PiFace gränssnittet gör det möjligt för användaren att samla in och lagra EKG-signaler utan att behöva en stor datorskärm, på så sätt kan man öka Biosignal PI systemets mobilitet. För att underlätta utvecklingsprocessen, samt göra projektet mer förenligt med det medicintekniska regelverket, har ett par utvecklingsverktyg integrerats till Biosignal PI projektet såsom CMake för kontroll av kompileringsprocessen, test ramverket Googletest för automatiserad testning samt integrering med dokumentations generatorn Doxygen för att kunna skapa en dokumentation av mjukvaran.

This paper tries to identify and understand the human social obstacles for developing quality software. These include lip-service, cutting corners, deception and effects of internal politics. These obstacles can undermine the good intentions behind the software methodologies. The paper draws from the literature in different disciplines and uses an ethnographic research methodology to create a rich picture of the concerning aspects in the framework of one software development company in India. What stands out among the findings are that internal audits has mainly focused on finding errors in documentation procedures but study of the actual practices has often been shallow. In addition the understanding of business risks by the internal auditors have often been weak. Context. The human based obstacles affecting Software Development Methodology analysed in the context of an ISO 9000 quality system in an Indian Software Development company working mainly with Swedish companies. Objectives. Identifying and increasing the understanding of intrinsic negative social aspects such as lip service, cheating and politics which are affecting the results of Software Development Methodologies and if possible suggest some means to mitigate them. In particular to create a deeper understanding of why people cheat and pay lip service to methodologies and to try to understand the political aspects of methodology and quality systems. There are other positive social aspects, but they are not considered since the objective is about understanding the negative aspects and possibly mitigate them. Methods. Ethnographic research using analysis of ISO 9000 and design artefacts, semi-structured interviews, participation in internal audits, Results. Most focus in audits was on documentation and very less focus on underlying methodologies, some indications of lip-service to process and processes were also mainly managed on a higher level in the organization while the understanding and practices were less well established on lower level. It was hard to get a grip on the internal political aspects since the perception of the subject in the informants view was that it is mainly malicious and therefore embarrassing to speak about. Some conflicts between internal quality goals and customers’ needs were also identified. Conclusions. An ethnographic research methodology gives a rich picture. The analysis gives deeper understanding of the problem areas, but not necessary solutions. The author suggests that at the heart of the problem is a difference in world view. Software professionals generally tend to resolve [technical] problems using a reductionist approach, while these intricate challenges cannot easily be resolved by this approach. A more holistic systemic approach is required and while the software methodology is useful to structure the development it does not resolve these dysfunctions. They have to be resolved on another level. It was also found that further studies is required in particular to better understand Internal politics, the effect of Positive and Negative Incentives, the effect of software metrics on quality performance and subjectivity in customers’ perception and expectation.<br>Uppsatsen försöker förstå mänskliga sociala hinder för att utveckla programvara med hög kvalitet. Dessa hinder inkluderar &quot;läpparnas bekännelser&quot;, ta genvägar, vilseleda och internpolitik. Sådana hinder kan underminera utvecklingsmetoder. Denna uppsats bygger på literatur från olika discipliner och använder etnografisk forskningsmetodik för att skapa en rik bild av dessa oroande aspekter inom ramen för ett IT-företag i Indien. Vad står ut är att intern kvalitetsrevision fokuserar för mycket på att finna fel i dokumentationsprocesser medan revision av hur utvecklingsarbetet faktiskt sker har varit för ytligt. Dessutom har de interna revisorernas förståelse av affärsrisker varit svag.

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.

Masters of Science<br>In a world where technology is advancing at a very rapid pace, global competition has significantly increased, and this is putting pressure on software companies to produce quality software. It has therefore become critically important to manage well the implementation of software engineering projects by employing effective methods that ensure the best product is produced. The most popular software project implementation methodologies are the Traditional methods and Agile methods. This research explored these two methodologies by comparing the strength and weakness of both approaches. The research was conducted using a constructionist epistemology with a critical inquiry using the grounded theory methodology, applying both quantitative and qualitative methods to the case studies. Findings were collected through participant observation using a designed questionnaire targeting a selected sample of the study population. This sample of the population consisted of Ecommerce organizations in the Western Cape province of South Africa to establish which of the Traditional or Agile methods would best lead to the successful implementation of Ecommerce software engineering projects. The research results showed that the Agile methodology was the preferred and recommended approach. Very few participants of the research supported the Traditional approach to still be considered and used for projects with well-known end goals. An Ecommerce website prototype for a local Cape Town business was constructed as following the Agile approach to measure and validate the findings of the research. The prototype was built successfully from conception to the final delivery product and on time confirming the Agile approach as best for Ecommerce software development. In conclusion, the Agile methodology is the choice approach based on reviewed literature, the research results, and the prototype construction. These results will help in critical decision making regarding an appropriate development methodology to follow for the Ecommerce industry in the Western Cape.