scholarly journals Agile Requirements Engineering: An Empirical Analysis and Evidence from a Tertiary Education Context

10.28945/4287 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Requirements Engineering ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Resistance To Change ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Agile Requirements

[This Proceedings paper was revised and published in the 2019 issue of the journal Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology, Volume 16] Aim/Purpose: The study describes empirical research into agile Requirements Engineering (RE) practices based on an analysis of data collected in a large higher education organization. Background: Requirements Engineering (RE) in agile development contexts is considerably different than in traditional software development. The field of agile RE is still nascent where there is a need to evaluate its impact in real-world settings. Methodology: Using a case study methodology, the study involved interviewing nine experienced software practitioners who reflected on the use and implementation of various agile RE practices in two software development projects of a student management system. Contribution: The primary contribution of the paper is the evaluation of agile RE practices in a large tertiary educational organization. Based on the analysis of the data, it provides valuable insights into the practice of agile RE in a specific context (i.e., education), but just as importantly, the ones that were omitted or replaced with others and why. Findings: While the evolutionary and iterative approach to defining requirements was followed in general, not all agile practices could be fully adhered to in the case organization. Although face-to-face communication with the customers has been recognized as one the most important agile RE practices, it was one of the most difficult practices to achieve with a large and diverse customer base. Addressing people issues (e.g., resistance to change, thinking, and mindset) was found to be a key driver to following the iterative RE process effectively. Contrary to the value-based approach advocated in the literature, the value-based approach was not strictly adhered to in requirements prioritization. Continuous integration was perceived to be a more beneficial practice than prototyping, as it allows frequent integration of code and facilitates delivering working software when necessary. Recommendations for Practitioners: Our study has important implications for practitioners. Based on our empirical analysis, we provide specific recommendations for effective implementation of agile RE practices. For example, our findings suggest that practitioners could address the challenges associated with limited face-to-face communication challenges by producing flexible, accessible, and electronic documentation to enable communication. Recommendations for Researchers: Researchers can use the identified agile RE practices and their variants to per-form in-depth investigations into agile requirements engineering in other educational contexts. Impact on Society: There are a number of new technologies that offer exciting new opportunities that can be explored to maximize the benefits of agile and other requirements techniques. Future Research: Future research could conduct case studies in different contexts and thus con-tribute to developing bundles or collections of practices to improve software development processes in specific contexts.

scholarly journals Agile Requirements Engineering: An Empirical Analysis and Evidence from a Tertiary Education Context

10.28945/4286 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 097-112
Author(s):  
Meetu Thomas ◽  
Mali Senapathi
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Requirements Engineering ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Resistance To Change ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Agile Requirements

Aim/Purpose: The study describes empirical research into agile Requirements Engineering (RE) practices based on an analysis of data collected in a large higher education organization. Background: Requirements Engineering (RE) in agile development contexts is considerably different than in traditional software development. The field of agile RE is still nascent where there is a need to evaluate its impact in real-world settings. Methodology: Using a case study methodology, the study involved interviewing nine experienced software practitioners who reflected on the use and implementation of various agile RE practices in two software development projects of a student management system. Contribution: The primary contribution of the paper is the evaluation of agile RE practices in a large tertiary educational organization. Based on the analysis of the data, it provides valuable insights into the practice of agile RE in a specific context (i.e., education), but just as importantly, the ones that were omitted or replaced with others and why. Findings: While the evolutionary and iterative approach to defining requirements was followed in general, not all agile practices could be fully adhered to in the case organization. Although face-to-face communication with the customers has been recognized as one the most important agile RE practices, it was one of the most difficult practices to achieve with a large and diverse customer base. Addressing people issues (e.g., resistance to change, thinking, and mindset) was found to be a key driver to following the iterative RE process effectively. Contrary to the value-based approach advocated in the literature, the value-based approach was not strictly adhered to in requirements prioritization. Continuous integration was perceived to be a more beneficial practice than prototyping, as it allows frequent integration of code and facilitates delivering working software when necessary. Recommendations for Practitioners: Our study has important implications for practitioners. Based on our empirical analysis, we provide specific recommendations for effective implementation of agile RE practices. For example, our findings suggest that practitioners could address the challenges associated with limited face-to-face communication challenges by producing flexible, accessible, and electronic documentation to enable communication. Recommendations for Researchers: Researchers can use the identified agile RE practices and their variants to per-form in-depth investigations into agile requirements engineering in other educational contexts. Impact on Society: There are a number of new technologies that offer exciting new opportunities that can be explored to maximize the benefits of agile and other requirements techniques. Future Research: Future research could conduct case studies in different contexts and thus con-tribute to developing bundles or collections of practices to improve software development processes in specific contexts.

scholarly journals The Agile Transition in Software Development Companies: The Most Common Barriers and How to Overcome Them

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Obrutsky ◽  
Emre Erturk
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Chief Executive Officers ◽  
Resistance To Change ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Management Control ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Management Support ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Common Barriers

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the most common barriers facing the greater adoption of Agile approaches to project management, and ways to overcome these barriers during an Agile transition. First, based on a literature review, this paper describes the Agile approaches and practices in general. The review also covers the previous work around the adoption of Agile, which provides considerable information about the challenges of doing so. This includes some prerequisites, key decisions, transitional frameworks, and recommendations to overcome organisational, cultural, and structural barriers. Next, this paper reports on a recently conducted Agile project management survey. Using this method, this research project gathered information about the important issues that software development companies have to overcome in order to be successful in an Agile transition. The survey was given to Scrum masters, project managers, chief executive officers, and IT professionals, who have participated in companies that have migrated from a traditional methodology to an Agile methodology. Several barriers were highlighted: general organisational resistance to change, lack of user/customer availability, pre-existing rigid framework, not enough personnel with Agile experience, concerns about loss of management control, concerns about lack of upfront planning, insufficient management support, concerns about the ability to scale Agile, need for development team support, and the perceived time and cost to make the transition. Finally, the paper offers concise recommendations to overcome each of the barriers as well as ideas for future research.

Best Practices Guidelines for Agile Requirements Engineering Practices

2010 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Chetankumar Patel ◽  
Muthu Ramachandran
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Requirements Engineering ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Requirement Engineering ◽  
Functional Requirements ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Development Methodology ◽  
Requirement Change ◽  
Engineering Practices ◽  
Agile Requirements

Developing software that meets the customers or stakeholders’ needs and expectation is the ultimate goal of the software development methodology. To meet their need we have to perform requirement engineering which helps to identify and structure requirements. In traditional software development methods end users or stakeholders predefined their requirements and sent to the development team to analysis and negotiation to produce requirement specification. In many cases it is risky or very difficult and not economical to produce a complete, verifiable set of requirements. Traditional software development has a problem to deal with requirement change after careful analysis and negotiation. This problem is well tackled by the Agile Practices as it’s recommends an on-site customer to represents their requirements through user stories on story cards. Generally customers have rarely a general picture of the requirements or system in their mind which leads problems related to requirements like requirements conflicts, missing requirements, and ambiguous requirements etc, and does not address non-functional requirements from exploration phase. This chapter introduces best knowledge based guidelines for agile requirements engineering to enhance the quality of requirements (story cards).

Best Practices Guidelines for Agile Requirements Engineering Practices

2012 ◽  
pp. 1403-1416
Author(s):  
Chetankumar Patel ◽  
Muthu Ramachandran
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Requirements Engineering ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Requirement Engineering ◽  
Functional Requirements ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Development Methodology ◽  
Requirement Change ◽  
Engineering Practices ◽  
Agile Requirements

Developing software that meets the customers or stakeholders’ needs and expectation is the ultimate goal of the software development methodology. To meet their need we have to perform requirement engineering which helps to identify and structure requirements. In traditional software development methods end users or stakeholders predefined their requirements and sent to the development team to analysis and negotiation to produce requirement specification. In many cases it is risky or very difficult and not economical to produce a complete, verifiable set of requirements. Traditional software development has a problem to deal with requirement change after careful analysis and negotiation. This problem is well tackled by the Agile Practices as it’s recommends an on-site customer to represents their requirements through user stories on story cards. Generally customers have rarely a general picture of the requirements or system in their mind which leads problems related to requirements like requirements conflicts, missing requirements, and ambiguous requirements etc, and does not address non-functional requirements from exploration phase. This chapter introduces best knowledge based guidelines for agile requirements engineering to enhance the quality of requirements (story cards).

Knowledge Management Initiatives in Agile Software Development

2019 ◽  
pp. 109-130
Author(s):  
Shanmuganathan Vasanthapriyan
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Agile Software Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Goal ◽  
Knowledge Intensive ◽  
Agile Software ◽  
Agile Requirements ◽  
Research Type

Agile software development (ASD) is a knowledge-intensive and collaborative activity and thus Knowledge Management (KM) principals should be applied to improve the productivity of the whole ASD process from the beginning to the end of the phase. The goal is to map the evidence available on existing researches on KM initiatives in ASD in order to identify the state of the art in the area as well as the future research. Therefore, investigation of various aspects such as purposes, types of knowledge, technologies and research type are essential. The authors conducted a systematic review of literature published between 2010 and December 2017 and identified 12 studies that discuss agile requirements engineering. They formulated and applied specific inclusion and exclusion criteria in two distinct rounds to determine the most relevant studies for their research goal. Reuse of knowledge of the team is the perspective that has received more attention.

Knowledge Management Initiatives in Agile Software Development

2022 ◽  
pp. 2065-2081
Author(s):  
Shanmuganathan Vasanthapriyan
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Agile Software Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Goal ◽  
Knowledge Intensive ◽  
Agile Software ◽  
Agile Requirements ◽  
Research Type

Agile software development (ASD) is a knowledge-intensive and collaborative activity and thus Knowledge Management (KM) principals should be applied to improve the productivity of the whole ASD process from the beginning to the end of the phase. The goal is to map the evidence available on existing researches on KM initiatives in ASD in order to identify the state of the art in the area as well as the future research. Therefore, investigation of various aspects such as purposes, types of knowledge, technologies and research type are essential. The authors conducted a systematic review of literature published between 2010 and December 2017 and identified 12 studies that discuss agile requirements engineering. They formulated and applied specific inclusion and exclusion criteria in two distinct rounds to determine the most relevant studies for their research goal. Reuse of knowledge of the team is the perspective that has received more attention.

Factors Affecting Customer Switching Behavior towards Hybrid Electrical Vehicles (HEV’s) from a Customer Perspective in Jordan

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Bushra Mahadin
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Consumer Behaviour ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
International Marketing ◽  
Current Trend ◽  
Switching Behavior ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Customer Switching ◽  
Electrical Vehicles

Purpose-This paper aims to investigate factors that affect customer switching from Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEV’s) to Hybrid Electrical Vehicles (HEV’s), in Jordan for the period of (2010-2014).Design/methodology/approach-A self-administered survey was hand-delivered to the targeted sample of car users in Jordan. The authors delivered 400 questionnaires to customers, from which 333 were deemed valid for the analysis, corresponding to the percentage of (83.25%) which indicates the validity of the study. Findings- There was no difference in switching behavior between (ICEV’s) and (HEV’s) based on gender in the Jordanian market. Fuel consumption efficiency was the number one variable that supports the switching behavior towards (HEV's), followed by Eco friendliness, lower taxes and technological features. Price and the current trend in the market were the least supporting factors. In addition to that the perception of the battery life of (HEV's), limited choices in the market, lack of information and fear of the relatively new technology were the major hindering factors of choosing an (HEV).Research limitations-Future research needs to investigate other factors that may affect customers’ behavior such as perceived image, trust, and subjective norms. Future research should investigate into the importance of environmental awareness and new technologies, and gender differences in behavior. From an international marketing standpoint, comparative studies between Jordanian and non-Jordanian customers are potential areas of future research for international marketing strategies and cross-cultural consumer behaviour analysis. Practical implications-The paper identifies the determinants of switching behavior. marketers should focus addressing customers concerns in terms of providing enough information and building awareness towards the technology and it's benefits towards the society and the environment.Originality/value-Our study is one of the few in Jordan that investigates the switching behavior towards vehicles technology. Our study is thought to have made a modest contribution to consumer behaviour literature and, specifically, for decision making process. It offers marketers insights into the determinants of switching behavior towards the hybrid vechicle technology and how this contribute to consumers’ decision making process and attitudes to achieve the intended behavioural outcomes

The Social Consequences of Phubbing

2020 ◽  
pp. 157-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariek Vanden Abeele
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Expectancy Violations ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Comprehensive Literature Review ◽  
The Social

Recent empirical work suggests that phubbing, a term used to describe the practice of snubbing someone with a phone during a face-to-face social interaction, harms the quality of social relationships. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this chapter presents a framework that integrates three concurrent mechanisms that explain the relational impact of phubbing: expectancy violations, ostracism, and attentional conflict. Based on this framework, theoretically grounded propositions are formulated that may serve as guidelines for future research on these mechanisms, the conditions under which they operate, and a number of potential issues that need to be considered to further validate and extend the framework.

scholarly journals Needs of lifelong learning for professionalisation of industrial workers: Opportunities and challenges

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-73
Author(s):  
Zarina Kassim ◽  
Nor Aishah Buang ◽  
Lilia Halim
Keyword(s):  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Personal Satisfaction ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Perceived Needs ◽  
Human Resource Department ◽  
The Government ◽  
Learning Institutions

Only 23% of Malaysian workforce has tertiary education compared to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries such as Singapore and Finland that have tertiary education with an average of 28% and around 35%, respectively. This study investigates perceived needs lifelong learning programmes for professionalisation among the workers. A survey was conducted on workers from the industries. Most of the workers felt that lifelong learning programmes provide personal satisfaction. In terms of perceived needs, workers from higher positions in industries need lifelong learning programmes to get better positions and better salaries as compared to those with lower positions in industries to get better job and education. Both groups have different preferences for means of learning whether face-to-face or online learning. The implications are that the government has to change their policy in terms of requirement for these companies to register with the Human Resource Department Fund so that their workers be subsidised for attending lifelong learning programmes and to encourage the participation of public higher learning institutions for providing online and weekend lifelong learning programmes to the workers.

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