Using Scrum in Distributed Agile Development: A Multiple Case Study
13 Jul 2009-pp 195-204
TL;DR: Findings from a multiple case study on agile practices in two small and one mid-sized distributed Scrum project are presented, which describe how Scrum practices, such as daily scrums, backlogs, and sprints were successfully adopted to distributed development.
Abstract: Distributed agile development (DAD) has received increasing interest both in industry and academia as global software development (GSD) is becoming main-stream. However, agile methods and in particular agile practices have been designed for collocated software development, and are thus not directly applicable to DAD. In this paper, we present findings from a multiple case study on agile practices in two small and one mid-sized distributed Scrum project. Based on an interview study of 19 project team members, we describe how Scrum practices, such as daily scrums, backlogs, and sprints were successfully adopted to distributed development. We also describe supporting GSD practices employed, such as frequent visits and multiple communication modes that the projects used. Finally, we depict the challenges and benefits the case projects reported, as well as lessons learned from applying Scrum in distributed settings.
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TL;DR: CACM is really essential reading for students, it keeps tabs on the latest in computer science and is a valuable asset for us students, who tend to delve deep into a particular area of CS and forget everything that is happening around us.
Abstract: Communications of the ACM (CACM for short, not the best sounding acronym around) is the ACM’s flagship magazine. Started in 1957, CACM is handy for keeping up to date on current research being carried out across all topics of computer science and realworld applications. CACM has had an illustrious past with many influential pieces of work and debates started within its pages. These include Hoare’s presentation of the Quicksort algorithm; Rivest, Shamir and Adleman’s description of the first publickey cryptosystem RSA; and Dijkstra’s famous letter against the use of GOTO. In addition to the print edition, which is released monthly, there is a fantastic website (http://cacm.acm. org/) that showcases not only the most recent edition but all previous CACM articles as well, readable online as well as downloadable as a PDF. In addition, the website lets you browse for articles by subject, a handy feature if you want to focus on a particular topic. CACM is really essential reading. Pretty much guaranteed to contain content that is interesting to anyone, it keeps tabs on the latest in computer science. It is a valuable asset for us students, who tend to delve deep into a particular area of CS and forget everything that is happening around us. — Daniel Gooch U ndergraduate research is like a box of chocolates: You never know what kind of project you will get. That being said, there are still a few things you should know to get the most out of the experience.
856 citations
23 Aug 2010
TL;DR: The analysis revealed that in most cases agile practices were modified with respect to the context and situational requirements, indicating the need for future research on how to integrate all experiences and practices in a way to assist practitioners when setting up non-collocated agile projects.
Abstract: This paper presents the results of systematically reviewing the current research literature on the use of agile practices and lean software development in global software engineering (GSE). The primary purpose is to highlight under which circumstances they have been applied efficiently. Some common terms related to agile practices (e.g. scrum, extreme programming) were considered in formulating the search strings, along with a number of alternatives for GSE such as offshoring, outsourcing, and virtual teams. The results were limited to peer-reviewed conference papers/journal articles, published between 1999 and 2009. The synthesis was made through classifying the papers into different categories (e.g. research type, distribution). The analysis revealed that in most cases agile practices were modified with respect to the context and situational requirements. This indicates the need for future research on how to integrate all experiences and practices in a way to assist practitioners when setting up non-collocated agile projects.
186 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a systematic review was conducted to capture the status of combining agility with global software engineering (GSE) and found that the majority of the existing research is industrial experience reports in which Agile practices were modified with respect to the context and situational requirements, and the emergent need in this research area is suggested to be developing a framework that considers various factors from different perspectives when incorporating Agile in GSE.
Abstract: Agile practices have received attention from industry as an alternative to plan-driven software development approaches. Agile encourages, for example, small self-organized collocated teams, whereas global software engineering (GSE) implies distribution across cultural, temporal, and geographical boundaries. Hence, combining them is a challenge. A systematic review was conducted to capture the status of combining agility with GSE. The results were limited to peer-reviewed conference papers or journal articles, published between 1999 and 2009. The synthesis was made through classifying the papers into different categories (e.g. publication year, contribution type, research method). At the end, 81 papers were judged as primary for further analysis. The distribution of papers over the years indicated that GSE and Agile in combination has received more attention in the last 5 years. However, the majority of the existing research is industrial experience reports in which Agile practices were modified with respect to the context and situational requirements. The emergent need in this research area is suggested to be developing a framework that considers various factors from different perspectives when incorporating Agile in GSE. Practitioners may use it as a decision-making basis in early phases of software development.
164 citations
23 Aug 2010
TL;DR: The contention is that this model can support practitioners and researchers to better understand the landscape of DSD project challenges and devise more effective solutions to improve project management in a distributed setting.
Abstract: This paper presents a systematic literature review of the challenges, best practices, models, and tools in Distributed Software Development (DSD) Project Management. The objective is to collect and systematize reported knowledge in terms of what are the difficulties in managing DSD projects, what are the best practices to overcome these difficulties, and how existing models and tools support these practices. We found 54 works related to DSD project management, published between 1998 and 2009. Using the data systematically extracted from these works, we propose an evidence-based DSD project management improvement model. Our contention is that this model can support practitioners and researchers to better understand the landscape of DSD project challenges and devise more effective solutions to improve project management in a distributed setting.
144 citations
TL;DR: A large organization within Ericsson with 400 persons in 40 Scrum teams at three sites adopted the use of Communities of Practice (CoP) as part of their transformation from a traditional plan-driven organization to lean and agile.
Abstract: Context: Communities of practice—groups of experts who share a common interest or topic and collectively want to deepen their knowledge—can be an important part of a successful lean and agile adoption in particular in large organizations. Objective: In this paper, we present a study on how a large organization within Ericsson with 400 persons in 40 Scrum teams at three sites adopted the use of Communities of Practice (CoP) as part of their transformation from a traditional plan-driven organization to lean and agile. Methods: We collected data by 52 semi-structured interviews on two sites, and longitudinal non-participant observation of the transformation during over 20 site visits over a period of two years. Results: The organization had over 20 CoPs, gathering weekly, bi-weekly or on a need basis. CoPs had several purposes including knowledge sharing and learning, coordination, technical work, and organizational development. Examples of CoPs include Feature Coordination CoPs to coordinate between teams working on the same feature, a Coaching CoP to discuss agile implementation challenges and successes and to help lead the organizational continuous improvement, an end-to-end CoP to remove bottlenecks from the flow, and Developers CoPs to share good development practices. Success factors of well-functioning CoPs include having a good topic, passionate leader, proper agenda, decision making authority, open community, supporting tools, suitable rhythm, and cross-site participation when needed. Organizational support include creating a supportive atmosphere and providing a suitable infrastructure for CoPs. Conclusions: In the case organization, CoPs were initially used to support the agile transformation, and as part of the distributed Scrum implementation. As the transformation progressed, the CoPs also took on the role of supporting continuous organizational improvements. CoPs became a central mechanism behind the success of the large-scale agile implementation in the case organization that helped mitigate some of the most pressing problems of the agile transformation. 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
129 citations
Cites background from "Using Scrum in Distributed Agile De..."
...Despite these additional hurdles, companies report having successfully applied agile practices in large projects [8,9]....
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References
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TL;DR: In this article, buku ini mencakup lebih dari 50 studi kasus, memberikan perhatian untuk analisis kuantitatif, membahas lebah lengkap penggunaan desain metode campuran penelitian, and termasuk wawasan metodologi baru.
Abstract: Buku ini menyediakan sebuah portal lengkap untuk dunia penelitian studi kasus, buku ini menawarkan cakupan yang luas dari desain dan penggunaan metode studi kasus sebagai alat penelitian yang valid. Dalam buku ini mencakup lebih dari 50 studi kasus, memberikan perhatian untuk analisis kuantitatif, membahas lebih lengkap penggunaan desain metode campuran penelitian, dan termasuk wawasan metodologi baru.
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"Using Scrum in Distributed Agile De..." refers methods in this paper
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TL;DR: The author explores the multi-method case study as a serious strategy alongside field experimentation and the survey, with an even-handed coverage of qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Abstract: This book advice looks at carrying out real world research. The emphasis is on rigour and trustworthiness utilising a systematic procedures appropriate to the task. The author explores the multi-method case study as a serious strategy alongside field experimentation and the survey, with an even-handed coverage of qualitative and quantitative approaches. A final section covers issues in 'making an impact' including different approaches to reporting, the place of enquiry in promoting change, and the relative roles of practitioners and researchers.
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01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: You may love XP, or you may hate it, but Extreme Programming Explained will force you to take a fresh look at how you develop software.
Abstract: Software development projects can be fun, productive, and even daring. Yet they can consistently deliver value to a business and remain under control.Extreme Programming (XP) was conceived and developed to address the specific needs of software development conducted by small teams in the face of vague and changing requirements. This new lightweight methodology challenges many conventional tenets, including the long-held assumption that the cost of changing a piece of software necessarily rises dramatically over the course of time. XP recognizes that projects have to work to achieve this reduction in cost and exploit the savings once they have been earned.Fundamentals of XP include: Distinguishing between the decisions to be made by business interests and those to be made by project stakeholders. Writing unit tests before programming and keeping all of the tests running at all times. Integrating and testing the whole system--several times a day. Producing all software in pairs, two programmers at one screen. Starting projects with a simple design that constantly evolves to add needed flexibility and remove unneeded complexity. Putting a minimal system into production quickly and growing it in whatever directions prove most valuable.Why is XP so controversial? Some sacred cows don't make the cut in XP: Don't force team members to specialize and become analysts, architects, programmers, testers, and integrators--every XP programmer participates in all of these critical activities every day. Don't conduct complete up-front analysis and design--an XP project starts with a quick analysis of the entire system, and XP programmers continue to make analysis and design decisions throughout development. Develop infrastructure and frameworks as you develop your application, not up-front--delivering business value is the heartbeat that drives XP projects. Don't write and maintain implementation documentation--communication in XP projects occurs face-to-face, or through efficient tests and carefully written code.You may love XP, or you may hate it, but Extreme Programming Explained will force you to take a fresh look at how you develop software. 0201616416B04062001
6,030 citations
"Using Scrum in Distributed Agile De..." refers methods in this paper
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Book•
11 Oct 2001
TL;DR: This book describes building systems using the deceptively simple process, Scrum, a new approach to systems development projects that cuts through the ocmplexity and ambiguity of complex, emergent requiremetns and unstable technology to iteratively and quickly produce quality software.
Abstract: From the Publisher:
“Agile development methods are key to the future of flexible software systems. Scrum is one of the vangards of the new way to buy and manage software development when business conditions are changing. This book distills both the theory and practive and is essential reading for anyone who needs to cope with software in a volatile world.”
—Martin Fowler, industry consultant and CTO, ThoughtWorks
“Most executives today are not happy with their organization's ability to deliver systems at reasonable cost and timeframes. Yet, if pressed, they will admit that they don't think their software developers are not competent. If it's not the engineers, then what is it that prevents fast development at reasonable cost? Scrum gives the answer to the question and the solution to the problem.”
—Alan Buffington, industry consultant, former Present, Fidelity Systems Company
Arguably the most important book about managing technology and systems development efforts, this book describes building systems using the deceptively simple process, Scrum. Readers will come to understand a new approach to systems development projects that cuts through the ocmplexity and ambiguity of complex, emergent requiremetns and unstable technology to iteratively and quickly produce quality software.
BENEFITS Learn how to immediately start producing software incrementally regardless of existing engineering practices or methodologies
Learn how to simplify the implementation of Agile processes
Learn how to simplify XP implementation through a Scrum wrapper
Learn why Agile processes work and how to manage them
Understand the theoretical underpinnings of Agile processes
2,224 citations