Investigating the Practical Impact of Agile Practices on the Quality of Software Projects in Continuous Delivery (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 2014
Continuous Delivery is aimed at the frequent delivery of good quality software in a speedy, reliable and efficient fashionwith strong emphasis on automation and team collaboration. However, even with this new paradigm, repeatability of project outcome is still not guaranteed: project performance varies due to the various interacting and interrelated factors in the Continuous Delivery 'system'. This paper presents results from the investigation of various factors, in particular agile practices, on the quality of the developed software in the Continuous Delivery process. Results show that customer involvement and the cognitive ability of the QA have the most significant individual effects on the quality of software in continuous delivery.
AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF SOFTWARE METRICS FOR ASSESSING THE PHASES OF AN AGILE PROJECT
2012
We present an analysis of the evolution of a Web application project developed with object-oriented technology and an agile process. During the development we systematically performed measurements on the source code, using software metrics that have been proved to be correlated with software quality, such as the Chidamber and Kemerer suite and Lines Of Code metrics. We also computed metrics derived from the class dependency graph, including metrics derived from Social Network Analysis. The application development evolved through phases, characterized by a different level of adoption of some key agile practices – namely pair programming, test-based development and refactoring. The evolution of the metrics of the system, and their behavior related to the agile practices adoption level, is presented and discussed. We show that, in the reported case study, a few metrics are enough to characterize with high significance the various phases of the project. Consequently, software quality, as measured using these metrics, looks directly related to agile practices adoption.
Motivations and measurements in an agile case study
Journal of Systems Architecture, 2006
With the recent emergence of agile software development technologies, the software community is awaiting sound, empirical investigation of the impacts of agile practices in a live setting. One means of conducting such research is through industrial case studies. However, there are a number of influencing factors that contribute to the success of such a case study. In this paper, we describe a case study performed at Sabre Airline Solutions evaluating the effects of adopting Extreme Programming (XP) practices with a team that had characteristically plan-driven risk factors. We compare the team's business-related results (productivity and quality) to two published sources of industry averages. Our case study found that the Sabre team yielded above-average post-release quality and average to above-average productivity.
Investigating Agile Adaptation for Project Development
International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE)
Agile methodologies adaptation in software companies is an accepted norm.Rapid application development and efficient deliverables being the premise. The changing business needs, cost effectiveness and timely delivery are catered to by agile methods. Different software development models are in the literature and also are being used by the industry. Few companies have adopted agile, few are gearing up for and few are in transition. We investigated agile presence in a software company.Project management is an evolving art with innovative methods being added up.The aim of this paper is to tease about project management challenges, agile, agile transition in companies and a comparison of conventional software engineering practices with agile process model.This paper takes stock of the current status of quality in software projects and to add on quality process improvement strategies. The results presented here are after a qualitative interview study with one cross function team using st...
System Sciences (HICSS), 2013 46th Hawaii International Conference on, 2013
This study aims to investigate the perceptions of software professionals in relation with impact of agile practices to accelerate the delivery of software products. Quantitative data obtained from a sample of 109 professionals were collected and analyzed by Pearson correlation and factor analysis. The results of factor analysis showed that the perception of professionals in relation to agile practices can be grouped into seven factors. From the correlation analysis, it was observed that customer satisfaction is the main variable influencing the perceptions of professionals regarding the use of agile practices to meet the deadlines on software projects.
A statistical analysis of the effects of Scrum and Kanban on software development projects
Robotics and Computer-integrated Manufacturing, 2017
Traditionally, software development processes have relied on the use of the "Waterfall" and "Vee" models. Later, Agile methodologies were used to handle the challenges of managing complex projects during the development phase. Agile methodologies are a group of incremental and iterative methods that are more effective, and have been used in project management. Kanban and Scrum are two powerful Agile project management approaches in software development. The objective of Scrum and Kanban is achieved by optimizing the development process by identifying the tasks, managing time more effectively, and setting-up teams. A review of the literature reveals that there is a lack of statistical evidence to conclude which methodology is more effective in dealing with the traditional project management factors of budget handling, risk control, quality of the project, available resources, having clear project scope, and schedule handling. This research statistically compares the effectiveness of the Scrum and Kanban methods in terms of their effects on the project management factors for software development projects. Numerical analysis is performed based on survey responses from those with experience in the Scrum and Kanban methods. Results suggest that both Scrum and Kanban lead to the development of successful projects, and that the Kanban method can be better than the Scrum method in terms of managing project schedule.
Impact of Agile Methodology on Software Development
Computer and Information Science, 2015
Software development has become a highly consequential activity for the society and many businesses, with most of them investing much resource. They employ various methods to develop software that can maximize their profits, while minimizing the operation costs. However, most of the projects have failed because they are not able to respond to the changing user needs, despite the heavy investment incurred. This has encouraged the software engineers to propose flexible and effective techniques, including agile methodologies that help to develop quality software. The methodology impacts software development because it results in quality products. It influences the developers positively, thus enabling them to commit their efforts in achieving the project objectives. The project managers motivate the team members, which increases their creativity and innovativeness necessary for success of the project. The methodology also employs effective communication strategies, which enable the teams and stakeholders to realize quality software. The increased level of stakeholder engagement helps to determine and address the faults of the project in good time, thus reducing the cost incurred. The paper explains various ways in which agile methodology impacts software development. It also describes benefits and limetations of agile methodology. This paper motivates developers to adopt this methodology in order to develop software that meet their changing needs.
Does Agile work? — A quantitative analysis of agile project success
International Journal of Project Management, 2015
This article looks at the benefits, or not, of applying an agile (i.e. flexible) method of project management, as opposed to more traditional methods. What does the paper cover? Methods of project management often fail to take into account changes outside the project that can be beneficial or harmful to its success. Projects that achieve the goals set at the beginning can still fail if, for example, it has ignored new technology that has been developed during its course. By remaining open to new ideas and changes throughout the course of a project, agile methods of project management appear to contribute to a more successful end product.
International Journal of Information Technologies and Systems Approach, 2020
Agile practices are activities or procedures that are applied during the software development process in order to improve its quality and productivity. The objective of this study is to determine the influence of agile practices on software quality. For this purpose, a model composed of 4 groups of agile practices and 8 quality characteristics according to the ISO/IEC 25010 standard has here been proposed. The results of 146 questionnaires addressed to people involved in the software development process show that the application of agile engineering and project management practices have a significant positive influence on the quality attribute functionality. On the other hand, project management practices have a low impact on the quality characteristics of compatibility, portability, security, and usability.
Agile project dynamics: A system dynamics investigation of agile software development methods
While Agile software development has many advocates, acceptance in the government and defense sectors has been limited. To address questions of meanings to the term "Agile," we examine a range of Agile methods practiced and develop a framework of seven characteristics, which we call the Agile Genome. We gain insight into the dynamics of how Agile development compares to classic "waterfall" approaches by constructing a System Dynamics model for software projects. The Agile Project Dynamics (APD) model captures each of the Agile genes as a separate component of the model and allows experimentation with combinations of practices and management policies. Experimentation with the APD model is used to explore how different genes work in combination with one another to produce both positive and negative effects. The extensible design of the APD model provides the basis for further study of Agile methods and management practices.