Monitoring Bottlenecks in Agile and Lean Software Development Projects – A Method and Its Industrial Use

Staron, Miroslaw; Meding, Wilhelm

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-21843-9_3

Cited by 34 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Staron and Wilhelm [7] investigated the method and measures employed by Ericsson to identify bottlenecks in the development process. It is stated that the company on the basis of the Lean concepts of VSM and queues developed these methods and measures.…”

Section: Process Improvement In Lean Software Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The work by Staron and Willhelm [7] acknowledges the underlying contribution of VSM but that was not the object of their study. While the earlier work on identification of bottlenecks by Petersen et al [9] and [8] uses the typical visualizations used in a value stream analysis, but it does not use the VSM as a framework to guide the improvement activity in the organization.…”

Section: Process Improvement In Lean Software Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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FLOW-assisted value stream mapping in the early phases of large-scale software development

Ali

Petersen

Schneider

2016

Journal of Systems and Software

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PostprintThis is the accepted version of a paper published in Journal of Systems and Software. This paper has been peer-reviewed but does not include the final publisher proof-corrections or journal pagination.Citation for the original published paper (version of record):Ali, N b. (2016) FLOW-assisted value stream mapping in the early phases of large-scale software development. Systems and Software, Access to the published version may require subscription. Journal of AbstractValue Stream Mapping (VSM) has been successfully applied in the context of software process improvement. However, its current adaptations from Lean manufacturing focus mostly on the flow of artifacts and have taken no account of the essential information flows in software development. A solution specifically targeted towards information flow elicitation and modeling is FLOW. This paper aims to propose and evaluate the combination of VSM and FLOW to identify and alleviate information and communication related challenges in large-scale software development. Using case study research, FLOW-assisted VSM was used for a large product at Ericsson AB, Sweden. Both the process and the outcome of FLOW-assisted VSM have been evaluated from the practitioners' perspective. It was noted that FLOW helped to systematically identify challenges and improvements related to information flow. Practitioners responded favorably to the use of VSM and FLOW, acknowledged the realistic nature and impact on the improvement on software quality, and found the overview of the entire process using the FLOW notation very useful. The combination of FLOW and VSM presented in this study was successful in systematically uncovering issues and characterizing their solutions, indicating their practical usefulness for waste removal with a focus on information flow related issues.

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Section: Process Improvement In Lean Software Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Process Improvement In Lean Software Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

FLOW-assisted value stream mapping in the early phases of large-scale software development

Ali

Petersen

Schneider

2016

Journal of Systems and Software

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“…Due to the introduction of agile and lean methods during the early 2000's, new best practices and research have been reported for metrics applied in agile settings [14,15,16,17,18,19].…”

Section: Background and Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two studies that we found useful for our work are Petersen's and Wohlin's work on flow [16], in combination with Staron and Meding's work on bottlenecks [18]. The main difference is in the purpose of the research.…”

Section: Background and Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Metrics Model to Measure the Impact of an Agile Transformation in Large Software Development Organizations

Heidenberg

Weijola

Mikkonen

et al. 2013

Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing

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Abstract. As the adoption of agile and lean methods continues to grow, measuring the effects of such a transformation can be valuable but challenging due to the many variables influencing the outcome of a software project. In this paper we present a metrics model developed for measuring the effects of an agile and lean transformation on software development organizations. The model was developed iteratively in cooperation with industry partners within the Cloud Software Finland research project. The resulting metrics model is applicable to projects of any size, complexity and scope, using metrics that support agile and lean values. The model can be used to measure both past and ongoing projects, regardless of whether the process model used is plan driven or agile. In order to evaluate the metrics model, the proposed model has been piloted in an industry setting.

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“…Thus, the indicator would be used to evaluate leanness, one dimension of agility. Staron and Meding [2011a] studied how one can identify and monitor bottlenecks in software development projects in order to prevent inefficiency. Bottlenecks are often related to leanness.…”

Section: Related Work In Agile Team Productivity Measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Productivity of agile teams: an empirical evaluation of factors and monitoring processes

Melo¹

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Lower cost and shorter time-to-market expectations are the major drivers of software productivity improvements. To manage productivity effectively, it is important to identify the most relevant difficulties and develop strategies to cope with them. Agile methods, including Extreme Programming and Scrum, have evolved as approaches to simplify software development process, potentially leading to better productivity. They aim to shorten development time and handle the inevitable changes resulting from market dynamics.Although the industry has extensively adopted agile methods, little research has empirically examined the software development agility construct regarding its dimensions, determinants, and effects on software development performance. Understanding this construct could help determine where to concentrate management efforts (and related financial resources) from a practical standpoint and where to focus research efforts from an academic perspective.Considerable research has been directed at identifying factors that have a significant impact on software development productivity. In general, the studied productivity factors were related to product, personnel, project, process, or organizational issues. Continuously evaluating productivity factors is important, as factors may change under new software engineering practices. However, little research has investigated the major factors influencing agile team productivity.The goal of this thesis was to explore productivity definitions, factors, and monitoring in agile teams and to improve the practice based on the collected evidence and gained knowledge. This thesis presents five novel contributions: C1 -Empirical verification of the importance of productivity for companies adopting agile methods and its perceived benefits; C2 -Rationale for the definition of productivity in the context of agile methods; C3 -Empirical verification of agile team productivity factors; C4 -A conceptual framework for agile team productivity factors and their impact; C5 -A team productivity monitoring process considering adaptability and an evaluation of the usefulness of agile team productivity metrics.

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Monitoring Bottlenecks in Agile and Lean Software Development Projects – A Method and Its Industrial Use

Cited by 34 publications

References 11 publications

FLOW-assisted value stream mapping in the early phases of large-scale software development

FLOW-assisted value stream mapping in the early phases of large-scale software development

A Metrics Model to Measure the Impact of an Agile Transformation in Large Software Development Organizations

Productivity of agile teams: an empirical evaluation of factors and monitoring processes

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