Developing CRMSys at SoftTel: Traditional or agile?

Agile practices have recently gained popularity among large number of companies as a mechanism for reducing cost and increasing ability to handle change in dynamic market conditions. Based on the principles of the Agile manifesto [1, 2], researchers and practitioners have proposed several software development approaches such as Extreme Programming, Scrum and Feature-Driven Development. These and other agile approaches have had significant impact on industrial software development practices. However, there is also a significant concern and perplexity about the role and importance of the issues related to a system’s software architecture, which is considered one of the most important initial design artefacts. It is argued that software architecture is an effective tool to cut development cost and time and to increase the quality of a system. Many practitioners of Agile approaches appear to view software architecture in the context of the plan-driven development paradigm [3]. For them, upfront design and evaluation of software architecture requires too much work, which may have very little value to the customers of a system. Hence, they perceive architectural work as part of high ceremony processes, which usually require large amount of documentation. We maintain that these two seemingly opposing views to software engineering can be integrated but it requires that experts from both fields work together to overcome evident challenges in bridging these two paradigms together. Indeed, software architecture researchers and practitioners appear to believe that sound architectural practices cannot be followed using Agile approaches. However, these two extreme views of Agile and architecture appear to neglect that many agile experts emphasises the importance of paying attention to good design and architecture early in the development process [4, 5]. Recently, there is growing recognition of the importance of paying more attention to architectural aspects in agile approaches [3, 6, 7]. We argue that there is a vital need for devising a research agenda for identifying and dealing with architecture-centric challenges in agile software development. Such research agenda should make it possible to guide the future research on integrating architecture-centric methods in agile approaches and give advice to the software industry on dealing with architecture related challenges. Some of the questions to stimulate discussion in the workshop are: What is the role of software architecture in Agile software development? What are the key architecture-centric challenges and potential solutions in Agile software development projects? What is the strength of the evidence that attention to architectural issues can be counterproductive in Agile development or vice versa? What are the prerequisites for integrating Architecture-Centric methods in agile development and potential implications of such integration?

The comprehensive integration of artificial intelligence technology is facilitating a paradigm shift in higher education from “digital assistance” to “intelligent reconstruction”. Management information system courses represent a critical intersection of management science and information technology. However, the traditional hybrid teaching model encounters structural challenges, including outdated content, superficial practical applications, limited evaluation metrics, and a lack of ethical education. This research draws upon disciplinary insights, integrating social cultural theory and distributed cognition theory to develop a theoretical framework centered on “cognitive spiral development”, with AI embedded within the four-dimensional integration of “teaching, learning, evaluation, and research”. Based on this framework, four primary optimization strategies are proposed: dynamic content generation and knowledge graph construction render course content dynamic; human-machine collaborative exploratory learning design deepens the practical process; multi-dimensional data-driven precise evaluation enhances learning feedback accuracy; and the integration of technology and ethics establishes a clear educational orientation. This research aims to offer a systematic solution that combines theoretical depth with practical applicability for the intelligent transformation of management information system courses empowered by AI, thereby providing an operational reference paradigm for cultivating interdisciplinary talent in the context of emerging business and engineering fields.

Many software development teams face the problem of selecting a suitable development approach fitting to their specific context. According to them, the combination of agile and traditional approaches seems to be the solution to handle this problem. However, the current state of practice with respect to hybrid approaches is not sufficiently examined. Most studies focus either on traditional or on agile methods, but the combination of both is not well investigated yet. The “Hybrid dEveLopmENt Approaches in software systems development” (HELENA) study performs a large-scale international survey in order to gain insights into the distribution of hybrid approaches. So far, the study indicates several reasons why companies combine agile and traditional approaches. The hybrid approaches aim at improving the frequency of delivery to customers, the adaptability and the flexibility of the process to react to change. Furthermore, it is the aim to increase the productivity. In this publication, we present the current state of the German results and outline the next steps.

Offhand, the agile and the disciplined software development approaches seem contradicting. More and more, software development organizations however strive at implementing an agile software development approach while still being compliant to a quality assurance standard. Researchers are discussing the combinability and compatibility of these two approaches. Through a review of the literature, the purpose of this chapter is to determine whether the agile and the disciplined software development approaches are combinable or just compatible, in particular to identify the main challenges of using an agile software development approach in a disciplined setting. The review shows that the agile and the disciplined approaches are compatible, but not combinable. It is possible to implement agile practices and principles in a development process compliant with a quality standard, but the regulations of the standard makes it impossible to implement a full agile software development process without compromising the agility. The main challenges, when balancing the agility and discipline in a project, are how to determine the right level of documentation and how to overcome the differences in the way requirements are handled.

This paper reports the findings of implementing a cooperative learning method in an undergraduate "core" Management Information Systems course taken by business students with diverse backgrounds and interests. The results confirmed the effectiveness of cooperative learning but also showed interesting findings of students' perception of the method. The paper also reports factors identified by students that might be detrimental to the successful use of cooperative learning. When planning to employ cooperative learning in their teaching, instructors can take into account those factors to improve their implementation of cooperative learning.

Agile software development methods have become increasingly popular since the late 1990s, and may offer improved outcomes for software development projects when compared to more traditional approaches. However there has previously been little published empirical evidence to either prove or disprove this assertion. A survey carried out in March 2006 gathered responses from a large number of software development professionals who were using many different methods, both traditional and agile. A statistical analysis of this data reveals that agile methods do indeed improve outcomes from software development projects in terms of quality, satisfaction, and productivity, without a significant increase in cost. However, adoption of methods appears to involve a high degree of adaptivity, with many methods being used in combination and sets of techniques being adopted on an ad hoc basis. In this context, our analysis suggests that choosing specific combinations of methods can be particularly beneficial. However, we also find that successful adoption of an agile method is to some extent dependent on rigorous integration of certain core techniques.

The agile approach uses continuous delivery, instead of distinct procedure, to work closer with customers and to respond faster requirement changes. All of these are against the traditional plan driven approach. Due to agile method’s characteristics and its success in the real world practices, a number of discussions regarding the differences between agile and traditional approaches emerged recently and many studies intended to integrate both methods to synthesize the benefits from these two sides. However, this type of research often concludes from observations of a development activity or surveys after a project. To provide a more objective supportive evidence of comparing these two approaches, our research analyzes the source codes, logs, and notes. We argue that the agile and traditional approaches share common characteristics, which can be considered as the glue for integrating both methods. In our study, we collect all the submissions from the version control repository, and meeting notes and discussions. By applying our suggested analysis method, we illustrate the shared properties between agile and traditional approaches; thus, different development phases, like implementation and test, can still be identified in agile development history. This result not only provides a positive result for our hypothesis but also offers a suggestion for a better integration.

For over fifteen years Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville has offered management information systems courses using an intensive weekend format at locations around the United States. Although a variety of information systems courses in the Masters of Business Administration has been provided, the most frequently taught course has been Introduction to Information Systems. The introduction course combines elementary computer and data processing concepts, programming, applications, and systems analysis and design. However, the emphasis of the course is analysis and design of systems from a manager, or user frame of reference. Because of the nontraditional format of the course, a variety of instructional strategies have evolved to insure successful student achievement of course objectives. Frequent comparisons between the test scores of students finishing the off-campus program and students completing the on-campus program indicate that the achievement levels are equivalent.

Software development procedures are constantly evolving to monitor and evaluate the quality and to save money and time. Numerous organizations are migrating away from traditional business models and toward agile methodologies. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate both traditional and agile software development approaches and the numerous techniques associated with them. This analysis conducted identical investigations into two radically different ways of thinking about product development: traditional methods and agile approaches. The paper is supported by several studies commissioned by various organizations to determine the transition from the traditional to the agile paradigm. The follow-up and data analysis explore and reveal changes and emerging trends that arose announcement of the agile technique which is mentioned in this paper, and also has gained increasing prominence in agile in product development over the last couple of years.

Software development teams communicate differently by using a variety of communication tools. Successful communication leads to competitive software based on clear and quickly delivered re-quirements, as well as smoothness in bug reporting and explanation. Agile and Waterfall software development approaches have both addressed the importance of communication for their process. However, neither Agile nor Waterfall has guaranteed communication effectiveness during their development lifecycle. In this study we highlight the main differences between Agile and Waterfall approaches in the light of Media Richness Theory (MRT). We also identify the preferred commu-nication tools during a project’s lifecycle using both Agile and Waterfall models separately. A mixed-method approach was employed in this study incorporating quantitative and qualitative data from interviews and a multilingual web-based survey. The results are presented descriptively and statistically and a rank ordering of communication tools based on our participants’ preferences leads to a better understanding of how to select the best tool in a given situation. Thus a new updated MRT ranking model tailored for software development environment was developed, as well as, we conclude that communication tools are employed differently based on project stages and team member’s role. These differences in using communication tools could be also attributed to the type of transferable information or personal preferences.

New methods and best practices are being used to enhance the software lifecycle because of the recent expansion of the software industry. Agile development approaches have also been widely used, and they have positively affected people's lives and the operations of enterprises. Although agility makes working with developers easier, it does not offer enough chances to collaborate with users. In early Agile formulations, User Experience (UX) was not recognized as a distinct part of software development. The tricky part is figuring out where to integrate them and how to merge them so that the two parts interact. Combining user experience with Agile approaches is the subject of this research's proposed systematic literature review (SLR). This research found ten relevant studies highlighting the growing interest and research in merging these two critical areas of software engineering. In conclusion, this research found some papers or studies integrating user experience into Agile methodologies. Many techniques are used, and all studies have different approaches to integrate them.

Traditional and Agile are two different software development approaches, where recently the Agile have attracted the attention of the software development industry due to its capability to overcome the limitations of the traditional software development approaches and to cope with increasing complexity in system development. This paper presents a literature review that is focusing on requirements engineering in both traditional and Agile development processes with a discussion of their existing challenges. In addition, it illustrates how Agile approaches can help to overcome the challenges of managing requirements in traditional methods. The paper also shows the importance of activity planning of requirements engineering in improving the product quality, cost, and scheduling. Finally, the paper points out some drawbacks of Agile practices and available solutions.

In general, the learning process is done conventionally, where the learning process is done face to face between teachers with learners in the classroom. Teachers have a very important role in determining the quantity and quality of the implementation study. Therefore, teachers must think and plan carefully to improve learning opportunities for learners and improve the quality of teaching. Along with the development of mobile technology and communication is rapidly increasing, enabling the learning process is not only done in the classroom, but can be done anywhere and anytime. Based on the analysis of the results of observations in the class conducted by a researcher and as a teacher in the learning courses of Information Systems, found some obstacles encountered during the learning process This research is to develop an Adaptive Mobile Learning on Information Systems courses. The method used in this research is the development of research methods (research and development), which selected the design development using System Development Life Cycle model. Adaptive Mobile Learning will be validated and tested through three phases of testing are: (1) Product technical test as a software. (2) Testing of the product as a medium of learning, through expert review by a media expert, (3) Field test to evaluate the response of the students that learned Adaptive Mobile Learning. The results show that Adaptive Mobile Learning software is can present the material in the course of Information Systems. Media Adaptive Mobile Learning can be used as an alternative medium (supplement) of learning Information Systems courses. The response of students to the development and use of software for Adaptive Mobile Learning Information Systems courses is likely to very positive, which is at 67.7% very positive and 32.3% is positive.

The need for understanding Generation Y employees' attitudes and expectations that considerably differed from previous generations had been a focus of researchers in the last decades. IT industry and specifically software industry had been among the most popular employment areas of Generation Y professionals and hence Generation Y Software Developers constitutes the majority of the work force in the software industry. As known, software development is a project-based business where the project management methodologies and principles are utilized. Similar to other project based works, the effectiveness of human resources management and team development is the determinant of project success in software development. Therefore, to effectively manage and to adapt appropriate approaches for leading the project teams which include Generation Y software professionals, managers and leaders prior in need to understand their perspective. In this context, research aims to understand the expectations and attitudes of Generation Y Software Developer professionals in projects. The research is structured in two parts reflecting these dual aims. The first part of the research addresses the expectations of Y generation employees from project management and project environment in software development projects. The second part of the research explores the attitudes of Y generation Employees in software development project teams. Survey is conducted with the participation of 113 Generation Y Software Professionals who are employed in major software companies in Turkey. Basic concepts that are explored in the study are expectations from working environment, expectations from project type and content, leadership, motivation factors, challenges faced, perceptions on generation conflicts and the attitudes of Generation Y professionals towards project-based work and work environments. Software industry is dominated by project based management methods, perceptions and attitudes of Generation Y in projects are expected to provide practical guidelines to policy makers and HR professionals in developing solutions and tools for improving motivations and effectiveness of Generation Y employees.

Software development in project teams has become more and more complex, with increasing demands for information and decision making. Software development in projects also hugely depends on effective interaction between people, and human factors have been identified as key to successful software projects. Especially in this context, managing and analyzing social networks is highly important. The instrument of social network analysis (SNA) provides fine-grained methods for analyzing social networks in project teams, going beyond the traditional tools and techniques of project management. This paper examines the importance of the application of SNA in software development projects. We conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) of research on software development projects and social network data published between 1980 and 2019. We identified and analyzed 86 relevant studies, finding that research on software development projects spans the topics of project organization, communication management, knowledge management, version and configuration management, requirement management, and risk management. Further, we show that most studies focus on project organization and that the most common method used to gather social data relies on automated extraction from various software development repositories in the SNA context. Our paper contributes to the software development literature by providing a broad overview of published studies on the use of social networks in helping software development projects. Finally, we identify research opportunities and make suggestions for addressing existing research gaps.