The Use of Technological Bricks in Agile: Conclusions Based on Analysis of the Literature and on Empirical Research
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15678/ZNUEK.2023.1002.0404Keywords:
Agile, Agile Good Practices, competencies, technologyAbstract
Objective: The main objective of the study was to assess the level of Agile implementation in organisations in Poland and to determine the most commonly used Agile methods. The intention of this paper is to present the results of empirical research on technological tools supporting agile organisations in Poland and consider which digital competencies may favour their use.
Research Design & Methods: This paper presents a review of the literature and the results of empirical research on the use of information technology in enterprises which follow Agile practices and approaches. Empirical research is based on an interview questionnaire, which contained questions about the level of Agile implementation in the organisation, Agile implementation and support areas, support factors, barriers to implementation, and implementation results.
Findings: The paper presents the main IT tools used in agile enterprises and the results of research conducted in this field. The study shows that in 2019 companies mainly used the Agile approach for the creation of innovative services and (or) products. Research also indicates that, when it comes to Agile Good Practices, respondents most often use Scrum and Kanban. Practices such as DevOps, TDD, or SAFe were much less frequently used by the companies surveyed.
Implications / Recommendations: The results of the research provide valuable information on three issues: implementation of the Agile approach in Polish enterprises, assessment of the use of technological bricks in Polish enterprises, and an analysis of good practices in Polish enterprises. The research also indicates directions for further research. Among others, it is recommended to repeat the research on the level of agility of the organisation in Poland, primarily to check whether the level of implementation has changed and whether the implementation has taken place in other key areas of the company.
Contribution: Literature review and economic practice indicate that there is increasing popularity of the use of information technologies, not only in agile organisations but in general, requiring employees and managers to improve their digital competencies. This paper addresses the need to evaluate the current state of Agile implementation in the organisation and examines the use of technological bricks in Agile in both theoretical and empirical ways.
Downloads
References
Beck K. (1999), Extreme Programming Explained, Addison-Wesley, Boston. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/TOOLS.1999.779100
Beck K., Beedl M., Bennekum A. van, Cockburn A., Cunningham W., Fowler M., Grenning J., Highsmith J., Hunt A., Jeffries R., Kern J., Marick B., Martin R. C., Mellor S., Schwaber K., Sutherland J., Thomas D. (2001), Manifesto for Agile Software Development, https://agilemanifesto.org (accessed: 10.09.2023).
Bencsik A., Machová R., Zsigmond T. (2018), Analysing Customer Behaviour in Mobile App Usage among the Representatives of Generation X and Generation Y, “Journal of Applied Economic Sciences”, vol. 13(6).
Bławucki T., Ramanovich S., Skublewska-Paszkowska M. (2020), Applications Supporting Utilization of Agile Methods in Software Development Process, “Journal of Computer Sciences Institute”, vol. 14, https://doi.org/10.35784/jcsi.1566. DOI: https://doi.org/10.35784/jcsi.1566
Boehm B., Turner R. (2005), Management Challenges to Implement Agile Processes in Traditional Development Organizations, “IEEE Software”, vol. 22(5), https://doi.org/10.1109/ms.2005.129. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MS.2005.129
Conboy K., Morgan L. (2011), Beyond the Customer: Opening the Agile Systems Development Process, “Information and Software Technology”, vol. 53(5), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2010.10.007. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2010.10.007
Coronado M., Iglesias C. A. (2016), Task Automation Services: Automation for the Masses, “IEEE Internet Computing”, vol. 20(1), https://doi.org/10.1109/mic.2015.73. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MIC.2015.73
Eberhard B., Podio M., Pérez Alonso A., Radovica E., Avotina L., Peiseniece L., Caamaño Sendon M., Gonzales Lozano A., Solé-Pla J. (2017), Smart Work: The Transformation of the Labour Market due to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (I4.0), “International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research”, vol. 10(3).
Flores E., Xu X., Lu Y. (2020), Human Capital 4.0: A Workforce Competence Typology for Industry 4.0, “Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management”, vol. 31(4), https://doi.org/10.1108/JMTM-08-2019-0309. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JMTM-08-2019-0309
Fuchs C., Hess T. (2018), Becoming Agile in the Digital Transformation: The Process of a Large-scale Agile Transformation (in:) Proceedings of the 39th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2018), San Francisco, USA.
Głomb K., Jakubowski M., Krawczyk A., Kulisiewicz T., Nowakowski Z., Złotnicki A., Gajderowicz T. (2019), Kompetencje przyszłości w czasach cyfrowej dysrupcji. Studium wyzwań dla Polski w perspektywie 2030 roku, Stowarzyszenie „Miasta w Internecie”, Fundacja Naukowa Evidence Institute, Warszawa.
Hamed A. M. M., Abushama H. (2013), Popular Agile Approaches in Software Development: Review and Analysis (in:) 2013 International Conference on Computing, Electrical and Electronics Engineering (ICCEEE), https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCEEE.2013.6633925. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCEEE.2013.6633925
Heikkilä V. T., Paasivaara M., Lassenius C., Engblom C. (2013), Continuous Release Planning in a Large-scale Scrum Development Organization at Ericsson (in:) Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming. XP 2013. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol. 149, H. Baumeister, B. Weber (eds), Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38314-4_14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38314-4_14
Herceg I. V., Kuč V., Mijušković V. M., Herceg T. (2020), Challenges and Driving Forces for Industry 4.0 Implementation, “Sustainability”, vol. 12(10), https://doi.org/10.3390/su12104208. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12104208
Highsmith J. A. (2002), Agile Software Development Ecosystems, vol. 13, Addison-Wesley Professional, Boston.
Jarosz S., Sołtysik M., Zakrzewska M. (2020), The Fourth Industrial Revolution in the Light of Social and Competence Changes, “European Research Studies Journal”, vol. 23 (Special Issue 1), https://doi.org/10.35808/ersj/1776. DOI: https://doi.org/10.35808/ersj/1776
Koi-Akrofi G. Y., Koi-Akrofi J., Henry Matey A. (2019), Understanding the Characteristics, Benefits and Challenges of Agile it Project Management: A Literature Based Perspective, “International Journal of Software Engineering & Applications”, vol. 10(5), https://doi.org/10.5121/ijsea.2019.10502. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5121/ijsea.2019.10502
Kos A. (2019), Przegląd wybranych metodyk zarządzania projektami, “Zeszyty Naukowe Państwowej Wyższej Szkoły Zawodowej im. Witelona w Legnicy”, no. 3(32).
Kosała M., Małkowska A., Urbaniec M. (2019), Digital Skills and Labor Market Challenges in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Multiple Criteria Analysis for European Countries (in:) 10th International Conference on Applied Economics. Contemporary Issues in Economy, Toruń, Poland, 27–28 June 2019, A. P. Balcerzak, I. Pietryka (eds), Institute of Economic Research, Polish Economic Society Branch in Toruń, Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University.
Krasiński M. (2013), Applicability of Kanban Methodology in Project Management, “Nauki o Zarządzaniu. Management Sciences”, no. 1(14).
Kurt R. (2019), Industry 4.0 in Terms of Industrial Relations and Its Impacts on Labour Life, “Procedia Computer Science”, vol. 158, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2019.09.093. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2019.09.093
Leitao P., Pires F., Karnouskos S., Colombo A. W. (2020), Quo Vadis Industry 4.0? Position, Trends, and Challenges, “IEEE Open Journal of the Industrial Electronics Society”, vol. 1, https://doi.org/10.1109/ojies.2020.3031660. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/OJIES.2020.3031660
Lim F. P. (2017), An Analysis of Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication Tools in e-Learning, “Advanced Science and Technology Letters”, vol. 143, http://doi.org/10.14257/astl.2017.143.46. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14257/astl.2017.143.46
Marion T. J., Fixson S. K. (2021), The Transformation of the Innovation Process: How Digital Tools are Changing Work, Collaboration, and Organizations in New Product Development, “Journal of Product Innovation Management”, vol. 38(1), https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12547. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12547
Maximilien E. M., Williams L. (2003), Assessing Test-driven Development at IBM (in:) 25th International Conference on Software Engineering, 2003 Proceedings, Portland, OR, USA, https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSE.2003.1201238. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSE.2003.1201238
Mazali T. (2018), From Industry 4.0 to Society 4.0, There and Back, “AI and Society”, vol. 33(3), https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-017-0792-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-017-0792-6
Oberländer M., Beinicke A., Bipp T. (2020), Digital Competencies: A Review of the Literature and Applications in the Workplace, “Computers & Education”, vol. 146, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103752. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103752
Olak A. (2017), Organizacja zwinna – wyznaczniki oraz kierunki strategii prowadzące do zwinności przedsiębiorstwa, „e-mentor”, no. 1(68), http://dx.doi.org/10.15219/em68.1280. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15219/em68.1280
Olszak C. M., Kisielnicki J. (2015), Metoda zwinnego podejścia w rozwijaniu projektu, “Kwartalnik Nauk o Przedsiębiorstwie”, vol. 37(4), available at: https://econjournals.sgh.waw.pl/KNoP/article/view/2138 (accessed: 18.03.2022).
Proskuryakova L., Meissner D., Rudnik P. (2017), The Use of Technology Platforms as a Policy Tool to Address Research Challenges and Technology Transfer, “The Journal of Technology Transfer”, vol. 42, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-014-9373-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-014-9373-8
Sampson S. E. (2021), A Strategic Framework for Task Automation in Professional Services, “Journal of Service Research”, vol. 24(1), https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670520940407. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670520940407
Schwaber K., Beedle M. (2002), Agile Software Development with Scrum, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Schwaber K., Sutherland J. (2020), The Scrum Guide. The Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game, Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland.
Shull F., Melnik G., Turhan B., Layman L., Diep M., Erdogmus H. (2010), What Do We Know about Test-Driven Development?, “IEEE Software”, vol. 27(6), https://doi.org/10.1109/MS.2010.152. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MS.2010.152
Sienkiewicz Ł. D. (2013), Koordynacja procesu wytwarzania oprogramowania Scrum z uwzględnieniem wpływu usług realizowanych przez dostawców zewnętrznych, “Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego. Ekonomiczne Problemy Usług”, no. 106.
Sołtysik M., Włodyka K., Jarosz S., Zakrzewska M. (2021), Agile – the Level of Implementation in Enterprises (in:) Proceedings of the 37th International Business Information Management Association (IBIMA), 1–2 April 2021, Cordoba, Spain, ed. K. S. Soliman, International Business Information Management Association (IBIMA).
Susskind D. (2020), A World without Work, Penguin Books, UK.
Susskind R., Susskind D. (2015), The Future of the Professions. How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts, Oxford University Press, Oxford. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198713395.001.0001
Swan M. (2015), Blockchain. Fundament Nowej Gospodarki, Helion, Gliwice.
Szyjewski G., Niemcewicz P. (2016), Technologia chmurowa usług typu PaaS w realizacji projektów informatycznych, “Studia Informatica Pomerania”, no. 3(41), https://doi.org/10.18276/si.2016.41-07. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18276/si.2016.41-07
Turetken O., Stojanov I., Trienekens J. J. M. (2017), Assessing the Adoption Level of Scaled Agile Development: A Maturity Model for Scaled Agile Framework, “Journal of Software: Evolution and Process”, vol. 29(6), https://doi.org/10.1002/smr.1796. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/smr.1796
Tyrańska M., Wiśniewska S., Szydło R., Koczyński M. (2020), Digital Competences before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis – Comparative Study (in:) Proceedings of the 6th International Scientific Conference on Contemporary Issues in Economics, Business and Management (EBM 2020), Faculty of Economics in Kragujevac, Republic of Serbia, 14 December 2020, V. Domanović, D. Zlatanović (eds), Faculty of Economics, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac.
Vuorikari R., Punie Y., Carretero S., Van den Brande L. (2016), DigComp 2.0: The Digital Competence Framework for Citizens. Update Phase 1: The Conceptual Reference Model, Luxembourg Publication Office of the European Union, https://doi.org/10.2791/11517.
Wawak S. (2011), Zarządzanie jakością. Podstawy, systemy i narzędzia, Helion, Gliwice.
Whitworth E. (2006), Agile Experience: Communication and Collaboration in Agile Software Development Teams, Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Canada.
Williams L., Cockburn A. (2003), Guest Editors’ Introduction: Agile Software Development: It’s about Feedback and Change, “Computer”, vol. 36(6), https://doi.org/10.1109/MC.2003.1204373. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MC.2003.1204373
Wyrozębski P. (2011), Zwinne zarządzanie projektami za pomocą metodyki SCRUM (in:) Ekonomia, nauki o zarządzaniu, finanse i nauki prawne wobec światowych przemian kulturowych, społecznych, gospodarczych i politycznych, R. Bartkowiak, J. Ostaszewski (eds), Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie – Oficyna Wydawnicza, Warszawa.
Yusuf Y. Y., Sarhadi M., Gunasekaran A. (1999), Agile Manufacturing: The Drivers, Concepts and Attributes, “International Journal of Production Economics”, vol. 62(1–2), https://doi.org/10.1016/S0925-5273(98)00219-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0925-5273(98)00219-9
Zakrzewska M., Jarosz S., Piwowar-Sulej K., Sołtysik M. (2022), Enterprise Agility – Its Meaning, Managerial Expectations and Barriers to Implementation – A Survey of Three Countries, “Journal of Organizational Change Management”, vol. 35(3), https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-02-2021-0061. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-02-2021-0061
Zakrzewska M., Jarosz S., Sołtysik M. (2020), Czynniki sprzyjające i bariery wdrożenia Agile w przedsiębiorstwach (in:) Znaczenie zarządzania we współczesnym świecie, ed. A. Krzysztofek, Wydawnictwo Naukowe ArchaeGraph, Łódź–Kielce.
Zhu L., Bass L., Champlin-Scharff G. (2016), DevOps and Its Practices, “IEEE Software”, vol. 33(3), https://doi.org/10.1109/MS.2016.81. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MS.2016.81
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Krakowie / Cracow Review of Economics and Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
