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A system that will have major and dire repercussions in the event of a failure or malfunction is considered a critical system. Therefore, Software developers usually apply strict standards, testing, and regulatory compliance while developing, operating, and maintaining critical systems to ensure their reliability, security, and resilience due to the high risks involved. Software developers and large organizations try to apply the best methodologies to develop critical systems. The PMBOK framework and Agile methodologies have gained wide acceptance by software developers. These frameworks became more popular because they applied best practices and made them suitable for working in the management of critical systems development processes. The main objective of the research is to review the characteristics associated with the failure of critical systems and analyze how to reduce the failure of critical systems through the use of appropriate software development frameworks. This is done through a literature review, where published studies and research on the failure of critical systems and their critical characteristics will be reviewed. Along with emphasizing Agile Software Development Methods (ASDM) like Scrum, LeSS, and SAFe, this analysis also contrasts them with PMBOK’s best project management practices and recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practices of lean and agile methods are important to manage and guide projects development in different situations. However, selecting the appropriate practices of lean and agile methods is a daunting task, owing to the availability of hundreds of practices. This wide variety of available practices bewilders potential users, in terms of the best practices that may yield satisfactory solution when applied to the project development. Lean and agile practices selection model is necessary to guide both academic and industrial experts to choose the appropriate practices for a specific project development. Thus, this study aimed to develop lean and agile practices selection (LAPS) model that presents a clear picture of how developers can use LAPS model to select and adopt different practices from various lean and agile methods. Qualitative research method (e.g., grounded theory) was used to interview 18 software developers across 13 countries. The validated qualitative analysis results showed that the proposed LAPS model consists of two main components, which are (1) lean and agile practices that include 41 best practices related to lean and agile methods and (2) factors that affect the process of lean and agile practices selection including five main factors and 17 subfactors associated with the five main factors. The two case studies conducted assured the validity and applicability of the lean and agile practices selection model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main obstacles in software development projects is requirement volatility (RV), which is defined as uncertainty or changes in software requirements during the development process. Therefore, this research tries to understand the underlying factors behind the RV and the best practices to reduce it. The methodology used for this research is based upon qualitative research using interviews with 12 participants with experience in agile software development projects. The participants hailed from Austria, Nigeria, the USA, the Philippines, Armenia, Sri Lanka, Germany, Egypt, Canada, and Turkey and held roles such as project managers, software developers, Scrum Masters, testers, business analysts, and product owners. Our findings based on our empirical data revealed six primary factors that cause RV and three main agile practices that help to mitigate it. Theoretically, this study contributes to the body of knowledge relating to RV management. Practically, this research is expected to aid software development teams in comprehending the reasons behind RV and the best practices to effectively minimize it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose: This discourse aims to examine the categorisation of Project Management Software (PMS) with focused attention on those devised and integrated within the framework of Agile methodologies. The discourse highlights the functionalities of PMS that are most beneficial in Agile projects. It provides an overview of the underlying motives for their adoption and the potential advantages they can offer to project teams, Agile Project Managers, and their stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach: A comparative analysis of existing tools supporting project management based on an agile approach was applied. Existing software features were analysed to identify similarities and differences, mainly in basic software functionality. Findings: Effective communication within the project team through IT tools can be a basis for building a competitive advantage in the market. It increases the quality of project outputs through continuous monitoring of project implementation and quick interaction to improve the efficiency of project work. Research limitations/implications: The number of existing tools and improvements to existing IT tools make it necessary to analyse the IT market situation cyclically. Practical implications: The present article endeavours to serve as a comprehensive overview that draws upon relevant literature and existing market offerings of PMS to illustrate the discussed functionalities. The article is aimed both at practitioners deciding on the right tool and at software developers bringing newer versions of tools to market. Social implications: The results of the comparative analysis have an indirect social impact. The agile approach relies heavily on continuous and direct communication between project stakeholders. The study results can help project teams choose the best tool to support project communication. Originality/value: The literature search indicated a research gap in the comprehensive analysis of existing IT tools currently used in business practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nigeria is ranked second worldwide, after India, in reported incidences of cyberattacks. Attackers usually exploit vulnerabilities in software which may not have adequately considered security features during the development process. Agile methods have the potential to increase productivity and ensure faster delivery of software, although they tend to neglect non‐functional requirements such as security. The implementation of government policies, such as the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) Act 2019, impacts the security activities carried out by agile teams. Despite its significance, there is a paucity of research on security issues especially in the Agile Software Development (ASD) domain. To address this gap, a grounded theory study was conducted with 15 agile software practitioners in Nigeria. Based on our analysis of the interview transcripts, we developed a grounded theory of the security challenges confronting agile practitioners. The four challenges identified were (a) a lack of collaboration between security and agile teams; (b) the tendency to use foreign software hosting companies; (c) a poor cybersecurity culture; and (d) the high cost of building secure agile software. We used these challenges to identify gaps within the existing secure ASD and found a lack of indigenous software hosting companies in Nigeria. Our study also revealed tensions between the Nigerian regulatory environment and agile software developers' compliance. While practitioners acknowledged the government's efforts, there were concerns about the practicality of implementing such legislation. We recommend government action to increase awareness of local software hosting companies' capabilities, and closer collaboration between agile and security teams. Thus, the novel contribution of this article is the development of the policy adherence challenges (PAC) model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior work on leadership in information systems development (ISD) teams has assumed that all developers are treated equally by their team leader and ignored the possibility that differentiated leader-member exchange (LMX) may be an important instrument for team leaders to influence self-organizing, agile ISD teams. We conducted a concurrent mixed methods inquiry to understand how LMX differentiation is associated with developer satisfaction in agile ISD teams and through which team processes agile ISD teams address LMX differentiation. We ran a multilevel, multistage survey of 1,894 software developers in 217 teams and an embedded case study of five ISD teams drawing on qualitative data from 40 interviews of developers and team leaders. Two focus groups (one with 10 developers and one with 10 team leaders) helped to substantiate the meta-inferences from the quantitative and qualitative studies. The results showed that LMX differentiation was positively associated with developer satisfaction, especially in teams with high-quality team-member exchange (TMX). We identify three team processes (i.e., collectivization of resources, visible appreciation of privileges, and freeing up leader capacities) that are enacted through agile ISD practices and allow ISD teams to leverage benefits from LMX differentiation for all their members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The competition in the software market demands that the time required for any software product to reach the market be reduced if the product is to survive competition from other developers. The pursuit of this goal has led to the adoption of agile software development methodologies. While other agile methodologies provide guidelines as to the software engineering (SE) practices to be used during the development lifecycle, Scrum does not. The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to identify the usage and level of importance of software engineering practices in the Scrum development environment; and second, to investigate how Scrum teams adopt an appropriate set of SE techniques and whether a hybrid Scrum/Extreme Programming (XP) methodology is an appropriate approach to take. This research was conducted by examining sample data from five organizations using the Scrum methodology. The sample included a range of industries including communications and embedded systems, financial asset management, software development houses and consulting firms in South Africa. The study employed a mixed method approach. A key finding was that, regardless of the fact that Scrum does not explicitly recommend engineering practices, there was extensive use of these practices by all of the participating organizations. The study also found that the lack of software engineering practices in Scrum does not constitute a barrier to a successful adoption of Scrum, provided the 'inspect and adapt' principle inherent in Scrum is properly followed. The study discusses the findings, explains the implications and suggests future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]