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Agile methods emerge as an alternative to improve quality and performance in software development processes. However, as agile methods are essentially focused on human aspects, their application in companies depends mostly on their adequacy to the current organizational culture. This study explores the view of the organizational culture in three levels as a theoretical framework to allow early detection of problems, which could jeopardize the adoption of agile methods by a company. This article points out that many facilitators or obstacles to the adoption of an agile method can be hidden in the lower levels of the organizational culture. Additionally, the article shows that a superficial analysis of those issues can lead to a miscomprehension about the possibility of applying an agile method in a software company. This article also evidences that the interpretation of the levels of organizational culture improves the understanding of how an agile culture should be established. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This article addresses the relationships between agile development and entrepreneurship. The objective of the study is to verify that the adoption of agile practices can promote entrepreneurial skills in software developers. In this study, agile practices were related to entrepreneurial skills, and developers of the software industry and academia professors were invited to contribute. Questionnaires were sent to the participants to obtain their opinion regarding this research. Participants also opined about the possibility of entrepreneurial skills being an observable behavior in agile culture, ie, if they are visible artifacts of agile culture. As a result, the study found a set of agile practices that promote entrepreneurial skills in software developers. That is, it was found that agile practices promote entrepreneurial behavior in these professionals. These entrepreneurial skills are sustained by the same basic values and assumptions that were learned by developers to resolve internal integration and external adaptation issues during the adoption of agile practices. In this article, an integration model has been adapted from other areas, thereby opening a new field of study involving the relationships between academic research and professional practice on entrepreneurship in the software area and agile development.

In higher education today, teachers face the challenge of encouraging active student participation in order to promote meaningful learning. Considering this context, this article aims to analyze the use of concept maps as a didactic resource to promote the active participation of students in expository lessons. To meet this goal, we analyze the use of concept maps in a discipline of the Computer Science course at the Federal University of Pampa. Observing the menu and the objectives of the discipline called “Introduction to science and technology”, it is possible to use concept maps in expository lessons and lectures. Thus, we seek to provide the active participation of students, who need to overcome the performance of simple spectators. In this study, it is also intended to verify if the concept maps can be a useful tool for the professor to plan and present the syllabus and objectives of the subject. As a result, some conceptual maps elaborated based on the menu, objectives and expected content for the subject studied are presented.