Study of Factors Influencing the Adoption of Agile Processes When Using Wikis

Abstract

The adoption of innovative Software Engineering (SE) processes by an organization implies that engineers have to learn new processes which they might not be familiar with. Social software can support and enhance this adoption process, so research needs to focus on how the exchange of knowledge among software engineers using these tools can help to perform training more e®ectively. We propose a framework based on social software to support the collaborative learning, adoption and improvement of SE processes through the exchange of experiences among individuals. This article examines factors in°uencing the adoption of new SE processes and the quality of the experiences shared using the proposed framework in comparison with similar ones. Two case studies were carried out involving junior engineers in a training course on agile software development. Anonymous surveys collected data on the perceived quality of the experiences shared during the research, their usefulness, and the simplicity of the mechanisms provided to contribute experiences. Results show that the adoption of new SE processes is in°uenced by several factors such as the commitment of software engineers to collaborate in the adoption of the new process, the perceived level of usefulness of the tacit knowledge elicited during the adoption process, the diversity of the topics covered by the shared knowledge, the simplicity of the mechanisms to contribute new tacit knowledge, and the amount of learning achieved by software engineers. Int. J. Soft. Eng. Knowl. Eng. 2014.24:859-885. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND on 02/04/15. For personal use only.manner À À À a process that is unknown for them a priori. It usually happens when a Software Engineering (SE) organization wants to introduce a new process or when a newcomer engineer joins a project team.The knowledge and experience acquired in previous projects can be useful in these situations so that the learning based on that experience becomes a key element in the e®ective adoption of new processes and for improving both productivity and quality [1]. This kind of knowledge is however di±cult to¯nd, and when found its reuse is di±cult to achieve in practice [2,3]. The main reason is that experiences from previous projects are context-speci¯c and con¯ned to each individual; its tacit nature makes this type of knowledge hard to formalize and to communicate [4], so other software engineers that may perform similar tasks and come up against similar problems do not take advantage of these experiences and successful practices are not repeated [1].Knowledge Management (KM) initiatives attempt at creating an environment that supports the handling of knowledge and experiences within an organization to improve personnel competences [2, 5], which ultimately leads to increased organizational e®ectiveness [6]. One of the fundamental structures in every KM system is the knowledge repository. It stores knowledge artifacts in such a manner that they can be retrieved and reused [7] in order...

A Social Identity Approach to Understanding Sustainability and Environmental Behaviours in South Africa

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“…Social identity is a learning and sharing activity, a process by which individuals develop knowledge about traditional values, norms, and practices [32] (Heredia et al, 2013). Research emphasis on how social identity can be defined theoretically and analysed empirically on environmental related issues [87,88].…”

Knowledge Mobilization in Agile Information Systems Projects: A Literature Analysis

“…At the same time, codified knowledge was also noted as essential means of supporting knowledge sharing. Social software, particularly the use of Wikis, provided understanding for learning and adoption of agile processes and was reported as beneficial for experience sharing and collaborative learning (Heredia et al 2014). The learning of agile software processes was strongly related to actively being involved in tacit knowledge sharing during the collaborative learning process.…”