@misc{Matthies2019, author = {Matthies, Christoph}, title = {Agile process improvement in retrospectives}, series = {41st International Conference on Software Engineering: Companion Proceedings (ICSE-Companion)}, journal = {41st International Conference on Software Engineering: Companion Proceedings (ICSE-Companion)}, publisher = {IEEE}, address = {New York}, isbn = {978-1-7281-1764-5}, issn = {2574-1934}, doi = {10.1109/ICSE-Companion.2019.00063}, pages = {150 -- 152}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Working in iterations and repeatedly improving team workflows based on collected feedback is fundamental to agile software development processes. Scrum, the most popular agile method, provides dedicated retrospective meetings to reflect on the last development iteration and to decide on process improvement actions. However, agile methods do not prescribe how these improvement actions should be identified, managed or tracked in detail. The approaches to detect and remove problems in software development processes are therefore often based on intuition and prior experiences and perceptions of team members. Previous research in this area has focused on approaches to elicit a team's improvement opportunities as well as measurements regarding the work performed in an iteration, e.g. Scrum burn-down charts. Little research deals with the quality and nature of identified problems or how progress towards removing issues is measured. In this research, we investigate how agile development teams in the professional software industry organize their feedback and process improvement approaches. In particular, we focus on the structure and content of improvement and reflection meetings, i.e. retrospectives, and their outcomes. Researching how the vital mechanism of process improvement is implemented in practice in modern software development leads to a more complete picture of agile process improvement.}, language = {en} } @misc{Matthies2019, author = {Matthies, Christoph}, title = {Feedback in Scrum}, series = {2019 IEEE/ACM 41st International Conference on Software Engineering: Companion Proceedings (ICSE-Companion)}, journal = {2019 IEEE/ACM 41st International Conference on Software Engineering: Companion Proceedings (ICSE-Companion)}, publisher = {IEEE}, address = {New York}, isbn = {978-1-7281-1764-5}, issn = {2574-1934}, doi = {10.1109/ICSE-Companion.2019.00081}, pages = {198 -- 201}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Improving the way that teams work together by reflecting and improving the executed process is at the heart of agile processes. The idea of iterative process improvement takes various forms in different agile development methodologies, e.g. Scrum Retrospectives. However, these methods do not prescribe how improvement steps should be conducted in detail. In this research we investigate how agile software teams can use their development data, such as commits or tickets, created during regular development activities, to drive and track process improvement steps. Our previous research focused on data-informed process improvement in the context of student teams, where controlled circumstances and deep domain knowledge allowed creation and usage of specific process measures. Encouraged by positive results in this area, we investigate the process improvement approaches employed in industry teams. Researching how the vital mechanism of process improvement is implemented and how development data is already being used in practice in modern software development leads to a more complete picture of agile process improvement. It is the first step in enabling a data-informed feedback and improvement process, tailored to a team's context and based on the development data of individual teams.}, language = {en} } @misc{Matthies2018, author = {Matthies, Christoph}, title = {Scrum2kanban}, series = {Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Software Engineering Education for Millennials}, journal = {Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Software Engineering Education for Millennials}, publisher = {IEEE}, address = {New York}, isbn = {978-1-45035-750-0}, doi = {10.1145/3194779.3194784}, pages = {48 -- 55}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Using university capstone courses to teach agile software development methodologies has become commonplace, as agile methods have gained support in professional software development. This usually means students are introduced to and work with the currently most popular agile methodology: Scrum. However, as the agile methods employed in the industry change and are adapted to different contexts, university courses must follow suit. A prime example of this is the Kanban method, which has recently gathered attention in the industry. In this paper, we describe a capstone course design, which adds the hands-on learning of the lean principles advocated by Kanban into a capstone project run with Scrum. This both ensures that students are aware of recent process frameworks and ideas as well as gain a more thorough overview of how agile methods can be employed in practice. We describe the details of the course and analyze the participating students' perceptions as well as our observations. We analyze the development artifacts, created by students during the course in respect to the two different development methodologies. We further present a summary of the lessons learned as well as recommendations for future similar courses. The survey conducted at the end of the course revealed an overwhelmingly positive attitude of students towards the integration of Kanban into the course.}, language = {en} } @misc{MatthiesTeusnerHesse2018, author = {Matthies, Christoph and Teusner, Ralf and Hesse, G{\"u}nter}, title = {Beyond Surveys}, series = {2018 IEEE Frontiers in Education (FIE) Conference}, journal = {2018 IEEE Frontiers in Education (FIE) Conference}, publisher = {IEEE}, address = {New York}, isbn = {978-1-5386-1174-6}, issn = {0190-5848}, pages = {9}, year = {2018}, language = {en} }