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Expectations and Challenges from Scaling Agile in Mechatronics-Driven Companies – A Comparative Case Study

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Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming (XP 2015)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 212))

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Abstract

Agile software development is increasingly adopted by companies evolving and maintaining software products to support better planning and tracking the realization of user stories and features. While convincing success stories help to further spread the adoption of Agile, mechatronics-driven companies need guidance to implement Agile for non-software teams. In this comparative case study of three companies from the Nordic region, we systematically investigate expectations and challenges from scaling Agile in organizations dealing with mechatronics development by conducting on-site workshops and surveys. Our findings show that all companies have already successfully implemented Agile in their software teams. The expected main benefit of successfully scaling agile development is a faster time-to-market product development; however, the two main challenges are: (a) An inflexible test environment that inhibits fast feedback to changed or added features, and (b) the existing organizational structure including the company’s mind-set that needs to be opened-up for agile principles.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Christian Berger

  2. Department of Computer Science, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden

    Ulrik Eklund

Authors
  1. Christian Berger
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  2. Ulrik Eklund
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Christian Berger or Ulrik Eklund .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Aalto University, Espoo, Finland

    Casper Lassenius

  2. SINTEF, Trondheim, Norway

    Torgeir Dingsøyr

  3. Aalto University, Aalto, Finland

    Maria Paasivaara

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Berger, C., Eklund, U. (2015). Expectations and Challenges from Scaling Agile in Mechatronics-Driven Companies – A Comparative Case Study. In: Lassenius, C., Dingsøyr, T., Paasivaara, M. (eds) Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming. XP 2015. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 212. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18612-2_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18612-2_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-18611-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-18612-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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