1,720,980 research outputs found
Teamwork in agile and plan-based companies
No full textThis paper is an empirical investigation of how
Agile and Plan-based companies address teamwork.
We have performed an investigation interviewing
managers of 64 companies, 23 agile (hereafter defined
with the term “agile companies”) and 41 non-agile
(“plan-based”).
The results of the study evidence a quite different
approach to teamwork and team organization. Such
differences are mainly in the selection of the
developers and in the emphasis of the collaboration in
the development teams
Managing Uncertainty in Requirements: a Survey in Plan-Based and Agile Companies
No full textThis paper investigates commonalities and differences between agile and documentation-driven approaches in managing uncertainty in requirement gathering. The research method is a survey collected interviewing sixteen project managers of Italian software companies, 8 using agile methods, and 8 using documentation-driven methods. The results show that agile and document-driven companies consider in a different way the problem of changing requirements and the related uncertainty; thus, they manage differently requirements gathering and the relationship with the custome
Project management in agile and plan-based companies
No full textSurveys of more than 8,000 projects show that most project failures
involve stakeholder problems. Notably, five of the top six
reasons for failure stem from communication problems between
the development team and the customer. In 2000, the Standish
Group identified 10 factors for project success. Of these, the second and
third most important were “user involvement” and an “experienced project
manager.” From this you can conclude that most projects fail because of people and project management issues rather than technical issues. Agile methods are a recent set of development techniques that apply a human-centered approach to software production. The agile approach
aims to deliver high-quality products faster, producing satisfied customers.
We conducted an empirical study to investigate whether agile methods change and improve project management practices in software companies. We based the study on Henry Petroski’s approach, which says that
the “analysis of causes of failures can do more to advance knowledge than all the successes in the world.” The underlying data sample comprises managers of software companies—
10 adopting agile methods and 10 using traditional (which, for simplicity, we call planbased) approaches
Non-invasive Investigation of the Software Process in Open Source Projects
No full textOpen Source and Agile (eXtreme Programming, in particular) projects have
several commonalities such as focus on the value for the user, continuous feedback, high level of communication, etc. Moreover, both approaches
present difficulties in keeping track of the status of the development, verifying the quality of the production process, identifying best practices, etc.
Such difficulties are related to the lack of a formal activity for the collection of data regarding the development process. However, the introduction
of such an activity is not compatible with the basic principles of both approaches: focus on source code. For these reasons, the automated collection
of data from source code repositories can help to provide a way to monitor
the development process
Ageing Effect of Ph and Thermocycling on the Surface Morphology of Thermodynamic Nickel Titanium Wires
No full textSkeletal expansion using a miniscrew-assisted rapid palatal expansion in a 50-year-old patient
Full text linkThis case report illustrates a nonsurgical treatment plan using a miniscrew-assisted rapid palatal expander (MARPE) in a 50-year-old patient with maxillary transverse deficiency. The MARPE appliance consisted of a conventional Hyrax expander anchored to 4 orthodontic miniscrews. The exact locations of the miniscrews were determined with virtual planning software. Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans were superimposed on the maxillary digital model, and 3-dimensional-printed surgical guides were used to accurately position the mini-implants. A slow expansion protocol was used, and the appliance was held in place during the entire treatment (almost 20 months). Pretreatment, postexpansion, and posttreatment CBCT scans show the parallel expansion obtained without dental torque compensation or bite opening. The posttreatment scan showed that a long period is required to complete the midpalatal suture mineralization. MARPE has proven effective in correcting transverse discrepancies, even in adults. However, posttreatment CBCT imaging showed incomplete ossification of the midpalatal suture, demonstrating that the retention period should be extended in some adult patients
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
- …
