Software project management anti-patterns in innovation projects
Aydinli, Dilem (2015)
2015
MDP in Software Development
Informaatiotieteiden yksikkö - School of Information Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2015-06-04
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201507152105
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201507152105
Tiivistelmä
Software project management anti-patterns describe bad practices and their negative consequences in the field of software project management. Anti-patterns also present a refactored solution in order to recover from the negative situation or prevent it beforehand. Anti-patterns are one of the causes of software project failures which have been a significant issue in software engineering and software project management. These failures can be decreased at a certain level with the knowledge of anti-patterns. Therefore, it becomes essential that available anti-patterns in the literature should be studied by project managers, and negative experiences should be faced. Also, knowledge on managing software projects should be shared in an organized way, and new anti-patterns should be investigated.
The aim of this study was to investigate software project management anti-patterns encountered in innovation projects. In order to achieve the purposes of this study, a quantitative research methodology was chosen. A group of university students, who worked as project managers in industrial innovation projects, were requested to fill in a questionnaire. The collected data through the questionnaire were analyzed compared and contrasted to the available anti-patterns in the literature that are mostly found in traditional software projects.
One of the research outcomes of this study is that, some anti-patterns which have been encountered in conventional software projects were also identified in innovation projects. Additionally, a new possible anti-pattern was identified and investigated. The new anti-pattern regards the management of team creativity. In particular, the latter can be considered an anti-pattern because it can be an obstacle in teamwork progress, having negative consequences. A remedy solution was recommended as a re-factoring and recovering management strategy.
This study can be considered as a first step towards a set of practical guidelines for project managers, and innovation project managers in particular; this is a current need that must be addressed. Furthermore, there is a gap of relevant knowledge in the field and there are no similar studies regarding software project management anti-patterns in innovation projects in the literature. Therefore, this thesis could be considered as the first ever research study which investigates and reports on anti-patterns in innovation projects.
The aim of this study was to investigate software project management anti-patterns encountered in innovation projects. In order to achieve the purposes of this study, a quantitative research methodology was chosen. A group of university students, who worked as project managers in industrial innovation projects, were requested to fill in a questionnaire. The collected data through the questionnaire were analyzed compared and contrasted to the available anti-patterns in the literature that are mostly found in traditional software projects.
One of the research outcomes of this study is that, some anti-patterns which have been encountered in conventional software projects were also identified in innovation projects. Additionally, a new possible anti-pattern was identified and investigated. The new anti-pattern regards the management of team creativity. In particular, the latter can be considered an anti-pattern because it can be an obstacle in teamwork progress, having negative consequences. A remedy solution was recommended as a re-factoring and recovering management strategy.
This study can be considered as a first step towards a set of practical guidelines for project managers, and innovation project managers in particular; this is a current need that must be addressed. Furthermore, there is a gap of relevant knowledge in the field and there are no similar studies regarding software project management anti-patterns in innovation projects in the literature. Therefore, this thesis could be considered as the first ever research study which investigates and reports on anti-patterns in innovation projects.