Performance Measurement in Agile Software Business
Virtanen, Olli (2018)
2018
Tuotantotalous
Talouden ja rakentamisen tiedekunta - Faculty of Business and Built Environment
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2018-12-05
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tty-201811192626
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tty-201811192626
Tiivistelmä
Performance measurement has a significant role in agile software business. The academic literature of performance measurement is broad, but the most part of the research does not cover the perspectives of agile software business. Phenomena such as digitalization and globalization are reshaping many industries which makes software development more and more meaningful. Agile and lean models have become the major models of development and their use is growing all the time. The traditional ways of development are becoming inefficient in today’s hectic market environment and that forces to reactive and proactive management in order to respond changes in the customers’ needs.
This master’s thesis analyzes performance measurement in the agile software business. The theoretical part covers the different control systems of companies, measurement activities in software business, and practical agile development indicators. The literature review enables to build the performance measurement framework which establishes the structured understanding of performance measurement and management. The empirical part consists of interviews and workshops which deepen the understanding of performance measurement in the agile software business environment. Different indicators are evaluated from the perspective of agile software development and their mutual relation-ships are investigated.
There have been achieved findings in the focus areas of this research. Agile industry has its own characteristics and the most meaningful of them are efficient and predictable process in deliveries and customer’s continuous feedback during software development. Those characteristics impact to the performance measurement which needs to consider process and product perspectives. A process needs to be optimized in order to minimize waste and produce software with the best possible flow. A product needs to concentrate on customers’ feedback and satisfaction with the aim of ensuring that all development work will be in demand after completion.
According to the results, metrics and indicator selection need to be done with the knowledge of organizational impacts and by respecting team level autonomy in agile models. Key performance indicators are followed by the management, but furthermore there should exist supportive metrics to team’s independent improvement activities. Agile development enables the aggregation of metrics with the short development cycles and the clear structure of organization. Financial indicators usually have a dominating status at the management level, but also nonfinancial indicators should be analyzed. All metrics have to be implemented with the comprehensive understanding of process and business objectives.
This master’s thesis analyzes performance measurement in the agile software business. The theoretical part covers the different control systems of companies, measurement activities in software business, and practical agile development indicators. The literature review enables to build the performance measurement framework which establishes the structured understanding of performance measurement and management. The empirical part consists of interviews and workshops which deepen the understanding of performance measurement in the agile software business environment. Different indicators are evaluated from the perspective of agile software development and their mutual relation-ships are investigated.
There have been achieved findings in the focus areas of this research. Agile industry has its own characteristics and the most meaningful of them are efficient and predictable process in deliveries and customer’s continuous feedback during software development. Those characteristics impact to the performance measurement which needs to consider process and product perspectives. A process needs to be optimized in order to minimize waste and produce software with the best possible flow. A product needs to concentrate on customers’ feedback and satisfaction with the aim of ensuring that all development work will be in demand after completion.
According to the results, metrics and indicator selection need to be done with the knowledge of organizational impacts and by respecting team level autonomy in agile models. Key performance indicators are followed by the management, but furthermore there should exist supportive metrics to team’s independent improvement activities. Agile development enables the aggregation of metrics with the short development cycles and the clear structure of organization. Financial indicators usually have a dominating status at the management level, but also nonfinancial indicators should be analyzed. All metrics have to be implemented with the comprehensive understanding of process and business objectives.