An Experience in Combining Flexibility and Control in a Small Company's Software Product Development Process

Authors:
Kristian Rautiainen;Lauri Vuornos;Casper Lassenius
Affiliations:
-;-;-
Venue:
ISESE '03 Proceedings of the 2003 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering
Year:
2003

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Abstract

This paper presents a longitudinal case study atSmartner Information Systems, a small software productcompany operating in a dynamic and uncertainenvironment. Smartner successfully combines flexibilityand control in their product development process.Flexibility is gained with monthly sprints, after which newdecisions about project scope can be made in planningthe following sprint. Control is achieved through mappingthe sprints to management decision points, where themanagement team makes decisions conserning the wholeproject portfolio. The development team and otherstakeholders of the product participate in sprint planningfacilitating communication of business/customer needs todevelopment. Product roadmapping and sprintdemonstrations give visibility of development plans andprogress to the whole organization. Freezing thedevelopment scope for a month at a time helps in givingthe development team a chance to work on their assignedtasks and creates a more relaxed atmosphere.