Viktoria Stray

• Florea, Raluca-Madalina & Stray, Viktoria (2020). A Qualitative Study of the Background, Skill Acquisition, and Learning Preferences of Software Testers, In Jingyue Li; Maria Letizia Jaccheri; Torgeir Dingsøyr & Ruzanna Chitchyan (ed.),  EASE '20: Proceedings of the Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering.  Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).  ISBN 9781450377317.  Kapittel.  s 299 - 305
• Holgeid, Knut Kjetil & Stray, Viktoria (2020). Factors Promoting Software Project Escalation: A Systematic Review, In Computer Society IEEE (ed.),  2020 IEEE 22nd Conference on Business Informatics (CBI 2020).  IEEE.  ISBN 978-1-7281-9926-9.  Full paper.  s 280 - 289 Vis sammendrag

  A vast amount of resources is wasted on software projects delivering less than the planned benefits. The objective of this paper is to investigate the tendency to continue a project even when it is evident that it will not provide the expected benefits, often referred to as “project escalation” or “escalation of commitment.” We aim to identify factors that empirically have been found to promote software project escalation. We examined 1376 papers related to the phenomenon of escalating commitment to software projects and found that 44 of them included relevant empirical research. After reviewing these papers, we synthesized the results. We provide an overview of 46 factors that have been found to promote software project escalation. Thirteen of the factors were project-related, 20 were psychological factors, nine were social factors, and four were structural factors related to the project's contextual dimensions. We contribute to practice by systemizing empirical evidence of software project escalation that can be of help in avoiding it in the first place and uncovering already escalated situations. As most studies are investigations of only a few factors, we propose further research to study how factors potentially interplay as they contribute to escalation of software projects.

• Jøsang, Audun; Stray, Viktoria & Rygge, Hanne (2020). Threat Poker: Gamification of Secure Agile, In Marko Hölbl; Kai Rannenberg & Tatjana Welzer (ed.),  35th IFIP TC 11 International Conference on ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection (IFIP SEC 2020).  Springer.  ISBN 978-3-030-58200-5.  Konferanseartikkel.  s 142 - 155
• Løvold, Henrik Hillestad; Lindsjørn, Yngve & Stray, Viktoria (2020). Forming and Assessing Student Teams in Software Engineering Courses. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing.  ISSN 1865-1348.  s 298- 306 . doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-58858-8_31 Vis sammendrag

  In software development projects, working in teams is essential. Therefore, software engineering courses often require the students to be working in teams to learn about team work behaviors and practices. The instructors of software engineering courses are presented with several challenges when teaching courses that require teamwork. For example, how to form high-performing student teams, and how to assess their work. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether there are differences in performance whether the students form the teams themselves, or if the teams are formed by the instructor. We evaluated a course involving agile software development by 200 students working in 39 teams. A total of 76% of the students chose to form their own teams, the remaining 24% were placed in teams by the instructors. Our findings indicate that teams formed by the students perform slightly better than the teams formed by the instructors.

• Mikalsen, Marius; Stray, Viktoria; Moe, Nils Brede & Backer, Idun (2020). Shifting conceptualization of control in agile transformations. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing.  ISSN 1865-1348.  396, s 173- 181 . doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-58858-8_18 Fulltekst i vitenarkiv. Vis sammendrag

  Agile transformation implies that organizations apply agile methods also outside of software development units. One particular way of doing such transformations is to create cross-functional software development units. This represents new challenges for control for organizations as the unformal agile control mechanisms from the software units meet the more formal, bureaucratic and hierarchical control from other units. The research on how to manage control in agile transformations, however, is scarce. Through a case study of a new, cross-functional unit in a financial institution, we report on their work to implement control in agile transformations. To analyze our results, we draw on new perspectives for control in the digital era, which challenges existing presumptions on control. Our findings indicate how agile transformations require rethinking traditional control mechanisms and experiment with new control perspectives more suitable for the digital era.

• Moe, Nils Brede; Stray, Viktoria & Goplen, Marcus R. (2020). Studying Onboarding in Distributed Software Teams: A Case Study and Guidelines, In Jingyue Li; Maria Letizia Jaccheri; Torgeir Dingsøyr & Ruzanna Chitchyan (ed.),  EASE '20: Proceedings of the Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering.  Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).  ISBN 9781450377317.  Kapittel.  s 150 - 159
• Paruch, Lucas; Stray, Viktoria & Blindheim, Charlotte Bech (2020). Characteristic Traits of Software Testers, In Jingyue Li; Maria Letizia Jaccheri; Torgeir Dingsøyr & Ruzanna Chitchyan (ed.),  EASE '20: Proceedings of the Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering.  Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).  ISBN 9781450377317.  Kapittel. Vis sammendrag

  Although there has been extensive research on software testing technicalities - such as testing tools and practices - little research have been conducted within human factors of software testing. In collaboration with Itera, a consultancy company, we begin to fill this research gap. Our current qualitative data-set consists of observation notes, interview transcripts, and conversation logs. Our findings suggest that creativity, being structured, having the ability to see the whole picture, having good interpersonal skills, and eagerness-to-learn are desired traits for a software tester.

• Paruch, Lucas; Stray, Viktoria & Florea, Raluca-Madalina (2020). The human factors of the agile software tester. Communications in Computer and Information Science.  ISSN 1865-0929.  1266, s 474- 487 . doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-58793-2_38
• Stray, Viktoria; Bakhtawar, Memon & Paruch, Lucas (2020). A Systematic Literature Review on Agile Coaching and the Role of the Agile Coach. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS).  ISSN 0302-9743.  LNCS, 12562, s 3- 19 . doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-64148-1_1 Vis sammendrag

  There has been a recent increase in the use of agile coaches in organizations. Although the use of the job title is popular, empirical knowledge about the tasks, responsibilities and skills of an agile coach is lacking. In this paper, we present a systematic literature review on agile coaching and the role of the agile coach. The initial search resulted in a total of 209 studies identified on the topic. Based on our inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 67 studies were selected as primary studies. Our findings suggest that agile coaching facilitates the adoption and sustainability of agile methods and deals with agile adoption challenges. Agile coaches help in training and developing software development teams and all the stakeholders involved in the agile adoption process. The primary skills of an agile coach identified herein are leadership qualities, project management skills, technical skills, and expertise in agile methods. Based on the findings, it can be argued that agile coaches play a significant role in addressing challenges in an agile transformation such as resistance to change. Coaches focus on removing barriers to team autonomy in agile teams and making agile meetings more valuable.

• Stray, Viktoria & Moe, Nils Brede (2020). Understanding coordination in global software engineering: A mixed-methods study on the use of meetings and Slack. Journal of Systems and Software.  ISSN 0164-1212.  170 . doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2020.110717 Fulltekst i vitenarkiv. Vis sammendrag

  Given the relevance of coordination in the field of global software engineering, this work was carried out to further understand coordination mechanisms. Specifically, we investigated meetings and the collaboration tool Slack. We conducted a longitudinal case study using a mixed-methods approach with surveys, observations, interviews, and chat logs. Our quantitative results show that employees in global projects spend 7 h 45 min per week on average in scheduled meetings and 8 h 54 min in unscheduled meetings. Furthermore, distributed teams were significantly larger than co-located teams, and people working in distributed teams spent somewhat more time in meetings per day. We found that low availability of key people, absence of organizational support for unscheduled meetings and unbalanced activity from team members in meetings and on Slack were barriers for effective coordination across sites. The positive aspects of using collaboration tools in distributed teams were increased team awareness and informal communication and reduced the need for e-mail. Our study emphasizes the importance of reflecting on how global software engineering teams use meetings and collaboration tools to coordinate. We provide practical advice for conducting better meetings and give suggestions for more efficient use of collaboration tools in global projects.

• Stray, Viktoria; Moe, Nils Brede & Sjøberg, Dag (2020). Daily Stand-Up Meetings: Start Breaking the Rules!. IEEE Software.  ISSN 0740-7459.  37(3), s 70- 77 . doi: 10.1109/MS.2018.2875988 Vis sammendrag

  Daily stand-up meetings are commonly used for software teams to collaborate and exchange information, but conducting them in a way that benefits the whole team can be challenging. We describe factors that can affect meetings and propose recommendations for improving them.

• Bai, Aleksander; Stray, Inga Viktoria Ågesdatter Gulli & Mork, Heidi Camilla (2019). What methods software teams prefer when testing web accessibility. Advances in Human-Computer Interaction.  ISSN 1687-5893.  2019:3271475, s 1- 14 . doi: 10.1155/2019/3271475 Fulltekst i vitenarkiv. Vis sammendrag

  Accessibility has become an important focus in software development; the goal is to allow as many people as possible, regardless of their capabilities, to use software. We have investigated the methods that software teams prefer when testing the accessibility of their software. We conducted a large-scale study to evaluate six methods, using a sample of 53 people who work on various software teams. We present a detailed breakdown of the results for each testing method and analyze the differences between the methods. Our findings show that there are statistically significant differences in team members’ preferences, particularly for those with different roles. This implies that a software team should not choose a single method for all team members.

• Berntzen, Marthe; Moe, Nils Brede & Stray, Viktoria (2019). The product owner in large-scale agile: An empirical study through the lens of relational coordination theory. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing.  ISSN 1865-1348.  355, s 121- 136 . doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-19034-7_8 Fulltekst i vitenarkiv.
• Florea, Raluca-Madalina & Stray, Viktoria (2019). A Global View on the Hard Skills and Testing Tools in Software Testing, In Fabio Calefato; Paolo Tell & Alpana Dubey (ed.),  2019 ACM/IEEE 14th International Conference on Global Software Engineering (ICGSE).  IEEE.  ISBN 9781538692127.  Full paper.  s 143 - 151
• Florea, Raluca-Madalina & Stray, Viktoria (2019). The skills that employers look for in software testers. Software quality journal.  ISSN 0963-9314.  27, s 1449- 1479 . doi: 10.1007/s11219-019-09462-5 Fulltekst i vitenarkiv.
• Martini, Antonio; Stray, Viktoria & Moe, Nils Brede (2019). Technical-, social- and process debt in large-scale agile: An exploratory case-study. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing.  ISSN 1865-1348.  364, s 112- 119 . doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-30126-2_14 Vis sammendrag

  Large-scale agile projects bring inter-teams interaction challenges. Teams need to be autonomous, but often crosscutting concerns affect many teams. If the teams fail to collaborate on these concerns, the negative effects might hinder agility in the medium and long term. In other words, the organization and the system accumulate debt, on which the teams pay a high interest. Such debt must therefore be prioritized and “repaid” timely. We conducted a case study with interviews, observations and document analysis. Via both team- and large-scale retrospectives we investigated how teams coordinate and discuss Technical-, Social- and Process Debts.

• Moe, Nils Brede; Dahl, Bjørn Haug; Stray, Viktoria; Karlsen, Lina Sund & Schjødt-Osmo, Stine (2019). Team Autonomy in Large-Scale Agile, In Tung X. Bui (ed.),  Proceeding of the 52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2019).  AIS Electronic Library.  ISBN 978-0-9981331-2-6.  Agile and Lean: Organizations, Products and Development.  s 6997 - 7006 Fulltekst i vitenarkiv. Vis sammendrag

  Large-scale software development is increasingly making use of agile practices. In large-scale projects, a team needs to align with other teams and the rest of the organization. This has been shown to threaten team autonomy, which, in turn, reduces responsiveness and flexibility. Hence, agile teams face challenges in adapting to larger-scale development. We conduct a multiple case study of three large-scale projects to investigate barriers to team autonomy in large-scale agile. Two barriers are identified: overall direction and external dependencies. We found that goals are often set by management without involving the teams, that they are often equal to deliverables and deadlines, and that team members often do not know what the goals are. Consequently, teams struggle with setting and communicating goals as well as establishing a shared direction. Organizational dependencies lead to teams having to deal with additional tasks, resulting in specific members shielding the teams from external noise.

• Moe, Nils Brede; Stray, Viktoria & Hoda, Rashina (2019). Trends and Updated Research Agenda for Autonomous Agile Teams: A Summary of the Second International Workshop at XP2019. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing.  ISSN 1865-1348.  364, s 13- 19 . doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-30126-2_2 Vis sammendrag

  To succeed in complex environments and handle the innovation, development and support, organizations have to find ways to support and regulate the autonomy of teams according to the environmental demands and limitations. Furthermore, there is no one-size-fits-all autonomy approach. The process of forming and implementing autonomous teams, as well as the effective functioning of such teams, is not yet adequately addressed and understood in the context of complex knowledge-intensive organizations. The second international workshop on autonomous teams investigated barriers for team autonomy: “What are the real-world problems to be solved for autonomous teams?” and “What concepts from the literature can be used to solve the problems?”

• Šmite, Darja; Moe, Nils Brede; Krekling, Thomas & Stray, Viktoria (2019). Offshore outsourcing costs: known or still hidden?, In Fabio Calefato; Paolo Tell & Alpana Dubey (ed.),  2019 ACM/IEEE 14th International Conference on Global Software Engineering (ICGSE).  IEEE.  ISBN 9781538692127.  Full Paper.  s 40 - 47 Vis sammendrag

  Offshore outsourcing of software development has been both famous for the promises of great cost reductions, and infamous for the hidden costs associated with the challenges of organizing software work over distance. Experience shows that many of these costs do not receive the deserved attention and are often excluded when making offshoring decisions. As a result, there is often a significant deviation between the expected and the realized costs of offshoring. In this paper, we investigate the awareness of the extra costs when making an offshoring decision, and the significance of the actual cost deviations. We conducted a single case study of a company that carried out an offshore outsourcing pilot project. We collected qualitative data from interviews, observations and a retrospective, and quantitative data on the costs and effort associated with the project. We conclude that the company was aware of the hidden cost factors, but largely underestimated their significance. The costs that surfaced in the studied project accounted for a total deviation of 181% and several individual cost categories with more than 400% overrun. The two main cost drivers in our study were the distance and poor process fit, which escalated the investments needed to make the collaboration work. Our results suggest that pilots are useful to understand the key problem areas in an offshoring collaboration, but too limited to shed light on all potential problems (e.g. turnover) due to the short timeframe. We also conclude that results of pilot projects shall not be the only data source when calculating the true costs of offshoring, since the start-up phase of an offshoring relationship carries large investments. Finally, we provide recommendations for companies in a similar situation on how to run and learn from offshore outsourcing pilot projects.

• Stray, Viktoria; Bai, Aleksander; Sverdrup, Nikolai Johan Sand & Mork, Heidi Camilla (2019). Empowering Agile Project Members with Accessibility Testing Tools: A Case Study. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing.  ISSN 1865-1348.  355, s 86- 101 . doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-19034-7_6 Vis sammendrag

  There is a growing interest in making software more accessible for everyone, which is emphasized by the numerous suggestions passed into law in many countries. However, many software organizations that use agile methods postpone or neglect accessibility testing. We aimed to understand how accessibility testing can be better integrated into the daily routine of agile projects by conducting a case study in a Norwegian software company. We investigated three accessibility testing tools: automatic checker, simulation glasses, and a dyslexia simulator. We hosted sessions at which agile project members used the tools while thinking out loud, responded to questionnaires, and were interviewed at the end. Additionally, we observed the project members for 18 workdays. Our results show that all three tools are suitable for agile projects. Especially the automatic checker and simulation glasses worked well in finding accessibility issues and were described as easy to use by the project members. Software organizations should empower their agile project members with low-cost and efficient accessibility testing tools to make their products more accessible for all. Doing this early and often in the development cycle may save the project from potential high costs at a later stage.

• Stray, Viktoria; Moe, Nils Brede & Aasheim, Andreas (2019). Dependency Management in Large-Scale Agile: A Case Study of DevOps Teams, In Tung X. Bui (ed.),  Proceeding of the 52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2019).  AIS Electronic Library.  ISBN 978-0-9981331-2-6.  Agile and Lean: Organizations, Products and Development.  s 7007 - 7016 Fulltekst i vitenarkiv. Vis sammendrag

  Managing dependencies between teams and within teams is critical when running large-scale agile projects. In large-scale software development, work is carried out simultaneously by many developers and development teams. Results are delivered frequently and iteratively, which requires management of dependencies on both the project and team level. This study explores coordination mechanisms in agile DevOps teams in a large-scale project and how the mechanisms address different types of dependencies. We conducted a case study where we observed 38 scheduled meetings and interviewed members of five DevOps teams and two teams supporting the DevOps teams. By using a dependency taxonomy, we identified 20 coordination mechanisms (eleven synchronization activities and nine synchronization artifacts). Eight of these mechanisms seem essential for coordination in large-scale projects because they addressed more than four types of dependencies. The main implication is that project management needs to combine many practices handling all the dependencies in large-scale projects.

• Stray, Viktoria; Moe, Nils Brede & Noroozi, Mehdi (2019). Slack Me If You Can! Using Enterprise Social Networking Tools in Virtual Agile Teams, In Fabio Calefato; Paolo Tell & Alpana Dubey (ed.),  2019 ACM/IEEE 14th International Conference on Global Software Engineering (ICGSE).  IEEE.  ISBN 9781538692127.  Full paper.  s 111 - 121 Vis sammendrag

  Virtual teams rely on enterprise social networking tools such as Slack to collaborate efficiently. While such tools contribute to making the communication more synchronous and support distributed agile development, there are several challenges such as how to interact with each other and how to balance the communication with other types of communication mechanisms such as meetings, e-mail, and phone. In this paper, we describe and discuss how a distributed global project used Slack. Some of the challenges we identified were related to language problems, using too much direct messaging when communicating, and unbalanced activity (33% of the users accounted for 86% of the messages). The positive aspects of using the tool were increased transparency, team awareness, and informal communication. Further, Slack facilitates problem-focused communication which is essential for agile teams. Our study stresses the importance of reflecting on how virtual teams use communication tools, and we suggest that teams decide on guidelines on how to use the tools to improve their coordination.

• Bai, Aleksander; Mork, Heidi Camilla & Stray, Viktoria (2018). How Agile Teams Regard and Practice Universal Design During Software Development. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics.  ISSN 0926-9630.  256, s 171- 184 . doi: 10.3233/978-1-61499-923-2-171 Fulltekst i vitenarkiv. Vis sammendrag

  It is essential to focus on universal design in agile software development to ensure that the software developed is usable by as many people as possible. This work studies how members of agile teams regard universal design, how the team is organized to focus on universal design, and how the team practices universal design. We have questioned 89 members of agile software projects including developers, tester, designers and project leaders. We present a detailed breakdown of the results based on roles, domains, experience and other factors that explain the differences and similarities among teams. Our findings show that there is a significant difference between what members think, what management think and what members actually do to ensure universal design.

• Florea, Raluca-Madalina & Stray, Viktoria (2018). Software tester, we want to hire you! an analysis of the demand for soft skills. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing.  ISSN 1865-1348.  314, s 54- 67 . doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-91602-6_4
• Mikalsen, Marius; Moe, Nils Brede; Stray, Viktoria & Nyrud, Helga (2018). Agile Digital Transformation: A Case Study of Interdependencies, In Richard Baskerville & Robert Nickerson (ed.),  Proceedings of the 39th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS).  Association for Information Systems.  ISBN 9780996683173.  Artikkel. Vis sammendrag

  Current digital transformation moves information systems development into larger transformation programs with higher strategic significance and increased complexity in organization. Agile and BizDev are among the practical methods used to practice digital transformation. These methods are characterized by autonomous and diverse teams, and experimental development with the aim of achieving faster time-to-market and customer centric digital offerings. While empirical evidence points to positive effects of such methods in smaller projects, we know less about how key aspects of agile work with increasing interdependencies resulting from larger, more complex organization. Driven by our research question - how are interdependencies addressed in agile digital transformation – we contribute by presenting findings from an empirical case study of a bank practicing agile digital transformation. Applying a theoretical lens of dynamic interactions, our findings sensitize us to the necessity of negotiations, and suggest the need for more research on of the role of divergent evaluative principles in agile digital transformation.

• Bai, Aleksander; Mork, Heidi Camilla & Stray, Viktoria (2017). A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Accessibility Testing in Agile Software Development: Results from a Multiple Case Study. International Journal On Advances in Software.  ISSN 1942-2628.  10(1&2), s 96- 107 Fulltekst i vitenarkiv. Vis sammendrag

  It is important to include accessibility testing in software development to ensure that the software developed is usable by as many people as possible, independent of their capabilities. Few guidelines exist on how to include accessibility testing in an agile process, and how to select testing methods from a cost-benefit point of view. The end result is that many development teams do not include accessibility testing, since they do not know how to prioritize the different testing methods within a tight budget. In this paper, we present an evaluation of nine accessibility testing methods that fits in an agile software development process. We discuss the cost of each method with regards to resources and knowledge requirements, and based on a cost-benefit analysis, we present an optimal combination of these methods in terms of cost and issues discovered. Finally, we describe how accessibility testing methods can be incorporated into an agile process by using the agile accessibility spiral.

Se alle arbeider i Cristin

• Stray, Viktoria; Hoda, Rashina; Paasivaara, Maria & Kruchten, Philippe (ed.) (2020). Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming: Proceedings from the 21st International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP 2020. Springer.  ISBN 978-3-030-49391-2.  254 s.

Se alle arbeider i Cristin

• Benjaminsen, Christina; Stray, Viktoria & Moe, Nils Brede (2020). Ten tips for productive online meetings. Gemini (English edition).  ISSN 0804-8568. Vis sammendrag

  We are meeting as never before – online. Particularly in connection with our jobs this may present challenges, but it can also be very productive. Here is some advice from researchers for smart meetings in the virtual environment.

• Benjaminsen, Christina; Stray, Viktoria & Moe, Nils Brede (2020). Ti råd for effektive møter på nett. Gemini.  ISSN 0802-085X. Vis sammendrag

  Vi møtes som aldri før – på nett. Særlig i jobbsammenheng kan dette oppleves som krevende, men det kan også være svært effektivt. Her er forskernes råd til smarte møter i det virtuelle landskapet.

• Løvold, Henrik Hillestad; Lindsjørn, Yngve & Stray, Viktoria (2020). Forming and Assessing Student Teams in Software Engineering Courses.
• Mikalsen, Marius; Stray, Inga Viktoria Ågesdatter Gulli; Moe, Nils Brede & Backer, Idun (2020). Shifting Conceptualization of Control in Agile Transformations.
• Moe, Nils Brede & Stray, Viktoria (2020). A Decade of Research on Autonomous Agile Teams: A Summary of the Third International Workshop. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing.  ISSN 1865-1348.  s 212- 218 Fulltekst i vitenarkiv. Vis sammendrag

  Ever since the agile manifesto was created in 2001, the research community has devoted attention to autonomous teams. This article first examines publications on autonomous agile teams to illustrate how the research has progressed in the last ten years and next summarizes the result of the Third International Workshop on Autonomous Agile Teams. The workshop’s goal was to capture what practitioners and researchers in the field of agile software development believe are emergent research themes and update the research agenda. We found that the top-rated research questions are related to autonomy in large-scale agile software development. Further, the number of relevant scientific publications is increasing, and there is widespread interest in the topic at various conferences.

• Moe, Nils Brede & Stray, Viktoria (2020). AUTONOMOUS AGILE TEAMS – RESEARCH WORKSHOP. Vis sammendrag

  The third workshop on autonomous agile teams will facilitate knowledge sharing about the current practice of autonomous teams and deepen the knowledge about practices and strategies that enable autonomous teams. There is a need for new knowledge on how organizations shall organize for the right level of team autonomy to attain better performance, productivity, innovation and value creation, and thus increase competitiveness. There will be short presentations and interactive discussions. Nils Brede Moe and Viktoria Stray: Opening Lucas Gren: Understanding Work Practices of Autonomous Agile Teams: A Social-Psychological Review Michal Dolezel: Defining TestOps: Collaborative Behaviors and Technology-driven Workflows Seen as Enablers of Effective Software Testing in DevOps Sven Theobald and Anna Schmitt: Dependencies of Agile Teams – An Analysis of the Scaled Agile Framework

• Moe, Nils Brede; Stray, Viktoria & Stokke, Ole Petter Baugerød (2020, 20. oktober). Unge utviklere minst effektive på hjemmekontor. [Internett].  Kode 24.
• Mæhlum, Emilie & Stray, Viktoria (2020). Managing dependencies in agile DevOps. Vis sammendrag

  Background: Coordination is a crucial aspect of agile software development. Managing dependencies is important for efficient coordination. Understanding what activities and artifacts manage different dependencies can help companies coordinate better and choose the mechanisms best suited for their coordination needs. Aim: This thesis aims to investigate how an agile DevOps is managing dependencies to achieve effective coordination. This is examined by identifying dependencies and coordination mechanisms for managing these dependencies. Additionally, the aim is also to investigate which barriers for managing dependencies can be found in an agile DevOps context. Method: A qualitative case study was conducted. Data were collected by conducting 9 interviews, observing 32 workdays, and observing 49 meetings. Additionally, various documents and chat logs were collected. Results: The results revealed 38 coordination mechanisms and 95 pairs of dependencies present in the development team. These coordination mechanisms manage knowledge dependencies, process dependencies, and resource dependencies. Also, working remotely, role clarity, planning, and estimation, and implementing changes in the software development process was identified as barriers to managing dependencies. Conclusion: It is possible to use a dependency taxonomy to identify coordination mechanisms and dependencies in an agile DevOps company. The most crucial coordination mechanisms found in the company included the Zendesk planning meeting, the daily stand-up, ad hoc conversations, the sprint planning meeting, and communication tools because they managed four or more dependencies.

• Paruch, Lucas & Stray, Viktoria (2020). The Human Factors and the Hard Skills Shaping the Role of the Software Tester in Agile Teams: A Grounded Theory Study.
• Tegelaár, Linnéa Egwene; Lindsjørn, Yngve & Stray, Viktoria (2020). Teamwork Quality in Software Engineering Education; A case study of the course IN2000 at the University of Oslo.
• Tkalich, Anastasiia & Stray, Viktoria (2020). Smidig coach: Hva har vi lært så langt?.
• Film & TV, Applaus & Stray, Viktoria (2019, 22. januar). Algoritmer – Opplæringsvideo produsert for Nasjonal Digital Læringsarena (NDLA). [TV].  Nasjonal Digital Læringsarena.
• Goplen, Marcus R.; Stray, Viktoria & Moe, Nils Brede (2019). Onboarding av distribuerte team. Vis sammendrag

  I denne oppgaven studerte jeg en bedrift som hadde gjennomført et innføringsprogram (onboarding) der portugisiske utviklere skulle innlemmes i to eksisterende norske team. Det blir bare vanligere og vanligere innenfor IT-bransjen ˚a delegere arbeid til utlandet (outsourcing) og det er derfor viktig ˚a finne gode modeller for onboarding av denne typen ansatte. M˚alet for oppgaven var derfor ˚a se om Bauers generelle onboardingsmodell er en god praksis for onboarding av distribuerte team og prøve ˚a avdekke eventuelle utfordringer for denne typen case. For dette case-studiet ble det brukt en kombinasjon av kvantitative og kvalitative metoder. Det ble i all hovedsak brukt kvantitativ metode i oppgaven da forskningen handlet om ˚a forst˚a og beskrive mennesker, men fordi jeg valgte ˚a bruke grafer for og underbygge p˚astander s˚a jeg det hensiktsmessig ˚a inkludere kvalitativ metode. Studiet fant sted hos IT-avdelingen til en norsk bank hvor ledere for avdelingen og to utviklerteam ble intervjuet. Forskningen viste at Bauers onboardingsmodell ogs˚a fungerer for onboarding av distribuerte team, men at det er flere utfordringer ved outsourcing. Oppgaven tok utgangspunkt i, og fant det hensiktsmessig ˚a bruke, en modell laget for ˚a planlegge og gjennomføre onboarding. Jeg vil ogs˚a presentere et forslag til ny modell som potensielt ville fungert bedre for en onboarding tilsvarende mitt case. Den største utfordringen for min casebedrift var˚a komme raskt i gang grunnet vanskelighetsgraden til domenet i banken.

• Grimstad, Bjørn & Stray, Viktoria (2019, 24. januar). Ikke gå i møtefellene: Her er ti tips til gode møter. [Fagblad].  Fagbladet.
• Kristensen, Sondre & Stray, Viktoria (2019). Teamwork Behaviours in Autonomous Cross-functional Teams. Vis sammendrag

  Background: Software development is a collaborative process where people from multiple different practices are involved. It has become more and more common to structure people as teams focusing on producing a specific parts of a system as one fully functional whole. Having those teams work as effectively and sustainable as possible should be a goal for any business owner, and as such new information regarding how to facilitate better teamwork is needed. Aim: The aim of this thesis is to investigate how teamwork behaviours appear in an autonomous cross-functional team, and how these behaviours can be considered important to such teams. Specifically the different ways teamwork behaviours is shown by team-members, and if there is a difference between behaviours shown in meetings compared to the workspace will be investigated. Potential benefits of teamwork behaviours will also be investigated. Method: A qualitative case study was conducted in a single product development team. Data was collected by observing 15 workdays and 14 meetings, as well as conducting 6 interviews and observing the teams online chat. Results: The results showed that 11 teamwork behaviours could be identified in the team. Differences in how behaviours were displayed in meetings compared to the workspace was found in eight of the teamwork behaviours. Five of the teamwork behaviours were found to be important for autonomous teams, each facilitating different aspects of teamwork. Conclusion: Teamwork behaviours seem to provide a great indication of teamwork in a team, and as such seem to be worthy of attention in the field of evaluating and improving the level of teamwork.

• Leveraas, Paal & Stray, Viktoria (2019, 10. april). Dr. Smidigs standup-diagnose endret Norge. [Internett].  Dataforeningen.
• Moe, Nils Brede & Stray, Viktoria (2019). Digitalisering i Oslo kommune gjennom Autonome team: Krav til kompetanse og opplæring.
• Moe, Nils Brede & Stray, Viktoria (2019). Software engineering processes and practices for team leads in agile projects.
• Moe, Nils Brede & Stray, Viktoria (2019). The Second International Workshop on Autonomous Agile Teams, XP2019.
• Standal, Andreas Hauge & Stray, Viktoria (2019). Characteristics for Efficient Autonomous Cross-Functional Teams. Vis sammendrag

  In this master thesis I aim to arrive at a theory which can answer the question of how software engineering teams can become more efficient, and how they can use crossfunctionality and team autonomy to arrive at this goal. There has not been done enough research on this subject, as most research on software engineering teams tend to focus on a single part of software engineering such as frameworks like Scrum or mindsets like Lean. Therefore the scope of this thesis is quite broad, and envelops software engineering teams in practice as a whole. The research method applied was Grounded Theory, which was useful due to the broad scope of the thesis. Grounded Theory was used to its full extent, using iterations of data collection and data analysis to arrive at an emerging theory. The research was conducted at a large Norwegian bank, in the spring of 2019. Two development teams were followed, observed, and interviewed - extensively. The emerged theory has the main category Team Efficiency, together with six related central categories: Flexibility, Autonomy, Cross-Functionality, Mindset, Morale, and Coaching. These central categories’ underlying topics, and relationships, are presented and detailed in depth, and aims to answer how to implement cross-functionality and flexibility to achieve team autonomy.

• Stray, Viktoria (2019). Møter på en smidig arbeidsplass. Vis sammendrag

  Hva kan vi gjøre for å få det beste ut av møtene i prosjektene våre? Alle er i møter og alle har en mening om møter, men hva sier forskning om møter? Gjennom å studere bedrifter som gjennomfører digitaliseringsprosjekter, har Viktoria fått innsikt i møtene til alt fra finansfolk til byråkrater. Et godt møte bør være nyttig for bedriften, gjøre de ansatte bedre rustet til å jobbe sammen og oppleves som meningsfylt for møtedeltagerne der og da Du får Viktorias beste tips, og inspirasjon til å holde produktive og gode møter.

• Stray, Viktoria (2019). A Global View on the Hard Skills and Testing Tools in Software Testing.
• Stray, Viktoria (2019). Agile Practices.
• Stray, Viktoria (2019). Dependency Management in Large-Scale Agile.
• Stray, Viktoria (2019). Digital transformasjon – angår det meg?.
• Stray, Viktoria (2019). Dr. Smidigs møtemedisin.
• Stray, Viktoria (2019). Effektive møter og en god møtekultur.
• Stray, Viktoria (2019). En mer produktiv arbeidsdag med bedre møter!. Vis sammendrag

  Keynote: Viktoria Stray fra SINTEF, kjent i Norge som “Dr. Smidig”, gir oss innblikk i smidig forskning og tips for en bedre møtehverdag. Hva kan vi gjøre for å få det beste ut av møtene i prosjektene våre? Alle er i møter og har en mening om møter, men hva sier forskning om møter? Gjennom å studere bedrifter som gjennomfører digitaliseringsprosjekter, har Viktoria fått innsikt i møtene til alt fra finansfolk til byråkrater. Et godt møte bør være nyttig for bedriften, gjøre de ansatte bedre rustet til å jobbe sammen og oppleves som meningsfylt for møtedeltagerne der og da. Du får Viktorias beste tips, og inspirasjon til å holde produktive og gode møter. Dr. Smidig: https://www.dataforeningen.no/dr-smidigs-standup-diagnose-endret-norge/

• Stray, Viktoria (2019). Hvordan skape gode autonome og smidige team?.
• Stray, Viktoria (2019). Hvordan tilrettelegge for bedre møtevirksomhet hos Discovery Networks Norway?.
• Stray, Viktoria (2019). Tilgjengelighetstesting i en smidig utviklingsprosess.
• Stray, Viktoria (2019). Use of Accessibility Testing Tools in Agile Software Projects.
• Stray, Viktoria & Helgesen, Linda (2019). Produktivitet på en smidig arbeidsplass. Vis sammendrag

  Vi tar steget videre fra foredraget om møter og trekker problemstillingen nærmere den praktiske virkeligheten til konferansedeltagerne. I denne workshopen ser vi nærmere på arbeidshverdagen til deltagerne og vurderer hvordan vi kan bruke enkle tilnærminger til å forbedre og effektivisere dagen.

• Stray, Viktoria & Moe, Nils Brede (2019). Retrospective for the Insurance team.
• Stray, Viktoria & Moe, Nils Brede (2019). Software engineering processes and practices for tech leads in agile projects.
• Stray, Viktoria & Moe, Nils Brede (2019). Use of Enterprise Social Networking Tools in Virtual Agile Teams.
• Telle, Ingvild & Stray, Viktoria (2019, 13. desember). Hvorfor så mange møter?. [Fagblad].  Finansforbundet.
• Aasheim, Andreas; Stray, Viktoria & Moe, Nils Brede (2018). Process Tailoring in Large-Scale Agile Programs. Vis sammendrag

  Background: Teams in large-scale agile programs need to achieve collaborative software development. A proposed guide to collaboration is effective coordination. Large-scale agile software development is well accepted in the software industry, but there is little understanding of such projects and programs achieve effective coordination in autonomous cross-functional teams. Therefore, I conducted a case study of a large-scale software program consisting of seven autonomous teams in an organization. Five of them was DevOps teams, where DevOps is merely a team composed of developers who are working on the development and operational tasks. Aim: The thesis aims to investigate what dependencies and their related agile practices that act as coordination mechanisms to facilitate the large-scale agile development. Additionally, the aim is also to recommend a starter set for providing coordination in the large-scale by using a dependency taxonomy, which mapping agile practices. Method: A qualitative case study was conducted for the research design. The data was collected by conduction 40 observed meetings, as well as 18 entire working days in the organization's open work area to observe them in their everyday work. A dependency taxonomy was used to map and categorize the coordination mechanisms. Results: The results revealed that there were 34 coordination mechanisms and 77 pairs of dependencies presented in the program. The coordination mechanisms could be mapped into three categories, with subcategories each: knowledge dependency, process dependency, and resource dependency. The knowledge dependency was predominant with the frequency of 73 % of the three categories. These means that focusing on selecting agile practices that address the types of knowledge dependency should be recommended for providing coordination. Furthermore, the results revealed that 12 agile practices would be a good choice for coordinating and tailoring a large-scale program. Conclusion: It is possible to use a dependency taxonomy to map coordination mechanisms in a large-scale agile program. The coordination mechanisms made collaboration between the teams in the program, by implement Scrum of Scrum meetings, daily stand-up meetings, demo meetings, Sprint Planning meetings, and introduce different roles, such as project managers, team leads, Product Owners and DevOps developers. These mechanisms lead to fast Sprint periods, frequent production setting, a common understanding of what is being created, and autonomous decisions in the program.

• Afzal, Zunaira; Lindsjørn, Yngve & Stray, Viktoria (2018). A Case Study on Technical Debt.
• Backer, Idun; Stray, Viktoria & Moe, Nils Brede (2018). Fra tverrfaglig team til tverrfaglig samarbeid.
• Bai, Aleksander; Mork, Heidi Camilla; Stray, Viktoria & Sverdrup, Nikolai Johan Sand (2018). Holdninger rundt universell utforming i smidige team. Report at the Norwegian Computing Center. 1036.
• Bai, Aleksander; Mork, Heidi Camilla; Stray, Viktoria; Sverdrup, Nikolai Johan Sand; Halbach, Till & Fuglerud, Kristin Skeide (2018). Evaluering av tilgjengelighetstest-metoder. Report at the Norwegian Computing Center. 1038.
• Holgeid, Knut Kjetil; Krogstie, John; Stray, Viktoria & Thompson, Mark (2018). Strategizing for Successful IT Projects in the Digital Era. Pre-ICIS Research Workshop on IT Project Management, International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS). Vis sammendrag

  The objective of this paper is to increase our understanding of how organizations strategize with a view to making their digital investments successful and the impact such digital strategies actually have on business outcomes. We examined 2940 papers related to digital business strategies, of which 31 were included in relevant empirical research. These papers were reviewed and subjected to thematic synthesis. Many organizations appear to initiate scattered digital initiatives without a clear idea of where they are going. Companies can benefit from a deliberate digital strategy that enhances the ability of businesses to quickly adjust to new trends, possibilities, and threats, as well as a constant balancing of new possibilities with the exploitation of current assets.

• Holgeid, Knut Kjetil & Stray, Viktoria (2018). A Review of Factors Promoting IS Project Escalation. Pre-ICIS Research Workshop on IT Project Management, International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS). Vis sammendrag

  The objective of this paper is to investigate the tendency to continue a project even when it is obvious that it will not provide the planned benefits, often referred to as “project escalation” or “escalation of commitment.” The investigation aims to identify factors that empirically have been found to promote IS project escalation. We examined 1163 papers related to the phenomenon of IS project and commitment escalation and found 42 of them to include relevant empirical research. We provide a comprehensive overview of 43 factors that can have important implications for practice, especially for organizations trying to avoid escalation in the first place or uncover already escalated projects.

• Kalveland, Julie & Stray, Viktoria (2018, 11. november). Viktoria er Norges ledende ekspert på møter. Hun anbefaler at alle får lov å «ta en Musk». [Tidsskrift].  Digi.no.
• Lindsjørn, Yngve & Stray, Viktoria (2018). Studentaktiv læring og prosjektarbeid i utvikling av IT-systemer.
• Moe, Nils Brede & Stray, Viktoria (2018). Guilds: Etablering og suksesskriterier.
• Moe, Nils Brede & Stray, Viktoria (2018). Produkteiere – bindeleddet mellom forretning og IT. Hvordan hjelpe produkteierne til å videreutvikle og realisere det strategiske målbildet?.
• Moe, Nils Brede & Stray, Viktoria (2018). Retrospective vs Futurespective – jobbe mer med muligheter enn problemer.
• Moe, Nils Brede & Stray, Viktoria (2018). Retrospektiv med Produkteiere og styringsforum på Tellus.
• Noroozi, Mehdi & Stray, Viktoria (2018). To Slack or not to Slack; challenges of communication and coordination in distributed software development. Vis sammendrag

  Globalization is affecting our daily life more and more every day. In addition to affecting every and each person, it is also affecting businesses around the globe and to cope with it managers and other decision-makers should think of new and innovative ways to keep their businesses going on. Software development industry is also no exception and was one of the industries that started to merge in the global market. The expansion of access to the internet around the world has evaded the need for co-located software teams and has made it possible to freely collaborate and work on software projects from all around the world. There are several success stories regarding the distributed and global software development, however, it is not free from mistakes and huge financial losses. Among the several issues that distributed software development is facing, communication and coordination are named in several studies as the prominent cause of failure in distributed projects. In the absence of face-to-face communication which is considered to be the richest form of communication and the presence of cultural and language barriers, misunderstanding is unavoidable and problems can easily escalate. In this thesis, we are going to take a closer look at communication and coordination issues in distributed software teams through analyzing Slack chat logs of two distributed teams as well as running a survey among software developers. In the end, we are going to give some suggestions for improvement of both theory and practice in communication and coordination of distributed teams. The results gathered through the analysis of Slack chat logs and results of the survey are in agreement with several other studies and research done on the topic, and based on those results we have come to the conclusion that the right usage of communication tools in distributed teams can significantly improve the coordination and communication between team members which in turn paves the path for more successful software projects.

• Stray, Viktoria (2018). Coordination by Feedback in Large-Scale Agile Software Development Projects.
• Stray, Viktoria (2018). Daglige møter truer effektiviteten til norske bedrifter. Aftenposten (morgenutg. : trykt utg.).  ISSN 0804-3116.
• Stray, Viktoria (2018, 18. september). Den store møteplagen. [Radio].  NRK P2.
• Stray, Viktoria (2018). Digitalisering, innovasjon og teamarbeid i store IT-prosjekter.
• Stray, Viktoria (2018). Escalation of Commitment in Information System Projects.
• Stray, Viktoria (2018). Futurespective – hvordan team kan øke produktiviteten og nå sine mål ved å se fremover i en retrospective.
• Stray, Viktoria (2018). Gode møter i en produktiv arbeidsdag.
• Stray, Viktoria (2018, 11. september). Møteforsker: – Daglige møter truer effektiviteten på jobb. [TV].  TV2 Nyhetskanalen.
• Stray, Viktoria (2018). Smart og smidig: Nye retningslinjer for daglige møter.
• Stray, Viktoria (2018). Strategizing for Successful IT Projects.
• Stray, Viktoria & Moe, Nils Brede (2018). Agile Ways of Working.
• Stray, Viktoria & Moe, Nils Brede (2018). First International Workshop on Autonomous Agile Teams, XP2018.
• Stray, Viktoria & Moe, Nils Brede (2018). Møter – Forskning og trender rundt økt effektivitet gjennom mer uplanlagte møter og mer slack i planene.
• Stray, Viktoria & Rolland, Knut-H. (2018). Presentasjon av Geminisenter for Systemutviklingsprosesser og Metoder for Innovasjon og Digitalisering.
• Sverdrup, Nikolai Johan Sand & Stray, Viktoria (2018). Accessibility Testing in Agile Software Development.
• Bai, Aleksander; Mork, Heidi Camilla; Stray, Viktoria & Sverdrup, Nikolai Johan Sand (2017). Universell utforming: verktøy og teknikker for tilgjengelighetstesting i smidige prosjekter.
• Bai, Aleksander & Stray, Viktoria (2017). Universell utforming i smidige prosjekter: Verktøy og teknikker for hyppig tilgjengelighetstesting.
• Brombach, Harald & Stray, Viktoria (2017, 31. juli). Mange har endret standup-møtene på grunn av forskningen til Viktoria. [Tidsskrift].  Digi.no.
• Mikalsen, Marius; Moe, Nils Brede; Stray, Viktoria & Nyrud, Helga (2017). Justification in bottom-up information infrastructures innovation: a case from an incumbent bank turning fintech. Vis sammendrag

  Our understanding of decisions in bottom-up information infrastructure innovation is justified in incumbent firms is limited. Through a case study of an incumbent bank transforming towards a bottom-up approach to innovation, we find that bottom-up organisation involves several different forms of justification. We discuss how pragmatic justification offers an interesting analytical lens on how of bottom-up infrastructure innovation can be understood.

• Moe, Nils Brede; Cruzes, Daniela Soares & Stray, Viktoria (2017). Strategies for agile software testing in a large global company.
• Moe, Nils Brede & Stray, Viktoria (2017). Autonome team i storskala systemutviklingsprosjekter. Vis sammendrag

  Hvordan organiseres autonome team i store programmer. Hvordan kan Oslo kommune lære av dette.

• Moe, Nils Brede & Stray, Viktoria (2017). Evaluering og refleksjon med nye retrospektivteknikker.

Se alle arbeider i Cristin