This book is based on an innovative research study which devised a suitable change management framework for Irish software development companies seeking to make the transition from a more “traditional” software development process to one which is more agile and responsive. Utilising Kotter’s eight-step technique for organisational change as a basis, this research demonstrates how the incorporation of agile software techniques using the Scrum process effected successful changes within one of the world’s leading Electronic Design Automation (EDA) companies.

The XP conference series established in 2000 was the first conference dedicated to agile processes in software engineering. The idea of the conference is to offer a unique setting for advancing the state of the art in the research and practice of agile processes. This year’s conference was the ninth consecutive edition of this international event. The conference has grown to be the largest conference on agile software development outside North America. The XP conference enjoys being one of those conferences that truly brings practitioners and academics together. About 70% of XP participants come from industry and the number of academics has grown steadily over the years. XP is more of an experience rather than a regular conference. It offers several different ways to interact and strives to create a truly collaborative environment where new ideas and exciting findings can be presented and shared. For example, this year’s open space session, which was “a conference within a conference”, was larger than ever before. Agile software development is a unique phenomenon from several perspectives.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination, SPICE 2013, held in Bremen, Germany, in June 2013. The 21 revised full papers presented and 7 short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on process quality; medical device software processes; design and use of process models; studies of software development; agile development; IT service management; assessment for diagnosis.

This volume constitutes the published proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Information Systems Development. They present the latest and greatest concepts, approaches, and techniques of systems development - a notoriously transitional field.

Applying methodologies of Software Process Improvement (SPI) is an effective way for businesses to remain competitive in the software industry. However, many organizations find implementing software process initiatives challenging. Agile Estimation Techniques and Innovative Approaches to Software Process Improvement reviews current SPI techniques and applications through discussions on current and future trends as well as the presentation of case studies on SPI implementation. Ideal for use by academics, students, and policy-makers, as well as industry professionals and managers, this publication provides a complete overview of current tools and methodologies regarding Software Process Improvement.

This textbook is intended for use by SPI (Software Process Improvement) managers and researchers, quality managers, and experienced project and research managers. The papers constitute the research proceedings of the 15th EuroSPI (European So- ware Process Improvement, www.eurospi.net) conference in Dublin, Ireland, 3–5 September 2008. Since the first conference, held in Dublin in 1994, EuroSPI conferences have been held in 1995 in Vienna (Austria), in 1997 in Budapest (Hungary), in 1998 in Goth- burg (Sweden), in 1999 in Pori (Finland), in 2000 in Copenhagen (Denmark), in 2001 in Limerick (Ireland), in 2002 in Nuremberg (Germany), in 2003 in Graz (Austria), in 2004 in Trondheim (Norway), in 2005 in Budapest (Hungary), in 2006 in Joensuu (Finland), and in 2007 in Potsdam (Germany). EuroSPI has established an experience library (library.eurospi.net), which will be c- tinuously extended over the next few years and was made available to all attendees. EuroSPI has also started an umbrella initiative for establishing a European Quali- cation Network in which different SPINs and national ventures can join mutually beneficial collaborations (EQN - EU Leonardo da Vinci network project). With a general assembly on 15.-16.10.2007 through EuroSPI partners and n- works, in collaboration with the European Union (supported by the EU Leonardo da Vinci Programme), a European certification association has been created (www.- certificates.org) for the IT and services sector to offer SPI knowledge and certificates to industry, establishing close knowledge transfer links between research and industry.

Imagine that you are the CEO of a software company. You know you compete in an environment that does not permit you to treat innovation as a secondary issue. But how should you manage your software innovation to get the most out of it? This book will provide you with the answer. Software innovation is multifaceted and the approaches used by companies can be very different. The team of authors that wrote this book took the assumption that there is no such thing as a universal software engineering process or innovation process. Some things work well for a certain company, others do not. The book is organized around what the authors call eight fundamental practice areas for innovation with software. Each practice area contains a number of activities that can help companies to master that practice area. It also contains industrial experience reports that illustrate the applicability of these practice areas in software companies and is structured in such a way that you can select and read only those practice areas that are relevant to your company. The book is written with an industrial target audience in mind. Its most important goal is to challenge companies by offering them a framework to become more innovation-driven, rather than engineering-driven. Intrigued? Here you will find details of what you and your company can do to understand, implement, and sustain continuous innovation.

Rather than deciding whether or not to get involved in global sourcing, many companies are facing decisions about whether or not to apply agile methods in their distributed projects. These companies are often motivated by the opportunities to solve the coordination and communication difficulties associated with global software development. Yet while agile principles prescribe close interaction and co-location, the very nature of distributed software development does not support these prerequisites. Šmite, Moe, and Ågerfalk structured the book into five parts. In “Motivation” the editors introduce the fundamentals of agile distributed software development and explain the rationale behind the application of agile practices in globally distributed software projects. “ Transition” describes implementation strategies, adoption of particular agile practices for distributed projects, and general concepts of agility. “Management” details practical implications for project planning, time management, and customer and subcontractor interaction. “Teams” discusses agile distributed team configuration, effective communication and knowledge transfer, and allocation of roles and responsibilities. Finally, in the “Epilogue” the editors summarize all contributions and present future trends for research and practice in agile distributed development. This book is primarily targeted at researchers, lecturers, and students in empirical software engineering, and at practitioners involved in globally distributed software projects. The contributions are based on sound empirical research and identify gaps and commonalities in both the existing state of the art and state of the practice. In addition, they also offer practical advice through many hints, checklists, and experience reports. Questions answered in this book include: What should companies expect from merging agile and distributed strategies? What are the stumbling blocks that prevent companies from realizing the benefits of the agile approach in distributed environments, and how can we recognize infeasible strategies and unfavorable circumstances? What helps managers cope with the challenges of implementing agile approaches in distributed software development projects? How can distributed teams survive the decisions taken by management and become efficient through the application of agile approaches?

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 13 International Conference on Product-Focused Software Process Improvement, PROFES 2012, held in Madrid, Spain, in June 2012. The 21 revised full papers presented together with 3 short papers and 4 workshop and tutorial papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 49 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on process focused software process improvement, open-source agile and lean practices, product and process measurements and estimation, distributed and global software development, quality assessment, and empirical studies.

Challenges in unpredictable markets, changing customer requirements, and advancing information technologies have lead to progression towards service oriented engineering and agile and lean software development. These prevailing approaches to software systems provide solutions to challenges in demanding business environments. Agile and Lean Service-Oriented Development: Foundations, Theory and Practice explores the groundwork of service-oriented and agile and lean development and the conceptual basis and experimental evidences for the combination of the two approaches. Highlighting the best tools and guidelines for these developments in practice, this book is essential for researchers and practitioners in the software development and service computing fields.