Design and Evaluation - Streamlining the handling of R&D projects

Abstract: Agile software development promotes process adaptability throughout the life cycle of a project. A project is often broken down into smaller tasks and each task involves a cross-functional team working with all functions. There are many different agile methods, which focus on different aspects of the software development life cycle. Two of these agile methods are Kanban and Scrum, which focus on managing software projects. The basic unit of development with Scrum are the sprints, which are a specific duration. Each sprint demands planning tasks to be solved beforehand and an estimated commitment of tasks for the sprint goal. To help the team to estimate how much work they can do in a future sprint, a collection of historical velocity data is needed. This is often done by drawing the sprints in a chart to visualize the data. To help the teams to stay on track during each sprint, other charts can provide visibility of their on-going process. The key for success in Kanban is to visualize the workflow to improve the process. A Kanban board is often used in combination with different types of charts and tables. The aim of this Master thesis was to explore a combination of different charts and tables to increase the efficiency in R&D projects for agile development. This was done by creating and evaluating a prototype and then measuring the usability of it. The first prototype was developed and then tested on the actual target group at a company. The participants evaluated the tool and suggested the further development of the prototype. The final prototype was then developed based on the first one. A usability test was conducted on a potential target group, which haven’t used similar tools before. The results from the prototype were then evaluated. In both the first and the second tests, usability and efficiency were in focus. The conclusion of the final usability test was that there was a high level of usability although the tool was custom made for projects using Kanban and Scrum. The tool also demanded some basic level of knowledge to make it usable.