Cecil Schmidt

Control Mechanisms and Agile Methodology Use: Data from the Industry

ABSTRACT This research investigates the relationship between the degree of agile methodology use and four types of control mechanisms that are widely used in the management of a software project and its personnel: outcome control, behavioral control, clan control, and self-control. We conducted two studies: a survey of software professionals and a follow-up interview in six organizations. We found the following: 1) software professionals reported high outcome and clan controls regardless of their levels of agile methodology use; 2) the high agile group reported some use of behavioral and self-controls while the low agile group did not; 3) even though behavioral control was minimum in the low agile group, all professionals we interviewed strongly agreed that using established materials and following existing procedures should be standardized practices in software development. Implications of this research are discussed.

Synthesizing Agile and Knowledge Discovery: Case Study Results

ABSTRACT This research adopts a framework that synthesizes Knowledge Discovery in Database (KDD), Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM), and agile practices. The application of this framework is demonstrated through an institutional case study of three knowledge discovery projects: Persistence, Retention, and Donor projects. Results from the case study suggest that (a) interaction and iteration are foundations for the success of a knowledge discovery project, especially one with a strong business focus; (b) agile practices facilitate the interaction and iteration nature of a knowledge discovery project; (c) adding business understanding and deployment steps from CRISP-DM to KDD explicitly helps data miners stay focused on the ultimate goals of the project—the needs of the business and the users.