Clustering and Optimizing Methods for Sprints of Agile Development Projects

Abstract

To address the challenges of sprint planning and sequential optimization in agile development projects, this paper presents a model for agile sprint clustering and optimization. Firstly, we build an activity similarity network and measure the tie strength between activities using social network analysis (SNA) and design structure matrix (DSM). Then, we build an “overlap-iteration” model to measure the interactions strength between activities. Based on thecoupling strength (i.e. the sum of tie strength and interaction strength) between activities, this paper uses a two-stage clustering method to cluster the process DSM to obtain agile sprints. Furthermore, we measure the rework probability and rework intensity between sprints from the rework probability and rework intensity between activities to build an agile sprint optimization method. Finally, an agile development project example is provided to illustrate the validity of the proposed models. The results demonstrate that our approach significantly reduces project duration, cost, and rework risk in agile development projects.

Keywords:

• Agile development project
• agile sprint
• clustering and optimization
• dependency structure matrix (DSM)

EMJ Focus Areas:

• New product development
• program & project management
• systems engineering

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [71929101]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [72271022].

Notes on contributors

Pingye Tian

Pingye Tian received the B.E. and M.E. in engineering management from Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, China. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. Degree in project management with the School of Economics & Management, University of Science & Technology Beijing, Beijing, China. His current research interests include digital driven-project management, agile development.

Qing Yang

Qing Yang is a Professor of Project Management with the School of Economics & Management at University of Science and Technology Beijing, China. He received the B.E., M.E. and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China. He serves as an associate editor for Project Leadership & Society, executive committee member for the Project Management Research Committee of China (PMRC) and is on the Editorial Review Board for the IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management and on the International Editorial Board for the International journal of Project Management. His research involves R&D project management, DSM, complex network modeling.

Xingqi Zou

Xingqi Zou received the Ph.D. degrees in University of Science & Technology Beijing China. She is an assistant Professor with the Faculty of Management and Economics, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China. Her research interests include managing the development process of complex R&D projects, project portfolio, and complex network modeling.