1. What were some of the problems with DST Systems’ old
software development environment?
DST Systems is a software development company whose
flagship product, Automated Work Distributor, increases back – office
efficiency and help offices become paperless. DST was founded in 1969 and its
headquarters are in Kansas City, Missouri. The company has approximately ten
thousand employees, 1200 of whom are software developers.
Some of the problem is DST Systems’ used a mixture of
tools, processes, and sourced code control system, different group within the
organization used very different tools for software development for example
like Eclipse. This makes managers hard to unable to easily determine how
resources were being allocated, which of their employees were working on
certain project, and the status of specific assets. Another point is the
previous method that is “waterfall” method which is used for designing, coding,
testing and integrating its product. In the waterfall model of software development,
progression flows sequentially from one step to next like a waterfall, with
each step unable to start until the previous step has been completed.
2. How did Scrum development help solve some of those
problems?
Scrum is a framework for agile software development in
which project progress via a series of iteration called sprints. Scrum projects
make progress in a series of sprints, which are time boxed iterations no more
than a month long. Scrum development help solve some of those problem by relies
on self- organizing, cross- functional teams supported by a Scrum Master and a
product owner. The Scrum Master acts as a coach for the team, while the product
owner represents the business, customers or users in guiding the team toward
building the right product. DST tried Scrum with its existing software
development tools and experienced strong results. The company accelerated its
software development cycle from 24 to 6 month and developer productivity
increased 20 present.
3. What other adjustments did DST make to be able to use
Scrum more effectively in its software projects? What management, organization
and technology issues had to be addressed?
The other adjustments DST was able to make to use
Scrum more effectively in its software projects were by setting up a project
evaluation team to identify the right development environment. DST wanted the
ability to use the new software without significant training and software they
could quickly adopt without jeopardizing AWD’s development cycle. After considering,
DST settled on CollabNet’s offerings.
CollabNet specializes in software designed to work
well with agile software development methods such as Scrum. Its core product is
TeamForge, it used to centralize management of users, projects, processes and
assets. DST adopted Collabnet's subversion product to help with the management
control of changes to project documents, programs, and other information stored
as computer files. DST’s adoption of CollabNet’s products was fast, just
requiring 10 weeks. Besides, the adjustment allowed DST to complete all of
their work within the ALM platform.
For the part of management, organization and
technology issues had to be addressed, Jerry Tubbs, the systems development
manager at DST systems, says DST was successful in attempts to revamp the
software group because some factors.
1.Looked for simplicity rather than complicated
2.Much cheaper than some of the alternatives
3.Involved developers in the decision making process to ensure
that change to be greeted enthusiastically
4.Allow for the developers to adopt ALM software on their own
The company was successful because they selected
the right development framework as well as the right software to make that
change a reality and skillfully managed the change process.
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