Assisting product line thinking and information sharing using a real-time visual tracking model for agile epics

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to understand and reduce repeated development of software artefacts, mainly in terms of the software components that are produced in the organization of Natural Resources Institute Finland. The thesis consists of a literature review around code reuse and the software product line method of building software.

In the case study of the thesis, a visual model is added to the Jira environment of the organization of Natural Resources Institute Finland DIGI unit. The project workers associated with each project are interviewed both before and after the visual model was added.

Through the results of the interviews, the study identifies improvements to understandability and presentability of projects. Suggesting that the addition of a graphical model for epics on a high abstraction level helps project workers increase information sharing within an organization, but more research is needed to understand and enable the technical impact of the model.