Towards continuous strategy in software business

Q1 Multidisciplinary

International Journal of Agile Systems and Management Pub Date : 2019-07-26 DOI:10.1504/IJASM.2019.10022804

T. Suomalainen, Jenni Myllykoski

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Abstract

This paper examines the strategic planning in software-intensive businesses. As software-intensive businesses are going beyond agile and lean software development towards continuous deployment, it requires both continuous planning throughout the organisation and a link between strategy and software development. A better understanding of the strategic planning practices among software companies is needed to enable continuous deployment. However, the current literature does not yet address this issue. We conducted a multiple-case study involving three companies by interviewing 24 people in various roles and at different organisational levels. This study reveals an emerging need for continuous strategy in all cases. With a continuous strategy, we refer to the view that strategic planning can be an ongoing process without a predefined planning cycle. The case companies in our study were in different phases in adopting practices of continuous strategy. This paper highlights the reasons behind continuous strategy and describes the current practices of continuous strategy. Continuous strategy is especially vital for software companies dealing with turbulent business environments, but adopting the practices of continuous strategy is challenging. This study concludes that the main challenges are related to planning practices, transparency, communication and organisational structure.

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走向软件业务的持续战略

本文研究了软件密集型企业的战略规划。随着软件密集型企业正在超越敏捷和精益软件开发，走向持续部署，这需要整个组织的持续规划，以及战略和软件开发之间的联系。需要更好地了解软件公司之间的战略规划实践，以实现持续部署。然而，目前的文献还没有解决这个问题。我们进行了一项涉及三家公司的多案例研究，采访了24名不同职位和不同组织级别的人员。这项研究揭示了在所有情况下都需要持续战略。对于连续战略，我们指的是这样一种观点，即战略规划可以是一个持续的过程，而没有预先定义的规划周期。在我们的研究中，案例公司在采用持续战略实践方面处于不同的阶段。本文强调了持续战略背后的原因，并描述了持续战略的当前实践。持续战略对于软件公司处理动荡的业务环境尤其重要，但采用持续战略的实践是具有挑战性的。这项研究得出的结论是，主要挑战与规划实践、透明度、沟通和组织结构有关。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

International Journal of Agile Systems and Management Multidisciplinary-Multidisciplinary

CiteScore

2.70

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The objective of IJASM is to establish an effective channel of communication between academia, industry and persons concerned with the design and development of systems. Change is eternal and perpetual, irrespective of type of system. Systems created in the course of the advance of human civilization need to be functionally and operationally sustainable amid changes in technological, political, socio-economical, financial, cultural and other environmental challenges. IJASM aims to promote and harmonize knowledge developments in the emerging fields of agile systems research, sustainability and vulnerability analysis, risk assessments methodologies, complex systems science, e-organisation and e-supply chain management, with emphasis on the international dimension, particularly breaking cultural barriers, and on national contexts, globalisation and new business practices. As such, we aim to publish papers presenting new research, innovative theoretical approaches, changes in agile management paradigms, and action (both examples of successes and failures as long as there are important lessons to be learned) from leading scholars and practitioners. Papers generally fall into two broad categories: those grounded in theory and/or papers using scientific research methods (e.g., reports of original empirical studies, models, critical reviews of existing empirical research, theory pieces that clearly extend current thinking); and those focusing on innovative agile approaches that are based on well reasoned extensions of existing research, experiential knowledge, or exemplary cases (e.g., thought pieces, case studies, etc).