IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ids/ijbisy/v30y2019i2p152-176.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Release cycle management: an action research study into a software company

Author

Listed:
  • Kamran Syed
  • Neda Barqawi
  • Lars Mathiassen

Abstract

Software is increasingly developed in a recurrent fashion. Still, we lack theoretical knowledge and conceptual models for continuously improving software release management in such dynamic contexts. In response, we conducted an action research study to improve Software Inc.'s capability to recurrently release a specific software service, Secure-on-Request. Drawing on contextualist inquiry as theoretical frame, we addressed an initial problematic situation with a recent software acquisition, complexity of service delivery, new engineering and product management teams and low process maturity to improve the organisation's approach to software releases. As a result, we offer a detailed account of the process of, the content of and the context for transforming release management at Software Inc. through the phases of diagnosing, establishing, acting and learning. Based on these insights, we theorise release cycle management (RCM) as a key practice that integrates software process improvement into recurrent delivery of software. Moreover, we offer a conceptual model for RCM that software managers can use to implement such practices into their organisations.

Suggested Citation

  • Kamran Syed & Neda Barqawi & Lars Mathiassen, 2019. "Release cycle management: an action research study into a software company," International Journal of Business Information Systems, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 30(2), pages 152-176.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijbisy:v:30:y:2019:i:2:p:152-176
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=97533
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ids:ijbisy:v:30:y:2019:i:2:p:152-176. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sarah Parker (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=172 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.