Table Of ContentA Mapping of an Agile Software
Development Method to the Personal
Productivity of the Knowledge Worker
- a Systematic Review of Self-Help Books -
Helga Guðrún Óskarsdóttir
Faculty of Industrial Engineering,
Mechanical Engineering and
Computer Science
University of Iceland
2014
A Mapping of an Agile Software
Development Method to the Personal
Productivity of the Knowledge Worker
- a Systematic Review of Self-Help Books -
Helga Guðrún Óskarsdóttir
60 ECTS thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of a
Magister Scientiarum degree in Software Engineering
Advisor(s)
Guðmundur Valur Oddsson
Jóhann P. Malmquist
Faculty Representative
Bjarni Júlíusson
Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer
Science
School of Engineering and Natural Sciences
University of Iceland
Reykjavik, October 2014
A Mapping of an Agile Software Development Method to the Personal Productivity of the
Knowledge Worker, a Systematic Review of Self-Help Books
Personal Productivity, a Systematic Review
60 ECTS thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of a Magister Scientiarum degree in
Software Engineering
Copyright © 2014 Helga Guðrún Óskarsdóttir
All rights reserved
Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science
School of Engineering and Natural Sciences
University of Iceland
VRII, Hjarðarhagi 2-6
107, Reykjavik
Iceland
Telephone: 525 4000
Bibliographic information:
Helga Guðrún Óskarsdóttir, 2014, A Mapping of an Agile Software Development Method
to the Personal Productivity of the Knowledge Worker a Systematic Review of Self-Help
Books, Master‟s thesis, Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and
Computer Science, University of Iceland, pp. 158.
Printing: Háskólaprent
Reykjavik, Iceland, October 2014
Abstract
This work explores the problem of how to increase knowledge worker productivity by
performing a systematic literature review of personal productivity self-help books. The
assumption was that personal productivity self-help books are based on the same
underlying concepts and that these concepts can give insight into the personal productivity
of the knowledge worker. The intent was to identify these concepts, compare them to the
state-of-the-art on knowledge worker productivity and the software development method
Scrum. The working hypothesis was that Scrum can create the environment and provide
the tools needed by the knowledge worker to perform to his highest potential and produce
value for the organization. The research design followed the guidelines for systematic
reviews in software engineering by Kitchenham (2004). The research scope was based on
a definition of personal productivity. Forty personal productivity self-help guides were
chosen in a fair and systematic way from Amazon.com using a software program and rigid
selection criteria. These books were read and analyzed by one researcher. Twenty-six
concepts of personal productivity were identified and defined from the forty personal
productivity self-help books. The concepts were compared to the definition of knowledge
workers, personal productivity and ten knowledge worker productivity factors and found to
be relevant to the personal productivity of the knowledge worker. The concepts were also
mapped to the software development method, Scrum.
Útdráttur
Þessi rannsókn greinir fjörtíu vinsælar sjálfshálparbækur til að skoða vandamálið, hvernig
á að auka framleiðni þekkingarstarfsmanna. Leiðbeiningar Kitchenham (2004) voru
notaðar við hönnun rannsóknarinnar. Gengið var út frá því að sjálfshjálparbækurnar væru
allar byggðar á sömu hugtökunum og að þessi hugtök gætu gefið innsýn inn í framleiðni
þekkingarstarfsmanna. Tilgátan var að aðferðafræðin Scrum í hugbúnaðargerð byði uppá
umhverfi og tól til að auka framleiðni starfsmanna. Sjálfshjálparbækurnar voru valdar á
kerfisbundinn hátt og lesnar af höfundi. Tuttugu og sex hugtök voru greind og skilgreind úr
fjörtíu vinsælum sjálfshjálparbókum. Hugtökin voru borin saman við fræði
þekkingarstarfsmanna og aðferðafræðina Scrum.
Dedicated to my family, thank you for the endless support
Table of Contents
List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... ix
List of Tables ....................................................................................................................... xi
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... xiii
1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1
2 Theoretical Background ................................................................................................. 3
2.1 Knowledge Workers ................................................................................................ 3
2.2 Personal Productivity............................................................................................... 5
2.3 Ten Knowledge Worker Productivity Factors ......................................................... 6
2.4 Scrum....................................................................................................................... 8
3 Research Design ............................................................................................................ 11
3.1 Research Scope ...................................................................................................... 12
3.2 Search Strategy ...................................................................................................... 13
3.2.1 Connection to Amazon.com......................................................................... 13
3.2.2 The Software Used to Perform the Search ................................................... 14
3.3 Selection Strategy .................................................................................................. 16
3.4 Data Extraction and Data Synthesis Strategy ........................................................ 17
3.4.1 Identifying Personal Productivity Concepts ................................................. 18
3.4.2 Comparison with the Theories of Personal Productivity of Knowledge
Workers ........................................................................................................ 18
3.4.3 Mapping to the Concepts of the Scrum Framework .................................... 18
4 Software Design............................................................................................................. 19
5 Research Execution ....................................................................................................... 25
5.1 Search .................................................................................................................... 26
5.2 Selection ................................................................................................................ 27
5.3 Data Extraction and Synthesis ............................................................................... 31
6 Results ............................................................................................................................ 35
6.1 Common Underlying Concepts from the Self-Help Books ................................... 35
6.2 Relevance to Personal Productivity of Knowledge Workers ................................ 39
6.2.1 Knowledge Workers and the Concepts ........................................................ 39
6.2.2 Personal Productivity and the Concepts ....................................................... 41
6.2.3 The Ten Knowledge Worker Productivity Factors and the Concepts .......... 42
6.3 Personal Productivity Concepts and Scrum .......................................................... 43
7 Personal Productivity Concepts .................................................................................. 49
vii
8 Discussions and Conclusion .......................................................................................... 67
8.1 Personal Productivity ............................................................................................. 68
8.2 Personal Productivity and Scrum ........................................................................... 71
8.3 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 72
References ........................................................................................................................... 75
Appendices .......................................................................................................................... 79
Appendix A: Results........................................................................................................... 81
A.1. Book Summaries ...................................................................................................... 81
Appendix B: Data Synthesis .............................................................................................. 91
Appendix C: Data Extraction .......................................................................................... 117
C.1 Data Extraction Form .............................................................................................. 117
C.2 Author Data Extraction Form ................................................................................. 121
Appendix D: Selection ...................................................................................................... 123
D.1 Selection Execution ................................................................................................ 123
D.2 Selected Books........................................................................................................ 124
D.3 Excluded Books ...................................................................................................... 127
D.3.1 About Organizational Productivity .............................................................. 127
D.3.2 About Managing Others & Leadership ........................................................ 132
D.3.3 Industry Specific .......................................................................................... 136
D.3.4 Not on Amazon Salesrank (is Zero) ............................................................ 139
D.3.5 About Life Fulfillment ................................................................................. 141
D.3.6 Not Hardcover or Paperback ....................................................................... 143
D.3.7 About Communications or Manipulation .................................................... 144
D.3.8 Only One Book Per Author ......................................................................... 145
D.3.9 About Team Productivity ............................................................................ 146
D.3.10 Tool Specific .............................................................................................. 147
D.3.11 Too Specific Target Group ........................................................................ 147
D.3.12 Job Hunting ............................................................................................... 148
D.3.13 Religion Specific ....................................................................................... 148
D.3.14 Summery Book .......................................................................................... 148
Appendix E: Search ......................................................................................................... 149
E.1 Book Category Exclusion........................................................................................ 149
E.1.2 Included Book Categories ............................................................................ 150
E.1.3 Excluded Book Categories ........................................................................... 150
E.2 Book Search Execution ........................................................................................... 153
E.2.1 Search Results .............................................................................................. 153
E.3 ReviewSearchHelper, Setup and Running .............................................................. 154
viii
