Methods for Development Work

Book excerpt: The purpose of this book is to give students and those already in working life new impetus to carry out various practical development projects. The extensive methodological package compiled in the book helps the reader to understand the entity of development work and the many possibilities associated with it. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the approaches, processes, and methods that can be used in development work. In addition to traditional research and development methods, the book introduces design thinking, the production of innovations and the prediction of the future, and the numerous methods associated with them. The book offers concrete tools for agile organizational renewal and perspectives on the use of virtual environments in development work. The purpose is to encourage all developers to make their own reasonable solutions. The book is suitable for all courses in which project or development work is done, and especially for courses in research and development methods and to support the completion of a thesis. It is a textbook that lasts from the beginning of studies to working life. The work is intended mainly for universities, universities of applied sciences, polytechnics and other colleges, but it is also well suited for use by companies and other organizations.