Large-scale agile development has gained widespread interest in the software industry, but it is a topic with few empirical studies of practice. Development projects at scale introduce a range of new challenges in managing a large number of people and teams, often with high uncertainty about product requirements and technical solutions. The coordination of teams has been identified as one of the main challenges. This study presents a rich longitudinal explanatory case study of a very large software development programme with 10 development teams. We focus on inter-team coordination in two phases: one that applies a first-generation agile development method and another that uses a second-generation one. We identified 27 coordination mechanisms in the first phase, and 14 coordination mechanisms in the second. Based on an analysis of coordination strategies and mechanisms, we develop five propositions on how the transition from a first- to a second-generation method impacts coordination. These propositions have implications for theory and practice.
Industrial automotive development differs significantly from ideal agile conditions. Complex development structures, interlinkages between teams and non-functional physical dependencies between components result in agile constraints of scale and physicality. This qualitative study researches the influence of the product integration process on these constraints. The results show, that automotive integration characteristics such as duration, frequency, scope and transparency fail agile requirements and therefore cause constraints. Alternatives regarding IT and process design are discussed.
This study investigates the impact of the product architecture on constraints to agile automotive product development and establishes agile modularization enablers. Derived from basic agile values and principles, a model has been generated to integrate agile development requirements into product modularization. Matching the generated characteristics with published agile constraints of physicality and scale allowed a first indirect validation of the model. This analysis showed an overall constraints limiting effect and therefore proved the connection between product architecture and agile product development. Additionally, the model was conceptually transferred into an adapted modularization method to allow for both technical and organizational drivers in product architecture.
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