Agile development methods were believed to best suit small, co-located teams, but the success in small teams has inspired use in large and very large-scale software development. However, fundamental assumptions of agile development are challenged when applying the methods at a very large scale. An interpretative revelatory case study on one of the largest software development programmes in Norway shows how agile methods were adapted and complemented with practices from traditional methods to handle the scale. The programme ran over four years with 12 colocated development teams and a total of 175 people involved. The case study was conducted retrospectively using group interviews with 24 participants and documents. Findings on key challenging areas are reported: customer involvement, software architecture, and inter-team coordination. The revelatory study also suggests refinements of a research agenda for very large-scale agile development. Empir Software Eng (2018) 23:490-520

Abstract. Positive experience of agile development methods in smaller projects

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In 1993, Walz, Elam and Curtis [1] stated that research on "how teams actually go about" making requirement determinations and design decisions can provide valuable insights for improving the quality and productivity. Since then, more and more tasks are performed by software, and software development is increasingly undertaken by teams. This article reviews studies on factors that influence team performance for co--located teams, and make propositions on five factors based on solid scientific studies. These propositions are relevant for practitioners in software teams, project managers, managers and researchers interested in software development. We ask how these propositions compare with current advice on software development as condensed in the Agile manifesto.