A Framework for Reducing Impediments in Agile Projects

Abstract

Agile methodologies are at present widely used in industry. Many agile software development metrics are irrelevant to practitioners since they are dependent on the scope or content [Fenton and Neil, 2000]. Currently estimation is done by the team for each of the prioritized features [1] in order to commit to the number of features that can be implemented in each sprint. Each sprint is time-boxed; meaning the time to deliver is fixed. Risk in agile development is failing to deliver planned features in each sprint. There could be many reasons for not being able to deliver. Two of the reasons are discussed in this paper; one being incorrect time estimation and the other reason could be technical impediments. Actually the time taken to complete the task (feature implementation) depends on the proficiency of the development team and there has been no publication on estimation based on how and when to measure this. This is one of the gaps the research paper is trying to address. The scrum master assists the team in removing the impediments that obstructs the progress. In other words scrum master helps in facilitating productivity [2]. Hence, preparedness to resolve impediments as and when it arises is essential. This second risk is addressed by using semantic agents which is discussed in this paper.