Agile practices in practice

Abstract

Background: Agile software development has been increasingly adopted during the last two decades. Nonetheless, many studies show that using agile methods as defined in the literature does not work very well. Thus, companies adapt these methods by just using parts of them (called agile practices). Objective: The goal of the literature study was to understand which agile practices are used in industry under different circumstances, such as different project types, domains, or processes. Method: We conducted a mapping study of empirical studies using agile practices in industry. The search strategy identified 1110 studies, of which 24 studies including 68 projects were analyzed. Results: The results of this study show that there are practices that are used more often and that the domain and the process also influence the application of different practices. Additionally, the findings confirm the assumption of Ken Schwaber that in most cases, agile methods are not used "completely" but that rather certain practices are adopted. Conclusions: Our results can be used by researchers to get a better idea of where and how to follow up research as well as by practitioners to get a better idea of which practices fit their needs and which are used by others. Therefore, our contribution increases the body of knowledge in agile practices usage.

Trading Discipline for Agility? Questioning the Unfaithful Appropriation of Agile Software Development Practices

“…Similar findings occurred in a recent case study of a software startup organization that had faithfully adopted some XP techniques while blending others with traditional approaches (see Table 1) [14]. Overall, evidence from the field suggests that most organizations are using a more blended approach [15] [16], as agile methods are often integrated with some upfront design and formal methods often involve some form of iteration [17]. Without doubt, the promises of faster time to market, better management of changing priorities and better alignment of IT/business objectives will ensure that agile approaches continue to grow in popularity amongst software development organizations [10].…”

“…We began by presenting evidence from extant research that organizations may not be faithfully appropriating agile practices in practice [16]. Then, structured methodology was compared to agile methodology in efforts to understand what kinds of practices constituted discipline and what kinds of practices consituted agility.…”

An Empirical Investigation on Effort Estimation in Agile Global Software Development

“…However, it is important to highlight that the fact that "Scrum" was the most frequent answer is not surprising, since there is evidence that such method is the most employed in the software industry [17], [25], [26] SQ7 asked for the sourcing strategies employed by the respondents' companies. Results show that "insourcing" was the most frequent answer (47%), followed by "both" (35%) and "outsourced" (18%).…”

Scrum with the Spices of Agile Family: A Systematic Mapping

“…Scrum [8], Testdriven development (TDD) [9], Feature Driven Development (FDD) [10], Extreme Programming (XP) [11], Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM) [12] and Crystal methods are all Agile family. By delivering quality product, improving customer satisfaction, and accelerating development process, Agile methodologies fulfil the practitioners' needs [4] [5].…”

“…Diebold and Dahlem [26] investigated different agile practices popular in software industry under different domains and context. Ashraf and Aftab [27] explored how Scrum framework has been tailored and transformed by adopting and adapting different agile practices.…”