‘Lots done, more to do’: the current state of agile systems development research

Abrahamsson, Pekka; Conboy, Kieran; Wang, Xiaofeng

doi:10.1057/ejis.2009.27

Cited by 188 publications

(155 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…In a systematic review in the same year, Dybå and Dingsøyr concluded that there was a need for more empirical research, and suggested that researchers should aim to understand the drivers of agile adoption as well as its effects [10]. The call for more research continued in 2009 by Abrahamson et al [11], who also identified a need for more rigour and industrial studies, as well as highlighting a lack of clarity about what was meant by agility. More recently the research landscape has changed.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

The challenges that challenge: Engaging with agile practitioners’ concerns

Gregory

Barroca

Sharp

et al. 2016

Information and Software Technology

104

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Context: There continues to be concern that research is not addressing the challenges that practice faces. For the benefit of academia and industry, researchers need to be aware of practitioners' challenges and their context so that relevant and applicable research is undertaken.Objective: This paper investigates two research questions: what challenges do agile practitioners face?and, how do practitioner challenges manifest themselves in an organisational setting? It aims to map the practitioner challenge landscape, explore challenge characteristics, compare findings with previous literature and identify implications for research that is relevant to practice.Method: A combination of methods was used: elicitation of practitioner challenges collected using a Challenge Wall at a series of practitioner events; organisational Case Study using interviews, document analysis and observation; and online Survey. Findings were then compared to previous publications. Results:Challenges collected from the Challenge Wall were grouped under 27 subthemes and seven themes: Claims and Limitations, Organisation, Sustainability, Culture, Teams, Scale, and Value.Investigating one challenge in the Case Study uncovered a set of new challenges, which were interrelated. Over 50% of survey respondents experienced challenges highlighted in the Case Study. Conclusion:The landscape of agile practitioner challenges is complex and intertwined. Some challenges, such as doing agile in a non-agile environment, are multi-dimensional, affect many aspects of practice, and may be experienced simultaneously as business, organisational, social and adaptation problems. Some challenges, such as understanding cultural change or measuring agile value, persist and are hard to address, while others, such as adoption, change focus over time. Some challenges, such as governance and contracts, are under-researched, while others, such as business and IT transformation, have been researched but findings have not had the expected impact. Researchers wishing to address practitioner challenges need to treat them in context rather than in isolation and improve knowledge transfer.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

The challenges that challenge: Engaging with agile practitioners’ concerns

Gregory

Barroca

Sharp

et al. 2016

Information and Software Technology

104

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This paper also contributes to the literature of innovation and agile development. While many of the agile methods explicitly state that facilitating innovation is a key motivation underpinning the emergence and use of agile approaches, rigorous research evaluating innovation in an agile context is lacking [1,40].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fostering and Sustaining Innovation in a Fast Growing Agile Company

Moe

Barney

Aurum

et al. 2012

Product-Focused Software Process Improvement

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Abstract. Sustaining innovation in a fast growing software development company is difficult. As organisations grow, peoples' focus often changes from the big picture of the product being developed to the specific role they fill. This paper presents two complementary approaches that were successfully used to support continued developer-driven innovation in a rapidly growing Australian agile software development company. The method "FedEx™ Day" gives developers one day to showcase a proof of concept they believe should be part of the product, while the method "20% Time" allows more ambitious projects to be undertaken. Given the right setting and management support, the two approaches can support and improve bottom-up innovation in organizations.

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“…Interest in these principles is increasing, as organizations and researchers are trying to find solutions to common project problems [7] such as scope and deadline control, code quality, communication efficiency and team cooperation, as well as well as trying to analyze the impact, effectiveness and challenges of software development [5,[8][9][10][11][12]. In fact, for companies, the use of appropriate software development methodology and its practices are one of the most critical issues in recent times [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%