Toward a conceptual framework of agile methods: a study of agility in different disciplines (original) (raw)

Towards Pertinent Characteristics of Agility and Agile Practices for Software Processes

CLEI Electronic Journal

Context: It is believed that agility in software processes can bring benefits to software development and lead to an economy of efforts when accommodating changes is needed. Objective: Assess pertinence and relevance of agility characteristics and agile practices for software processes. Method: From 18 agility characteristics and 17 agile practices applicable to software processes revealed through systematic literature reviews performed in 2010, a survey was conducted to assess their pertinence and relevance. Results: 16 agility characteristics and 15 agile practices were considered pertinent to insert agility in software processes. Conclusion: Results should be used sparingly. It would be interesting to replicate the study in other contexts, with different subjects, and compare them, to increase the generalization of their results.

Definitions of Agile Software Development and Agility

Communications in Computer and Information Science, 2013

The Agile Manifesto and Agile Principles are typically referred to as the definitions of "agile" and "agility". However, many other definitions exist in the literature. Thus the different definitions provide interesting source for research. For each definition we examine where their emphasis is and compare that to the emphases found in the Agile Principles.

Toward agile: An integrated analysis of quantitative and qualitative field data on software development agility

2010

Abstract As business and technology environments change at an unprecedented rate, software development agility to respond to changing user requirements has become increasingly critical for software development performance. Agile software development approaches, which emphasize sense-and-respond, self-organization, cross-functional teams, and continuous adaptation, have been adopted by an increasing number of organizations to improve their software development agility.

Agile versus Agility: A Multi-Theory Perspective

Agile development principles have been shown to work only for small-sized software projects. When software projects, especially those that have a distributed element, are scaled up, agile manifesto-based principles may not lead to agility in development. Further, agile manifesto-based principles do not seem to have strong theoretical support in general. This paper distinguishes "agility principles" from "agile principles" and attempts to provide best practice recommendations that are based on theories popular in Information Systems, and reference-discipline fields.

AGILE:Boon for Today's Software Industry-A Review

IJSRP, 2013

Agile software development or agility is a sound concept of today's scenario which comprises the methods like scrum, Kanban, pair programming, extreme programming etc...Agile methods work with collaboration, competence, predictive planning and achievement and so that they let a project to be completed in its optimum state i.e. within time and cost and with producing best results. Agile methods are not bound to apply only in field of software development but they can be used in each and every field for getting best results in least efforts. This paper is an attempt to provide a study on agile methods as well as the chances to use them in other fields of engineering.

An Investigation into Increased Agility by Balancing Agile and Traditional Process Approaches

The agile software development (ASD) has come with a biased approach against to its traditional counterparts because of expunging it by overriding to create a reasonable ground for its own benefit. This approach has created a comfort zone at its extreme edge and associated weakness for the agility in software development even though the absolute agility is a right for beyond such a zone. Thus, this study suggests balancing and normalizing the ASD with traditional approaches for a broader, sustainable and less context-based agility. We begin by identifying the topics the ASD should improve with the contribution of traditional approaches. Each corresponding topic is then elaborated with suggestions based on the strengths of the traditional approaches to reach a middle ground to combine the advantages of the both and fix the shortfalls of the agile development.

Agile Methods: Fact or Fiction

Modern businesses and software developers are continually looking for better, more costeffective ways to develop software. Compared to 40 years ago we have much cheaper/faster computers, more powerful programming languages, better education, and better understanding of the theory of software development. We also have a number of different software processes/methodologies that are believed to be the "best" way to develop software. This paper will explore the Agile software movement and attempt to demonstrate how it can address the need for a flexible mode of developing software allowing teams to create higher quality code while meeting the exceeding demands of our customers.

Agile Software Development in Practice

Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, 2014

Agile software development methods have been around since the mid 1990s. Over these years, teams have evolved the specific software development practices used. Aims: The goal of this paper is to provide a view of the agile practices used by new teams, and the relationship between the practices used, project outcomes, and the agile principles. Method: This paper provides a summary and analysis of 2,229 Comparative Agility TM (CA) assessment surveys completed between March 2011 and October 2012 by agile developers who knew about the survey. The CA tool assesses a team's agility and project outcomes using a 65-statement Likert survey. Results: The agile principle of respect for individuals occurs the most frequently, while simplicity occurs least. Progress/Planning is correlated strongly to nine principles. Conclusion: Subject to sampling issues, successful teams report more positive results for agile practices with the most important practice being teams knowing their velocity.

Toward Agile: An Integrated Analysis of Quantitative and Qualitative Field Data

Management Information Systems Quarterly, 2010

As business and technology environments change at an unprecedented rate, software development agility to respond to changing user requirements has become increasingly critical for software development performance. Agile software development approaches, which emphasize sense-and-respond, self-organization, cross-functional teams, and continuous adaptation, have been adopted by an increasing number of organizations to improve their software development agility. However, the agile development literature is largely anec-Lee & Xia/Software Development Agility omy, diversity, agility, and performance. The qualitative analysis also provides explanations for both supported and unsupported hypotheses. We discuss these qualitative analysis results and conclude with the theoretical and practical implications of our research findings for agile development approaches.