Agility in context

Abstract

Evangelists for Agile methods strongly encourage all projects to follow every practice of their chosen method. Based on a Grounded Theory study involving 40 participants at 16 organizations, and corroborated by 4 independent case studies, we argue that development methods and practices must be adapted to fit their contexts. Understanding Agility in context will help development teams, their managers, and Agile coaches to adapt development processes to fit their projects' contexts.

Risk management analysis in Scrum software projects

“…The standard respondent agreed with this practice and claimed that Scrum processes must be adapted according to the needs of each project. This opinion agrees with Hoda et al (2010) who defend that agile methodologies must be used considering the project context for adapting the processes. On the other hand, respondents, in general, believe that a high formal planning level should not be implemented by Scrum, because it impacts agility and does not respect The Agile Manifesto (2016) principles.…”

“…The respondents, in general, did not agree with this practice, justifying that Scrum processes must be agile, even in highrisk projects, and a high-level formal planning impacts agility negatively. This opinion is different than that found in the literature, for example, Hoda et al (2010) defend that agile methodologies must be used considering the project context for adapting the processes.…”

Software Development and CSCW

“…They note that studies need to be based on empirical data rather than argument alone to progress, with challenges being overcome through theories built and tested within industry [19,20]. We expand on the existing body of empirical work carried out in software engineering contexts [47,48,49,50,51,52,54] through our case study presented in this paper, demonstrating how specific tensions arise when attempting to balance flexibility and standardization in a large-scale agile environment.…”

“…In some instances, the adaption methods can lead to processes going against core agile beliefs. Hoda et al [51] describe how extensive documentation is necessary for project communication between teams and customers, and cannot be avoided as encouraged by the Agile Manifesto [51]. For example, software used for airline cockpits requires extensive documentation for certification processes [51].…”

“…This is where an organization may come across tensions between standardizing practices and allowing flexibility of processes in and between agile teams. Hoda et al [51] discuss the benefits of adapting agile methods to suit different projects and contrast this with the view that agile should be done 'by-the-book'. They note that the 'but Agile says…' bythe-book mindset is unhelpful in understanding the best methods to employ for a particular project.…”