Overview and Guidance on Agile Development in Large Organizations

Abstract

A continual debate surrounds the effectiveness of agile software development practices. Some organizations adopt agile practices to become more competitive, improve processes, and reduce costs. Other organizations are skeptical about whether agile development is beneficial. Large organizations face an additional challenge in integrating agile practices with existing standards and business processes. To examine the effects of agile development practices in large organizations, we review and integrate scientific literature and theory on agile software development. We further organize our theory and observations into a framework with guidelines for large organizations considering agile methodologies. Based on this framework, we present recommendations that suggest ways large organizations with established processes can successfully implement agile practices. Our analysis of the literature and theory provides new insight for researchers of agile software development and assists practitioners in determining how to adopt agile development in their organizations.

Exploring software development at the very large-scale: a revelatory case study and research agenda for agile method adaptation

“…We define large-scale agile development as agile development efforts that involve a large number of actors, a large number of systems and interdependencies (Rolland et al 2016), which have Bmore than two teams^and very large-scale as "agile development efforts with more than ten teams" , These definitions exclude agile methods applied in large organizations (Barlow et al 2011) from Blarge-scale agile^, which we consider to be a research direction on its own. Many refer to this as Benterprise agile^ (Bass 2015;Fitzgerald and Stol 2017).…”

An Empirical Examination of an Agile Contingent Project/Method Fit Model

“…Researchers have made several recommendation to help practitioners choose which agile methods to use for their projects (Barlow et al, 2011;Batra et al, 2010;Boehm & Turner, 2005, 2003Cao et al, 2004;Cockburn, 2002). However, evidence supporting these recommendations is largely anecdotal, qualitative, and/or case based (noted exceptions include Chow & Cao, 2008;Lee & Xia, 2010;Maruping et al, 2009).…”

“…Researchers have suggested but not widely investigated the notion that organizations should use different SDMs for different project contexts (Barlow et al, 2011;Boehm & Turner, 2003;Ratbe, King, & YoungGul, 1999). Austin and Devin (2009) support a contingent perspective of agile SDM use and call on researchers to develop a "robust contingency framework for deciding when (in what conditions) planbased and agile methods should be used" (p. 462).…”

Integrating Testing into Agile Software Development Processes

“…Agile methodologies build upon the values expressed in the Agile Manifesto (Cunningham, 2001) and aim to achieve close customer collaboration, to deliver business value as soon as possible in an incremental manner, and to respond to changing customer requirements (Barlow et al, 2011;Cockburn, 2003). The methodologies captured under the umbrella term "Agile methodologies" are not new concepts per se, but the combination of existing best practices with new techniques and a new mindset make them a refreshing and stable approach towards software development.…”

“…The methodologies captured under the umbrella term "Agile methodologies" are not new concepts per se, but the combination of existing best practices with new techniques and a new mindset make them a refreshing and stable approach towards software development. Although the benefits of Agile methodologies seem to be appealing, misinterpretations of the Agile manifesto and/or inappropriate project contexts can hinder teams in achieving their goals (Barlow et al, 2011). Furthermore, various researchers have recognized that there is no "one size fits all" (Barlow et al, 2011;Boehm and Turner, 2003a;Lindvall et al, 2004) methodology for software development, and organizations should assess both a project's context and the organizational context when selecting a suitable development approach (Boehm and Turner, 2003b).…”