Scaling Agile Research Articles

Prioritizing challenges of agile process in distributed software development environment using analytic hierarchy process

AbstractSoftware organizations are increasingly combining agile methodologies and distributed software development (DSD) for efficiently and effectively built software products. There are numerous challenges associated with scaling agile methods in a distributed environment. Our study is intended to explore and prioritize the challenges for scaling agile practices in the DSD environment. This study was divided into 3 stages. In the first stage, 22 challenges were identified from literature review and grouped into 4 categories: management, team, technology, and process based on discussion with experts. In the second stage, an online questionnaire study was conducted to validate the identified challenges. Finally, analytic hierarchy process method was used to prioritize challenges and their categories based on their relative importance. The results highlighted that management is a most significant category as compared with the other categories. Similarly, lack of management commitments, lack of effective communication, lack of knowledge sharing, etc are identified as the most significant challenges that need to be focused by the organizations for scaling agile methodologies. On the basis of the research findings, we could conclude that the identified challenges along with their categories provide a robust framework to scale agile methodologies in the DSD environment.

Application of Methodology Evaluation System on Current IS Development Methodologies

This article focuses on IS development methodologies, especially on new agile scaling frameworks. A significant need for large-scale agile is presented together with the evidence of its usage in companies. The aim of this article is to examine selected agile scaling methodologies and frameworks, and compare them to each other and with other IS development methodologies. To do so, the Methodology Evaluation System METES is utilized for the assessment and comparison. Assessed IS development methodologies can be then used by companies for the selection of the appropriate methodology. Furthermore, presenting the results of the assessment especially in the graphical form supports better understanding of these methodologies.

Scaling agile in large organizations: Practices, challenges, and success factors

AbstractContext: Agile software development has nowadays reached wide adoption. However, moving agile to large‐scale contexts is a complex task with many challenges involved. Objective: In this paper, we review practices, challenges, and success factors for scaling agile both from literature and within a large software company, identifying the most critical factors. Method: We conduct a focused literature review to map the importance of scaling practices, challenges, and success factors. The outcome of this focused literature review is used to guide action research within a software company with a view to scaling agile processes. Results: Company culture, prior agile and lean experience, management support, and value unification were found to be key success factors during the action research process. Resistance to change, an overly aggressive roll‐out time frame, quality assurance concerns, and integration into preexisting nonagile business processes were found to be the critical challenges in the scaling process. Conclusion: The action research process allowed to cross‐fertilize ideas from literature to the company's context. Scaling agile within an organization does not need to follow a specific scheme, rather the process can be tailored to the needs while keeping the core values and principles of agile methodologies.

English

Nexus maturity model, which is created as a structured gradual guideline for the companies wishing to adopt Nexus framework, is a new model, so the main purpose of this paper is to assess the model. Moreover, to explore pros and cons of the model to enlighten the researchers and implementers in the industry is aimed. Two case studies were conducted to collect data and to test three hypotheses. The second case study was executed 4 months later than the first case study which was completed with the same Nexus team members at the same company. During the case studies, structured interview technique was used via face-to-face meetings. Firstly, the results of the case studies show that this model can be applied easily by using the metrics to measure the success percentages of Nexus practices. Secondly, the practices with the low achievement percentage can be determined, the improvement strategies can be defined by means of the goals, objectives, practices of the model and investigation of the reasons as well. Lastly, with application of the improvement strategies, Nexus adoption success can be improved for higher levels by tracking Nexus maturity model elements. This paper presents the first application of Nexus maturity model in the industry, and also the first study to assess the model with its pros and cons in the literature.   Key words: Nexus framework, maturity model, agility, scaling agile, Nexus maturity model, application of Nexus, scaled agile. &nbsp

Defining Scaling Strategies for the Improvement of Agility Performance in Product Development Projects

Increasingly uncertain market requirements and faster-paced innovation cycles have led to a paradigm shift towards Agile product development, which are based on the Agile Manifesto. Although initially developed for small-sized software development, recent studies focus on scaling Agile Project Management (APM) practices for larger projects and complex, physical product architectures.However, existing research lacks impact assessments of scaling decisions on the uncertainty reduction efficiency of a project, summarized as Agility Performance (AP). This paper presents a framework to strategically scale Agile practices based on targeted project outcomes. Using the product architecture and organizational structures as input parameters, the initial degree of project uncertainty is evaluated. Next, a set of scalable Agile project design parameters is derived. Individual scaling operations are then correlated with AP to assess the chosen scaling strategy’s combined effects on project cost, quality and schedule. The framework therefore equips project managers with a decision support tool for strategic project design optimization efforts.

Scaling Agile

Scaling agile allows tailoring and blending agile and lean practices to address actual industry needs for critical systems. This article explores the state of the practice with frameworks such as the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe).

The Agile Transition in Software Development Companies: The Most Common Barriers and How to Overcome Them

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the most common barriers facing the greater adoption of Agile approaches to project management, and ways to overcome these barriers during an Agile transition. First, based on a literature review, this paper describes the Agile approaches and practices in general. The review also covers the previous work around the adoption of Agile, which provides considerable information about the challenges of doing so. This includes some prerequisites, key decisions, transitional frameworks, and recommendations to overcome organisational, cultural, and structural barriers. Next, this paper reports on a recently conducted Agile project management survey. Using this method, this research project gathered information about the important issues that software development companies have to overcome in order to be successful in an Agile transition. The survey was given to Scrum masters, project managers, chief executive officers, and IT professionals, who have participated in companies that have migrated from a traditional methodology to an Agile methodology. Several barriers were highlighted: general organisational resistance to change, lack of user/customer availability, pre-existing rigid framework, not enough personnel with Agile experience, concerns about loss of management control, concerns about lack of upfront planning, insufficient management support, concerns about the ability to scale Agile, need for development team support, and the perceived time and cost to make the transition. Finally, the paper offers concise recommendations to overcome each of the barriers as well as ideas for future research.

A study on the development of the learning agility scale

A study on the development of the learning agility scale

Standard Bank: The Agile Transformation

South Africa’s largest bank has recently completed a transformation from traditional systems development to the scaled agile framework. The individual leading the transformation is now considering how to keep the momentum going and possible new directions. Josef Langerman, Head of IT Transformation for Standard Bank, reflected on the extraordinary transformation that his organization’s IT group had recently experienced. Over the past three years, Standard Bank’s IT group had changed from the relatively well accepted systems development lifecycle/waterfall model to a revolutionary large scale agile approach. The results had been gratifying. But it left a question unanswered. Now that things were starting to stabilize, what should be the next steps? The 154-year-old Standard Bank was the largest banking group in Africa, and the 5th largest company headquartered in South Africa. The bank offered a range of corporate, business and personal banking as well as financial services. Its 49,000 employees served over 15 million customers, in 20 countries across the continent of Africa, as well as other countries scattered around the globe. Standard Bank’s IT group, located within the company’s Johannesburg headquarters, had over 6000 employees. The group managed the bank’s technology infrastructure–including a network of nearly 10,000 ATMs, its applications development, testing, deployment, maintenance and operations. By 2014, the bank recognized that its IT performance was lagging industry benchmarks in productivity, turnaround time and employee satisfaction. Employing a “do it in-house” philosophy, it embarked on a major transformation. Abandoning traditional highly structured approaches to project management and development, it had adopted an agile philosophy that was most commonly seen in much smaller organizations and technology startups. The results had been impressive–productivity, cycle time and organizational health indicators had all risen dramatically. The group had also achieved substantial reductions in its budget. Even skeptics within the organization could not fail to be impressed. Now, however, Langerman wondered about the future. He had been cautioned by his group’s HR Culture Transformation Guide that rapid improvement could easily be followed by disillusionment. What could be done to keep the momentum going forward? Should the bank double down on the types of changes to culture, practice and training that had led to its success, or was it time to let things settle? And who should be guiding the change? Should the implementation continue entirely in-house, or should outside consultants–that were working in other areas of the bank–play a significant role? In the near future, he would need to present his recommendations to the group’s CIO.

Standard Bank: The Agile Transformation

Josef Langerman, Head of IT Transformation for Standard Bank, reflected on the extraordinary transformation that his organization’s IT group had recently experienced. Over the past three years, Standard Bank’s IT group had changed from the relatively well accepted systems development lifecycle/waterfall model to a revolutionary large scale agile approach. The results had been gratifying. But it left a question unanswered. Now that things were starting to stabilize, what should be the next steps? The 154-year-old Standard Bank was the largest banking group in Africa, and the 5th largest company headquartered in South Africa. The bank offered a range of corporate, business and personal banking as well as financial services. Its 49,000 employees served over 15 million customers, in 20 countries across the continent of Africa, as well as other countries scattered around the globe. Standard Bank’s IT group, located within the company’s Johannesburg headquarters, had over 6000 employees. The group managed the bank’s technology infrastructure–including a network of nearly 10,000 ATMs, its applications development, testing, deployment, maintenance and operations. By 2014, the bank recognized that its IT performance was lagging industry benchmarks in productivity, turnaround time and employee satisfaction. Employing a “do it in-house” philosophy, it embarked on a major transformation. Abandoning traditional highly structured approaches to project management and development, it had adopted an agile philosophy that was most commonly seen in much smaller organizations and technology startups. The results had been impressive–productivity, cycle time and organizational health indicators had all risen dramatically. The group had also achieved substantial reductions in its budget. Even skeptics within the organization could not fail to be impressed. Now, however, Langerman wondered about the future. He had been cautioned by his group’s HR Culture Transformation Guide that rapid improvement could easily be followed by disillusionment. What could be done to keep the momentum going forward? Should the bank double down on the types of changes to culture, practice and training that had led to its success, or was it time to let things settle? And who should be guiding the change? Should the implementation continue entirely in-house, or should outside consultants–that were working in other areas of the bank–play a significant role? In the near future, he would need to present his recommendations to the group’s CIO.

A Review of Scaling Agile Methods in Large Software Development

Agile methods such as Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM), Extreme Programming (XP), SCRUM, Agile Modeling (AM) and Crystal Clear enable small teams to execute assigned task at their best. However, larger organizations aim at incorporating more Agile methods owing to the fact that its application is prevalently tailored for small teams. The scope in which large firms are interested will extend the original Agile methods to include larger teams, coordination, communication among teams and customers as well as oversight. Determining particular software method is always challenging for software companies especially when considering start-up, small to medium or large enterprises. Most of large organizations develop large-scale projects by teams of teams or teams of teams of teams. Therefore, most recognized Agile methods or first-generation methods such as XP and SCRUM need to be modified before they are employed in large organizations; which is not an easy task. Accomplishing said task would necessitate large organizations to pick and select from the scaling Agile methods in accommodating a single vision for large and multiple teams. Deciding the right choice requires wholesome understanding of the method including its strengths and weaknesses as well as when and how it makes sense. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to review the existing literature of the utilized scaling Agile methods by defining, discussing and comparing them. In-depth reviews on the literature were performed to juxtapose the methods in impartial manner. In addition, the content analysis was used to analyse the resultant data. The result indicated that the DAD, LeSS, LeSS huge, SAFe, Spotify, Nexus and RAGE are the adopted scaling Agile methods at large organizations. They seem to be similar but there are discrepancies among them that take the form of team size, training and certification, methods and practices adopted, technical practices required and organizational type.

Large Scale Agile Adoption Model from Management Perspective

field of software engineering is growing rapidly due to increased change of customers' requirements and progress in technologies. Agile software development (ASD) have substituted the conventional Software development methodologies to enhance the software productivity through short increments and increased user satisfaction. The purpose of this research is to pinpoint the factors (success factors and risk factors) in adopting agile methods for large scale software development team from management perspective. We have adopted systematic literature review (SLR) as a research methodology for the identification of these factors. The expected outcomes of this research will provide input to our proposed model Large Scale Agile Adoption Model (LSAAM) from management perspective. The LSAAM intends to assist the agile experts in managing large team for software development. Keywordssoftware development, success factors, large development team, Systematic literature review.

Industrial Scale Agile - from Craft to Engineering

There are many, many ways to illustrate how fragile IT investments can be. You just have to look at the way that, even after huge investments in education and coaching, many organizations are struggling to broaden their agile adoption to the whole of their organization - or at the way other organizations are struggling to maintain the momentum of their agile adoptions as their teams change and their systems mature.

The Relation of Information Security Management System Efficiency with Organizational Agility Case Study: Isfahan Mobarakeh Steel Company

This study was aimed to investigate the relationship between the system of information security management and organization agility in Mobarakeh Steel Company of Isfahan. The descriptive-correlational research method was used and the documentary method also was used to formulate the theoretical framework of the research. The statistical population included those expert, employees of Mobarakeh Steel Company who dealt with information systems in performing their work processes. The number of the aforementioned employees was reported to be 2150 in 2014. In this research, the Standard Organizational Agility Scale by Zhang and Sharifi and the substantive questionnaire of the system of information security management were employed. The obtained data was analyzed using statistical methods named correlation coefficient and one-way variance analysis. The results revealed that there is a positive significant relationship between the efficiency of the system of information security management and organizational agility at p=0.029 (p 0.05) significance level. The variance analysis showed no significant difference in the sample population’s perception of the relationship between the system of information security management and organizational agility in terms of variables including job position, years of service, and place of service. However, a significant difference was observed in terms of academic level.

7.4.2 Systems Engineering for Software Intensive Projects Using Agile Methods

Abstract“Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary approach and means to enable the realization of successful systems” as defined in the INCOSE Systems Engineering handbook. When software development teams apply agile software methodologies such as scrum, test driven development and continuous integration (collectively referred to as “Agile software development” hereafter); there are challenges in coordination with traditional systems engineering efforts. This paper, developed by the INCOSE Agile Systems Engineering Working Group, proposes methods for cross‐functional teams that include Systems and Software Engineers working on customer “pull” projects to produce software products. This paper defines a proposed Agile SE Framework that aligns with agile software development methodology, and describes the role of the Systems Engineer in this context. It presents an iterative approach to the aspects of development (requirements, design, etc.) that are relevant to systems engineering practice. This approach delivers frequent releasable products that result in the ability to absorb changes in mission requirements through collaboration between systems engineers and software engineers. The Agile SE Framework defines a way to scale agile from individual agile software teams with a few members to large projects that require a planned architecture and coordinated efforts.

The relationship between work organization and workforce agility in small manufacturing enterprises

Organizational agility requires development of an adaptable workforce that is able to deal with unexpected and dynamic changes in the business environment. However, little research has been done on the attributes and characteristics of workforce agility. Even less is known about what organization characteristics are conducive to the agile performance of employees. The main goal of this study was to explore the effect of agile strategies on work organization and employees' performance. A total of 41 managers, 82 office workers, and 52 production workers from six small manufacturing companies participated in the study. Three questionnaires, including Agility Strategy Scale, Work Organization Scale, and Workforce Agility Scale, were used for the purpose of data collection. The results support a hypothesized relationship between management strategies focused on agility development, work characteristics, and workforce agility. The results also reveal that autonomy at work is one of the most important predictors of workforce agility. A combination of job demands and job uncertainty had a significant effect on workforce agility. The study also suggests that developing strong cooperative relationships within an organization and with customers and suppliers promotes workforce agility in small manufacturing enterprises. Relevance to industryThis paper investigated organizational practices that were conducive to implementing agile management and strategies in small manufacturing enterprises. The study results can be used for optimizing work demands and conditions in the workplace environments that require constant change and adaptation.

The lean gap: A review of lean approaches to large-scale software systems development

Lean approaches to product development (LPD) have had a strong influence on many industries and in recent years there have been many proponents for lean in software development as it can support the increasing industry need of scaling agile software development. With it's roots in industrial manufacturing and, later, industrial product development, it would seem natural that LPD would adapt well to large-scale development projects of increasingly software-intensive products, such as in the automotive industry. However, it is not clear what kind of experience and results have been reported on the actual use of lean principles and practices in software development for such large-scale industrial contexts. This was the motivation for this study as the context was an ongoing industry process improvement project at Volvo Car Corporation and Volvo Truck Corporation.The objectives of this study are to identify and classify state of the art in large-scale software development influenced by LPD approaches and use this established knowledge to support industrial partners in decisions on a software process improvement (SPI) project, and to reveal research gaps and proposed extensions to LPD in relation to its well-known principles and practices.For locating relevant state of the art we conducted a systematic mapping study, and the industrial applicability and relevance of results and said extensions to LPD were further analyzed in the context of an actual, industrial case.A total of 10,230 papers were found in database searches, of which 38 papers were found relevant. Of these, only 42 percent clearly addressed large-scale development. Furthermore, a majority of papers (76 percent) were non-empirical and many lacked information about study design, context and/or limitations. Most of the identified results focused on eliminating waste and creating flow in the software development process, but there was a lack of results for other LPD principles and practices.Overall, it can be concluded that research in the much hyped field of lean software development is in its nascent state when it comes to large scale development. There is very little support available for practitioners who want to apply lean approaches for improving large-scale software development, especially when it comes to inter-departmental interactions during development. This paper explicitly maps the area, qualifies available research, and identifies gaps, as well as suggests extensions to lean principles relevant for large scale development of software intensive systems.

Uncovering Steady Advances for an Extreme Programming Course


 
 
 This paper presents an empirical study about identifying improvement actions for an eXtreme Programming course in the academic environment. This exploratory study is undertaken in two preliminary phases. These phases are part of a wider research project to develop a theory about how to continuously improve courses of similar structure and content. The first phase consists of diagnosing improvement actions from the 2010 edition of the course through a qualitative analysis of data obtained using various methods: (1) students’ responses to a questionnaire with open questions; and (2) students’ opinions expressed in a final agile retrospective with all members of the course. The second phase consists of an early application of the identified improvements in the 2011 edition of the course to gather lessons learned, and develop a definite case study design to be used continuously in the next courses offered. Amongst the results, we found that the use of initiatives to promote interactions between groups like Coding Dojo and Brainwritting helps students to effectively learn and share knowledge and experiences, a problem still unsolved when thinking of scaling agile methods. Also, this paper allows keeping track on what is occurring in the course.
 
 

Agile product line engineering—a systematic literature review

AbstractSoftware Product Line Engineering (SPLE) demands upfront long‐term investment in (i) designing a common set of core‐assets and (ii) managing variability across the products from the same family. When anticipated changes in these core‐assets have been predicted with certain accuracy, SPLE has proved significant improvements. However, when large/complex software product line projects have to deal with changing market conditions, alternatives to supplement SPLE are required. Agile Software Development (ASD) may be an alternative, as agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage. However, when the aim is to scale Agile projects up to effectively manage reusability and variability across the products from the same family, alternatives to supplement agility are also required. As a result, a new approach called Agile Product Line Engineering (APLE) advocates integrating SPLE and ASD with the aim of addressing these gaps. APLE is an emerging approach, which implies that organizations have to face several barriers to achieve its adoption. This paper presents a systematic literature review of experiences and practices on APLE, in which the key findings uncover important challenges about how to integrate the SPLE model with an agile iterative approach to fully put APLE into practice. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Supply chain agility: scale development

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop an instrument to measure supply chain agility.Design/methodology/approachThe development of this supply chain agility scale utilizes an examination of supply chain agility literature, experience surveys, and expert judges. The result is a 12‐item instrument with six dimensions.FindingsThe instrument has been rigorously tested and validated, which generates a high degree of confidence in the scale's validity and reliability.Originality/valueThis paper fulfills an identified need for the development of an empirically validated instrument to measure supply chain agility. This reliable and validated instrument enables and facilitates future studies in the supply chain agility research stream.