Mina Ziaei Nafchi

OBSTACLES IN MOVING TO AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT METHODS; AT A GLANCE

It is only less than a decade that agile SD methods were introduced and got popular steadily. The defined values in these methods and their outcomes have motivated many software producers to use these methods. Since migration from traditional sof tware development methods to agile methods is growing highly, managers of the companies should be aware of problems, hindrances and challenges they may face with during the agile transformation process. This study focused on challenges which companies may face with and it is necessary that ma nagers think about solving them. Classifying them into four main categories; organization and management, people, process and tools are the areas that challenges have been seen in recent studies.

An empirically-developed framework for Agile transition and adoption

We show how a large-scale empirical study using Grounded Theory has been used to study Agile transition and adoption process.An empirically-developed transition framework to facilitate Agile transformation is proposed.We describe the key structural characteristics and activities of the transition framework.We report how the inductively developed framework can be a good replacement for the previous one.We report empirical evaluation of the findings and theoretical and practical implications of them. To date, few Agile transition and adoption frameworks have been proposed in the software industry. However, using them is not easy in practice and primarily requires a huge organizational overhead because of their complex and non-flexible structure. These drawbacks make such frameworks difficult to apply in small and medium-sized companies. We have conducted a large-scale empirical research study using Grounded Theory approach with the participation of 49 Agile experts from 13 different countries. This study inductively developed a substantive Agile transition and adoption framework which appears to be simple and flexible. The main aim of this paper is to present the developed framework. The primary characteristics of this framework, including iterative, gradual, continuous, and value-based are in line with the Agile approach and show promise of being useful in software companies and organizations, regardless of size. This paper also describes how various steps of this framework could help software companies to achieve Agile transformation.

Agile transition and adoption human-related challenges and issues

Agile methods in software development have been introduced to cope with the inherent problems of the traditional methods. The increasing prevalence of using these methods reflects their important role in the future of software development. However, leaving traditional approach and adapting to Agile approach has been a central attention of the researchers. Indeed, Agile transition needs enough time and effort and most often is subject to several challenges and barriers, mainly because of its people-centric nature. Human-related challenges in several studies have been reported as the major transition challenges. However, exploring the primary origins and reasons of these challenges has received less effort in a large-scale research study. A Grounded Theory in context of Agile software development has been conducted involving 49 Agile practitioners across the 13 different countries. This study identified different aspects of human-related challenges throughout Agile transition process. The results of this study show that the root of the emerged issues is the peoples perceptions about Agile transition. The main purpose of this paper is to describe the origins and reasons of these challenges and issues in order to help software companies and development teams. Considering the findings may help them to facilitate Agile transition process with less cost, time and effort and to get better results by considering these potential challenges. We conducted a large-scale empirical study to study Agile Transition Process (ATP).Grounded Theory (GT) has been employed as the best choice of research methodology.Theory of ATP and its various aspects including its challenges have been emerged.Data analysis led to emerge two main groups of ATP challenges and issues.The results also revealed the origin and roots of the challenges and issues.