Acrobats and Safety-Nets: Problematizing Large-Scale Agile Software Development
Agile development methods have become a standard in the software industry, including in large-scale projects. These methods share a set of underlying assumptions that distinguish them from more traditional plan-driven approaches. In this article, we adopt Alvesson and Sandberg’s problematization approach to challenge three key assumptions that are prevalent in the large-scale agile literature: (1) agile and plan-driven methods are mutually exclusive; (2) self-managing and hierarchically organized teams are mutually exclusive; and (3) agile methods can scale through simple linear composition. Using a longitudinal case study of large-scale agile development, we describe a series of trigger events and episodes whereby the agile approach was tailored to address the needs of the large-scale development context, which was very much at odds with these fundamental assumptions. We develop a set of new underlying assumptions which suggest that agile and plan-driven practices are mutually enabling and necessary for coordination and scaling in large-scale agile projects. We develop nine propositions for large-scale agile projects based on these new alternative underlying assumptions. Finally, we summarize our theoretical contribution in a generic process model of continuously adjusting agile and plan-driven practices in order to accommodate process challenges in large-scale agile projects.
Thu 18 AprDisplayed time zone: Lisbon change
14:00 - 15:30 | Analytics 3Research Track / Journal-first Papers / Demonstrations at Maria Helena Vieira da Silva Chair(s): Sridhar Chimalakonda Indian Institute of Technology, Tirupati | ||
14:00 15mTalk | Less is More? An Empirical Study on Configuration Issues in Python PyPI Ecosystem Research Track Yun Peng The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Ruida Hu Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Ruoke Wang Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Cuiyun Gao Harbin Institute of Technology, Shuqing Li The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Michael Lyu The Chinese University of Hong Kong | ||
14:15 15mTalk | Data-Driven Evidence-Based Syntactic Sugar Design Research Track David OBrien Iowa State University, Robert Dyer University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Tien N. Nguyen University of Texas at Dallas, Hridesh Rajan Iowa State University | ||
14:30 15mTalk | Revisiting Android App Categorization Research Track Marco Alecci University of Luxembourg, Jordan Samhi CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, Tegawendé F. Bissyandé University of Luxembourg, Jacques Klein University of Luxembourg | ||
14:45 15mTalk | Are Your Requests Your True Needs? Checking Excessive Data Collection in VPA App Research Track Fuman Xie University of Queensland, Chuan Yan University of Queensland, Mark Huasong Meng National University of Singapore, Shaoming Teng The University of Queensland, Yanjun Zhang Deakin University, Guangdong Bai University of Queensland | ||
15:00 7mTalk | Acrobats and Safety-Nets: Problematizing Large-Scale Agile Software Development Journal-first Papers Knut Rolland University of Oslo, Brian Fitzgerald Lero - The Irish Software Research Centre and University of Limerick, Torgeir Dingsøyr Norwegian University of Science and Technology and SimulaMet, Klaas-Jan Stol Lero; University College Cork; SINTEF Digital Link to publication DOI | ||
15:07 7mTalk | Program Transformation Landscapes for Automated Program Modification Using Gin: Extended Abstract Journal-first Papers Justyna Petke University College London, Brad Alexander University of Adelaide, Earl T. Barr University College London, Alexander E.I. Brownlee University of Stirling, Markus Wagner Monash University, Australia, David R. White University of Sheffield | ||
15:14 7mTalk | Boidae: Your Personal Mining Platform Demonstrations Brian Sigurdson Bowling Green State University, Samuel W. Flint University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Robert Dyer University of Nebraska-Lincoln Pre-print Media Attached | ||
15:21 7mTalk | Code Mapper: Mapping the Global Contributions of OSS Demonstrations Thomas Le Tourneau CY Tech, Jasmine Latendresse Concordia University, Ahmad Abdellatif University of Calgary, Emad Shihab Concordia University | ||