2nd Agile Practice & Research (PR) WorkshopXP 2026

Since the introduction of agile methods in the 1990s, practitioners and researchers have shaped and adapted agile practices to meet the demands of rapidly changing markets. Today, agile methods are applied globally across industries, company sizes, and cultural contexts, and are increasingly challenged by disruptive forces such as remote work and AI integration. Despite this success, a clear gap between research and practice remains. Our first Agile PR Workshop at XP2025 identified three critical dimensions of this gap: the time-gap, where research lags behind the speed of practice, and the theory-gap, where research often lacks generalizable frameworks to strengthen empirical insights. Also, we identified a transfer-gap, where valuable insights and findings fail to reach practitioners in an accessible, applicable, and sustainable form. The second iteration of the workshop continues this exploration, offering a platform for researchers and practitioners to engage in structured discussions, share empirical findings, and reflect on industry experiences. The goal is to collaboratively develop a research roadmap that bridges the theory–practice divide, while inspiring new collaborations and joint projects. Participants will contribute to shaping future research directions, ensuring that academic work provides timely, actionable, and theoretically grounded insights for agile practice. Ultimately, this workshop aims to strengthen the community of researchers and practitioners dedicated to advancing agile software development together.

Call for Submissions

2nd International Agile Practice & Research (PR) Workshop Call and Topics of Interest

The Agile PR Workshop invites contributions in the form of research papers and short presentations from both researchers and practitioners. Building on the insights of our first workshop iteration at XP2025, we continue to explore how academia and industry can collaborate more closely to address the persistent gaps between research and practice in Agile Software Development.

Three core themes guide this workshop:

• The Theory-Gap: How can research provide stronger theoretical foundations that are relevant and useful for practice?

• The Time-Gap: How can research and practice align their tempos to generate timely and impactful outcomes?

• The Transfer-Gap: How might we bridge the transfer gap between research and practice in order to make academic insights more accessible and applicable for practitioners?

The workshop is designed as a highly interactive space that combines presentations, moderated discussions, and collaborative group work.

Within this scope, contributions may address (but are not limited to):

• Bridging the theory–practice gap in Agile research

• Accelerating research dissemination (preprints, rapid reporting, new publishing formats)

• Collaborative research models (Mode 2 research) and co-production of knowledge between practitioners and researchers

• Case studies and empirical insights on industry-academia collaboration in Agile contexts

• Up-to-date research methods for studying Agile approaches in practices (e.g., design science, longitudinal studies, action research)

• Academic rigor (e.g., evaluation of existing studies, data collection & analysis approaches) to improve level of evidence in Agile research

• Alternative dissemination formats (videos, podcasts, blogs) and metrics for research impact

• Experiences and strategies from practitioners on working with researchers

This workshop provides a platform to share experiences, discuss challenges, and co-create a research roadmap that reflects both practical relevance and academic rigor.

---

Submission Guidelines

We invite the following types of contributions:

• Research Papers (up to 8 pages): Novel research, work-in-progress, empirical studies, or theoretical contributions.

• Short Presentations (max. 15 minutes, including discussion): Industry experiences, emerging ideas, or challenges that would benefit from academic collaboration.

All research paper submissions must adhere to the formatting and submission guidelines of Springer LNCS/LNBIP conference proceedings template (for LaTeX and Word), available here

Submit via EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=xp2026

Important Dates

Workshop paper submission deadline: January 23, 2026

Workshop paper notification to authors: February 20, 2026

Evaluation

Submissions will be initially screened on rigor and relevance, and then evaluated by program committee members based on soundness, significance, novelty, verifiability, and presentation quality.

Accepted research papers will be published in the post-conference proceedings, which will be archived by Springer (open access).

By submitting to the Agile PR Workshop, authors acknowledge that they agree to the following conditions: submitted papers must not have been published elsewhere, nor should they be under review or submitted for review at any other venue while they are being considered for the Agile PR Workshop. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact one of the Workshop organizers.

[Post-Workshop Outcomes and Publications:]

Accepted papers and a comprehensive summary of the workshop’s outcomes, including the collaboratively developed research roadmap, will be published in the XP2026 post-conference proceedings (tentatively released in Fall 2026).

While short presentations will not appear in the proceedings, their key insights will be captured in the official workshop summary.

——————————————

Workshop Organizers:

Eva-Maria Schön, University of Applied Sciences Emden/Leer, Germany
Karen Eilers, BSP Business and Law School (Hamburg), Germany
Maria Rauschenberger, University of Applied Sciences Emden/Leer, Germany
Mali Senapathi, AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand
Michael Neumann, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hannover, Germany
Tiago Silva da Silva, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil