AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT: A SURVEY OF EARLY ADOPTERS
Leo R. Vijayasarathy, Dan Turk · 2008
In the past few years, anecdotal evidence of mostly positive experiences with the implementation of agile development methods has emerged from case studies. We used a survey strategy, which enables data gathering from a larger sample of organizations, to learn about the factors driving the adoption and use of agile practices, and their benefits and challenges as percieved by early adopters of this software development methodology. Our survey reveals that personal interest is the driving force behind agile adoption, and conversely, organizational resistance and managerial apathy are key inhibitors. The ability to meet client needs and the delivery of quality software products on time are significant benefits of agile development, while a steep learning curve and its unsuitability for projects characterized by distributed environments and large development teams are identified as minor concerns. This article reports these and other findings accompanied by relevant interpretive analysis.