A decade of agile methodologies: Towards explaining agile software development

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Abstract

Ever since the agile manifesto was created in 2001, the research community has devoted a great deal of attention to agile software development. This article examines publications and citations to illustrate how the research on agile has progressed in the 10 years following the articulation of the manifesto. Specifically, we delineate the conceptual structure underlying agile scholarship by performing an analysis of authors who have made notable contributions to the field. Further, we summarize prior research and introduce contributions in this special issue on agile software development. We conclude by discussing directions for future research and urging agile researchers to embrace a theory-based approach in their scholarship.

Keywords

Agile software development
Theory
Software engineering
Information systems
eXtreme programming, XP
Scrum
Lean software development
Crystal method
Feature-driven development

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Torgeir Dingsøyr works with software process improvement and knowledge management projects as a senior scientist at SINTEF Information and Communication Technology. In particular, he has focused on agile software development through a number of case studies, co-authoring of a systematic review of empirical studies, co-editing of the book Agile Software Development: Current Research and Future Directions, and was co-organizing chair of the 11th International Conference on Agile Software Development (XP2010) as well as co-producer of the research at work stage at Agile2011. He wrote his doctoral thesis on Knowledge Management in Medium-Sized Software Consulting Companies at the Department of Computer and Information Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, where he is now adjunct associate professor.

Sridhar Nerur is an associate professor of Information Systems at the University of Texas at Arlington. He holds an engineering degree in electronics from Bangalore University, a PGDM (MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, India, and a PhD in business administration from the University of Texas at Arlington. His publications include articles in leading journals such as MIS Quarterly, the Strategic Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Communications of the ACM, Communications of the AIS, the DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems, European Journal of Information Systems, and Information Systems Management. He served as an associate editor of the European Journal of Information Systems. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of software design, adoption of software development methodologies, cognitive aspects of programming, dynamic IT capabilities, and agile software development.

Venu Gopal Balijepally is an associate professor of MIS in the College of Business at Prairie View A&M University, Texas. He received his PhD in information systems from the University of Texas at Arlington and post-graduate diploma in management (MBA), from the Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India. He also holds a masters degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai and a bachelor's degree from Osmania University, India, both in civil engineering. His research interests include software development, social capital of IS teams, knowledge management and IT management. His research publications appear in MIS Quarterly, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of the AIS, Communications of the ACM, Communications of the AIS, and various conference proceedings such as the Americas Conference on Information Systems, the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, and the Decision Sciences Institute.

Nils Brede Moe works with software process improvement, agile software development and global software development as a senior scientist at SINTEF Information and Communication Technology. His research interests are related to organizational, socio-technical, and global/distributed aspects. His main publications in the field of agile software development include several longitudinal studies on self-management and teamwork, and co-editing of the books Agile Software Development: Current Research and Future Directions and Agility Across Time and Space: Implementing Agile Methods in Global Software Projects. Moe was also a co-organizing chair of the 11th International Conference on Agile Software Development (XP2010) and co-producer of the research at work stage at Agile2011 and Agile India 2012. He wrote his thesis for the degree of doctor philosophiae on From Improving Processes to Improving Practice—Software Process Improvement in Transition from Plan-driven to Change-driven Development. He is currently a visiting researcher at the University of New South Wales, Sydney.