Agile Challenges and Chances for Open Source: Lessons Learned from Managing a FLOSS Project

Abstract

Open source projects got an important part today's software landscape. Thousands of these projects are collaboratively driven by communities following a shared vision. But governing open communities towards this shared vision comes along with various difficulties. In general, agile methods allow to manage such systems of collaborative development and constant change. But as this work shows, the agile approach not only provides chances in open settings. A variety of challenges occur that need to be considered. The case of Catrobat, a Free/Libre Open Source project, shows that although open source development and agile methods evolved over the last years, the dynamics of open communities still challenge the agile way. However, evaluating and understanding these dynamics, as well as introducing agile elements, such as the role of product owners, can be beneficial for managing open systems and to drive it into a common direction together with the contributors.