Capitalizing on Empirical Evidence during Agile Adoption

Abstract

Despite high expectations, agile methods have not always produced the desired results. The suitability of various agile practices depends on many situational factors, such as team size, project complexity, individuals competence, etc. As agile practices have become increasingly widespread, there is a growing body of literature that reports on empirical experiences, including factors that contribute to successful or problematic adoptions. However, this considerable body of knowledge is hard for the busy practitioner to digest, synthesize, and put to practice for the specific context at hand. Our previous work [1] introduced a repository of agile methods that provides evidential knowledge about the needed conditions (requisites) and promised benefits (objectives) of various Agile Method Fragments (AMFs). The knowledge was gathered through systematic review of empirical studies which investigated the enactment of agile methods in various project situations. This paper reports the use of repository in a software process improvement initiative in one of the R&D units of Ericsson Company in Italy.