Creating an agile software development organization: a key factor for survival in today's economy

The economic downturn has led us to think in a different way in bringing out new consumer-oriented products. Within an innovative product development environment, our requirements have changed. We are forced to bring out new products with high performance at lower costs in a shorter time window (reduced time to market). We have a new challenge ahead of us. We have to work harder as well as optimize our focus between quality and technology to survive as an organization. We have to shift from busy-ness to business. This paper proposes a framework utilizing Tom DeMarco's theory (2001) of an agile organization towards practical management of market dynamics through analysis and prevention-driven competence management.