When agility meets a project portfolio: A study of success factors in large organisations

The iterative nature of agile methods combined with high levels of team and customer interactions and continuously changing IT and software development project requirements make the management of agile project portfolios very complex. To date, the mechanisms under which project portfolio management adapts to these complexities and achieves portfolio success have not been thoroughly investigated. This study explores the notion of success and its impacting factors in large organisations\u27 portfolios of agile IT and software development projects. Using a multiple case study design, we analysed the agile project portfolios of seven large organisations. We identified four success criteria and 15 success factors and categorised them into a unique agile portfolio success framework. Some of these criteria and factors are unique to agile project portfolios. The framework contributes to agile and project management literature by conceptualising the notion of success in portfolios of agile projects while revealing a set of factors that affect the relationship between an agile portfolio with its subcomponents and the surrounding environment. The framework supports managers and practitioners in large organisations in reflecting on their agility efforts to achieve higher success rates in their agile portfolios

Modelling the critical success factors of agile software development projects in South Africa

There are several critical success factors suggested for why agile software development projects succeed, including organisational and process factors. Although there are an increasing number of identified critical success factors, IT professionals lack the modelling techniques and the theoretical framework to help them meaningfully understand their influences. To solve this problem, this study developed a model by employing the following theories: Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to create a fit model for agile software development projects. The research sought to answer the question: What are the critical success factors that influence the success of agile software development projects? The literature review considers the continued failure of agile and traditional software development projects which have led to the consideration of, and dispute over, critical success factors — the aspects most vital to a methodology’s success. Though TRA, TPB and UTAUT have previously been applied to agile methodologies, empirical models have not been completely integrated to develop a fit model. This research sought to fill this gap. Data was collected in South Africa through a web-based survey using structured questionnaires and an interview guide. Face-to-face interviews were done to identify the critical success factors in agile projects. The data was captured and analysed for descriptive statistics, convergent and discriminant validity, composite and internal reliability, and correlation in order to inform the structural equation modelling (SEM). SEM was used to test the research model and hypotheses to answer the research questions. The results informed development of a comprehensive model that could provide guidelines to the agile community. The study contributes towards understanding the critical success factors for agile projects. It examined direct, indirect and moderating effects, and the findings contribute towards developing a framework to be used by agile professionals. These key result shows that organisational factors have a great influence on performance expectancy characteristics. To ensure success of agile projects, managers are advised to focus on the effect of the organisation’s environment, culture and policies on performance and effort expectancy.School of ComputingPh. D. (Computer Science

Critical success factors in software projects

Abstract. Since the publication of the agile manifesto twenty years ago, its influence on software projects has been steadily growing and organisations and managers now have another methodology to choose from in addition to waterfall. The question remains, however, whether software managers fully consider both methodologies and how easy it is for management to determine which methodology is the best fit for their project. This thesis will investigate the two main software development methodologies, waterfall and agile, and determine the critical success factors for each one using the research literature. Based on the critical success factors and an exploration of what makes each methodology powerful, selection criteria for choosing one or the other methodology will then be presented as a tool for helping management select the correct methodology. The research questions of this thesis are: RQ1: What are the core elements and key characteristics of agile and waterfall software development methodologies? RQ2: What are the critical success factors for agile and waterfall software development methodologies? RQ3: Which criteria to use when selecting agile or waterfall? A meta-analysis of critical success factors is carried out across ten research papers, which are systematic literature reviews and in total comprise 298 articles and 550 surveys. Based on their output, the critical success factors are ranked in importance and are used to build some selection criteria to help management determine when a project would benefit more from using one software methodology over the other. The thesis will provide a detailed definition and core characteristics of agile and waterfall which will be used as a foundation for linking the methodology theory to the critical success factors and selection criteria. The overall aim of this thesis is to discover if agile is always the correct methodology for software development, and if not, to help managers determine when agile should be used. Management will be able to select the correct methodology based on the characteristics of their project and map those to the critical success factors in this thesis. The important findings of the thesis are that it is rare for a project to be agile or waterfall and therefore selecting the correct methodology is not so black and white. The ideal methodology is one that is customised for the unique project. Factors that are especially important to consider are customer participation, team competency, top management support and specification changes. The results of this thesis can be used by project managers to increase the success of their projects by changing or modifying their methodology or by changing certain key factors in their project, e.g., increasing customer participation during the development life-cycle

Challenges and Success Factors for Metrics in Large-Scale Agile Development

Contemporary organizations widely use agile software development to react to unpredictable changes in their business environment. Due to the success of agile methods in contexts similar to the agile sweet spot, organizations have been applying them on a larger scale. However, maintaining oversight in large-scale agile development remains a problem. Metrics can tackle this problem by increasing transparency, but organizations have struggled with their adoption. Furthermore, extant research on large-scale agile development lacks publications investigating metric challenges and success factors. Against this backdrop, we conducted an expert interview study with 23 experts from 13 organizations. The most mentioned challenges are data collection challenges, lack of metric usefulness, and metric calculation challenges. On the other hand, the most occurring success factors are context-dependent metric adoption, implementing an agile metric management process, and ensuring understanding of the metric purpose

Human factors that influence the success of Agile Projects

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Marketing IntelligenceProject management, when based on agile methodologies, has brought improvements in the success rate in software development projects in recent years, contributing to the improvement of service quality and boosting motivation and productivity in their teams. Thus, it is important to understand what people face when managing projects, using agile methodologies. This study suggests a revised model for assessing the impact of human variables that affect the success of agile methodology in a project management context based on the DeLone & McLean IS Success Model. Our model combines three human factors including collaboration quality as independent variable and agile mindset and agile coach as moderators between the relationship of user satisfaction and individual performance. The motivation of this research is to gain a better understanding of the factors that can influence the achievement of successful agile project management, taking into consideration the factors related with individual performance. The results of a SEM-PLS analysis of 201 professional respondents indicate that "user satisfaction" and "individual performance" are the two most important elements in the success of agile software development projects. Managers and teams will be able to set priorities and improve project outcomes by recognizing which aspects are crucial for success. We discuss this topic, the limitations of the research, and possible paths for future studies

Adaptive and dynamic characteristics in hybrid agile management model for software development project success

The management of traditional software development methodologies and agile software development methodologies over the decades have not worked to its expectation in increasing the success rates of software projects. The Agile Manifesto in 2001 had promised to better manage IT projects with its 4 values and 12 principles but project success still appears to be elusive. The study and application of critical success and failure factors have been done by researchers but these factors are quick remedy solutions and not long-term robust improvements in the management of development methodologies. More research is required into the management of traditional and agile methodologies characteristics instead of success and failure factors. The coexistence of these characteristics as hybrid methods has also provided evidence of an increase in productivity and further research is required to strengthen and close current gaps in the management of hybrid methodologies. An empirical method with a quantitative approach is adopted to collect data with questionnaires from software development focus groups involved in industry projects. The data collected is analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) technique and the Partial Least Squares (PLS) tool. The findings provide a set of significant characteristics of adaptive and dynamic features, which are combined with organizational objectives to prove there is a strong relationship between project success with hybrid methods and hybrid combination patterns

Analysis of Return on Investment in Different Types of Agile Software Development Project Teams

This exploratory study of IT project teams in Serbia investigates how the choice of agile methods in different development project teams affects the return-on-investment (ROI). In this paper different types of software project teams are analyzed in order to examine and identify the business-value of using agile methods. In various software development project teams, the ROI of agile methods is yet to be fully explored, while the ROI of traditional methods is well-understood. Since ROI is important indicator of the projects success, in this paper we examine the factors that influence the ROI both from software solution customer point of view, and different agile project teams

Success Factors as Critical That Shape Agile Software Development Project Success

This study has implications for positive social change because organizations that understand the critical factors may be able to improve project management strategies and cost benefits leading to higher efficiency, profitability, and productivity thus benefiting management, employees, and customers. Information technology (IT) project success depends on having a project manager with effective decision-making, leadership, and project management skills. Project success also depends on completing the project in a given budget, time, and scope. However, there is a limited understanding of the lived experiences of agile managers and the following success factors: engineering, management, organization, and stakeholders. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand these lived experiences of 10 agile software development team project managers or leaders at global workplaces based in the United States. The research questions were focused on the effect of these success factors on agile software development project success. In accordance with nonrandom purposeful sampling strategies, a snowball technique was used to find more participants. An open-ended, e-mail questionnaire was created and sent to participants to collect data. The data were coded to discern themes or patterns. According to study results, agile software development team employs automate builds, continuous integration, and design patterns help reduce technical debt; good collaboration and communication skills are core to project success; product owner helps maximize business value delivered by team and priority and engage stakeholders; and sponsors help fund the project and other resources

Flexible Global Software Development (GSD): Antecedents of Success in Requirements Analysis

Globalization of software development has resulted in a rapid shift away from the traditional collocated, on-site development model, to the offshoring model. Emerging trends indicate an increasing interest in offshoring even in early phases like requirements analysis. Additionally, the flexibility offered by the agile development approach makes it attractive for adaptation in globally distributed software work. A question of significance then is what impacts the success of offshoring earlier phases, like requirements analysis, in a flexible and globally distributed environment? This article incorporates the stance of control theory to posit a research model that examines antecedent factors such as requirements change, facilitation by vendor and client site-coordinators, control, and computer-mediated communication. The impact of these factors on success of requirements analysis projects in a “flexible” global setting is tested using two quasi-experiments involving students from Management Development Institute, India and Marquette University, USA. Results indicate that formal modes of control significantly influence project success during requirements analysis. Further, facilitation by both client and vendor site coordinators positively impacts requirements analysis success

Organizational Factors Impacting Agile Software Development - A Systematic Literature Review

Since its inception, agile has received enormous response from practitioners and researchers alike. With the passage of time, many new tools, techniques and methodologies have evolved, and the field is expanding. A lot of work in the form of surveys and studies have been conducted to find out critical success factors (CSF), that either contribute to success or failure of agile projects. In this study we are aiming at finding and synthesizing the Organizational Factors which impacts the success or failure of software development projects which follow agile methodology. We have chosen 19 relevant studies to perform a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). The selected studies and method follows more a qualitative approach, then a quantitative approach. The data and results were extracted from these studies and were then analyzed. We have selected and explained twelve organizational factors which impacts the outcome of an agile based development methodology. The factors identified will help academic researchers as well as practitioners to devise ways and means to affect agile projects in a positive way, from the point of view of organizational factors