Managerial challenges for adopting agile methods

Abstract

It has been almost a decade since the publication of the Agile Manifesto. Agile methods are still finding it difficult to establish themselves in mainstream software development. This report attempts to take a look at the managerial challenges involved in attempting to adopt agile methods in existing teams. In chapter 1 we look at the different software methodologies and in chapter 2 analyze the Agile methods in details. During our interviews we found varying reasons as to why Agile methods were adopted. In chapter2 we take a organization theoretic perspective to understand the situations in which Agile methods deliver the greatest value. We hope that using this framework practioners can make a more informed decision when adopting agile methods. In chapter 3 we have done a comprehensive literature review of some of the challenges faced by organizations while moving to agile methods. We have focused on the issues faced by teams following distributed agile practices. Distributed team is not recommended by Agile practioners, however distributed teams are a fact of life in modern software industry. We are seeing more and more companies adopt and adapt Agile practices for distributed teams. In this report we have focused more on the issues faced in distribute agile. In chapter 4 we take a look at some of the specific challenges faced in distribute agile and also documented some observations about how practioners adapt to these challenges. In chapter 5 we take a look at the different best practices followed in companies and some of the lessons learnt. In chapter 6 we give a small case of a project in IBM India.