Toward a conceptual framework of agile methods

TLDR

Since the 1960s software crisis, numerous methodologies have been created but are now widely seen as bureaucratic and unpopular, prompting a shift toward agile methods such as XP, SCRUM, and Crystal that emphasize the Agile Manifesto’s principles. This paper argues that the Agile Manifesto’s principles lack theoretical grounding and fail to capture agility beyond software development. To address this, the authors construct a comprehensive framework of software development agility by reviewing agility concepts across multiple disciplines. They then apply and assess this framework within software development, drawing on a 30‑year review of related research.

Abstract

Since the software crisis of the 1960's, numerous methodologies have been developed to impose a disciplined process upon software development. It is now widely accepted that these methodologies are unsuccessful and unpopular due to their increasingly bureaucratic nature. Many researchers and practitioners are calling for these heavyweight methodologies to be replaced by agile methods. The Agile Manifesto was put forward in 2001, and several method instantiations, such as XP, SCRUM and Crystal exist. Each adheres to some principles of the Agile Manifesto and disregards others. This paper proposes that these Agile Manifesto principles are insufficiently grounded in theory, and are largely naive to the concept of agility outside the field of software development. This paper aims to develop a comprehensive framework of software development agility, through a thorough review of agility across many disciplines. We then elaborate and evaluate the framework in a software development context, through a review of software related research over the last 30 years.