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Coevolving systems and the organization of agile software development

Vidgen, Richard; Wang, Xiaofeng

Authors

Richard Vidgen

Xiaofeng Wang



Abstract

Despite the popularity of agile methods in software development and increasing adoption by organizations there is debate about what agility is and how it is achieved. The debate suffers from a lack of understanding of agile concepts and how agile software development is practiced. This paper develops a framework for the organization of agile software development that identifies enablers and inhibitors of agility and the emergent capabilities of agile teams. The work is grounded in complex adaptive systems (CAS) and draws on three principles of coevolving systems: match coevolutionary change rate, maximize self-organizing, and synchronize exploitation and exploration. These principles are used to study the processes of two software development teams, one a team using eXtreme Programming (XP) and the other a team using a more traditional, waterfallbased development cycle. From the cases a framework for the organization of agile software development is developed. Time pacing, self-management with discipline and routinization of exploration are among the agile enablers found in the cases studies while event pacing, centralized management, and lack of resources allocated to exploration are found to be inhibitors to agility. Emergent capabilities of agile teams that are identified from the research include coevolution of business value, sustainable working with rhythm, sharing and team learning, and collective mindfulness. © 2009 INFORMS.

Citation

Vidgen, R., & Wang, X. (2009). Coevolving systems and the organization of agile software development. Information Systems Research, 20(3), 355-376. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.1090.0237

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jul 1, 2007
Online Publication Date Aug 31, 2009
Publication Date 2009-08
Deposit Date Nov 13, 2014
Journal Information Systems Research
Print ISSN 1047-7047
Electronic ISSN 1526-5536
Publisher Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 20
Issue 3
Pages 355-376
DOI https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.1090.0237
Keywords Computer Networks and Communications; Information Systems and Management; Library and Information Sciences; Information Systems
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/468124
Publisher URL https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.1090.0237https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/isre.1090.0237