The Strategies to Increase Customer Value in Agile: A Survey of Brazilian Software Industry

Abstract

Previous empirical studies have demonstrated the relevance of the concept of customer value to the software industry and the state-of-the-art of strategies to increase customer value in Agile Software Development (ASD) has been recently documented in a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). However, to date, there are no studies on the state of practice for this area focusing on issues similar to those investigated in the SLRs mentioned above. The objective of this article was to report on the state of the practice of adopting strategies to increase customer value in the ASD and to detail these strategies concerning goals pursued, customer value metrics, challenges and usage impacts, and the reasons for non-adoption. A survey was performed using a web questionnaire answered by software professionals who are members of agile teams. Data were collected from 378 respondents from 123 Brazilian software intensive organizations. Prioritizing the development of high-value customer features and validating them frequently (92.3%), as well as focusing on value aspects of the client’s market segment and applying the most relevant agile practices to make them viable (64.8%), appeared to be the strategies most frequently practiced by agile teams. Generally, the experiences of using these strategies appear to be very positive, although challenges have also been identified, such as defining what customer value and customer collaboration is.