Sustainable software development: A comparison of tailored agile processes

Abstract

Agile methods have the potential for cost effective and efficient software development thereby facilitating economic sustainability. A well-defined process is associated with a better quality software product and a sustainable production flow. However, agile processes have their shortcomings such as inadequately detailed user stories and lack of overall (architectural) design. Such shortcomings can affect the effectiveness of the agile process. Using principles of process tailoring, three agile processes are tailored by adding steps that address their weaknesses. The tailored processes once derived were implemented and tested. The results of the controlled case study show that the altered extreme programming resulted in better cost effectiveness and may be a useful angle for enhancing economic sustainability.