Requirement changes and project success: The moderating effects of agile approaches in system engineering projects

Abstract

This paper reports the findings of an empirical study on the influence agile development methods exert on the success of projects. The goal is to determine whether agile methods are able to mitigate negative effects requirement changes have on the performance of Systems Engineering projects, i.e. projects where systems consisting of hard- and software are developed. Agile methods have been proven to successfully support development projects in the field of traditional software engineering, but with an ever expending market of integrated systems manufacturers their usability for those complex projects has yet to be examined. This study focuses on 16 specific agile practices and their ability to improve the success of complex hard- and software projects. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.