Agile Software Development: What is Left to Do?

Abstract

Agile software development is about to become mainstream in the software industry. Its introduction requires a significant change of the mindset towards openness, honesty, and flexibility. Therefore, the adoption of agile development by the industry is also a process of cultural change that takes a long time and surfaces many issues which have been neglected or hidden with other development models. Adoption of agile practices in global companies raises consequences which are seldom anticipated. According to our observations large-scale agile software development demands a management style focusing on constant learning and communication, a certain degree of up-front planning to support agility and emergent design, and in-depth examination of software development practices that should not only be seen as rituals of predefined process models. They should rather be regarded as tools in a toolbox which all can be useful in all development phases. Also necessary is a legal framework for contracts that support agile software development.