Agile Software Development Practices in Egypt SMEs: A Grounded Theory Investigation
Agile information system development methods have been adopted by most software development organizations due to their proven benefits in terms of flexibility, reliability, and responsiveness. However, companies face significant challenges in adopting the
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and Julian M. Bass(&)
University of Salford, Manchester M5 4WT, UK [email protected], [email protected]
Abstract. Agile information system development methods have been adopted by most software development organizations due to their proven benefits in terms of flexibility, reliability, and responsiveness. However, companies face significant challenges in adopting these approaches. Specifically, this research investigates challenges faced by software development companies in Egypt while transitioning to Agile. As little previous research is available targeting their concerns, we have conducted a grounded theory investigation. Key problem areas were found including lack of cadence in sprints planning, inadequate use of effort estimation and product quality issues. The developed grounded theory reflects on the key problem areas found with SMEs adopting agile practices and can be used by software development practitioners adopting agile methods in Egypt or similar developing countries as an outline for the common problem areas they are expected to find. Keywords: Agile methods
Egypt Agile methods adoption
1 Introduction Agile methods are based on an iterative and incremental approach where projects are divided into smaller analyze, implement, integrate, and test cycles. They have been shown to be more effective for software development than traditional waterfall models for small and large-scale projects [1]. Although Agile methods have been adopted by the software industry for more than a decade and started to rise with the Agile Manifesto in 2001 [9], it only started to gain popularity in Egypt a decade later. Based on the first author’s previous experience of the Egyptian software development sector, we were aware that agile practitioners in Egypt are struggling to make the transition from traditional development models to Agile. After conducting research interviews with Egyptian agile practitioners, we have learnt about their struggle with adopting agile development practices. Little previous research is available to study or investigate their problem areas, therefore, we are conducting this exploratory research to identify, evaluate, and potentially mitigate their problems.
© IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2019 Published by Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 P. Nielsen and H. C. Kimaro (Eds.): ICT4D 2019, IFIP AICT 551, pp. 355–365, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18400-1_29
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A. A. Mohallel and J. M. Bass
We approached the problem using grounded theory which is based on interviewing agile practitioners and identifying their key problem areas. Findings from data collection were analyzed and evaluated in comparison to the current literate. The aim of this research is to get an in-depth understanding of the agile software development practices and help Egyptian practitioners overcome their problem areas. This was achieved by interviewing 9 agile software development practitioners using Scrum (the most popular method for agile project management [2]), in 7 compan
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