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International Conference on Product-Focused Software Process Improvement

PROFES 2016: Product-Focused Software Process Improvement pp 416–431Cite as

Agile Practices, Collaboration and Experience

An Empirical Study About the Effect of Experience in Agile Software Development

Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNPSE,volume 10027)

Abstract

Agile Software Development has been around for more than fifteen years and is now widespread. How does experience effect the application of agile methods in organizations and what are the implications on the individual and organizational culture? This paper presents in-depth analysis of the Swiss Agile Study 2014. Switzerland offers an illustrative microcosm of software development, with a range of industry domains and sizes, and well-educated and internationally aware professionals. The study included more than a hundred professionals and managers, contacted through professional and industry associations. The topics addressed included experience with Agile development, motivations for adopting it, barriers perceived, specific practices used, and specific benefits realized. Analysis of the data identified important trends and differences. Agile experience seems to be an important factor, which affects many aspects of practice and workplace culture. More troubling is that it appears stress and overwork may be common among Agile professionals. All these findings illustrate important differences between Agile processes as prescribed, and as actually practiced.

Keywords

  • Agile
  • Software process
  • Collaboration
  • Organizational culture
  • Software practices

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We do not know the exact number, since these mailings were partially done by the partner associations.

  2. 2.

    http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/themen/06/02/blank/key/01/groesse.html.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Windisch, Switzerland

    Martin Kropp

  2. Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Winterthur, Switzerland

    Andreas Meier

  3. Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

    Robert Biddle

Authors
  1. Martin Kropp
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  2. Andreas Meier
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  3. Robert Biddle
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Martin Kropp , Andreas Meier or Robert Biddle .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Pekka Abrahamsson

  2. Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering, Kaiserslautern, Germany

    Andreas Jedlitschka

  3. and Technology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Anh Nguyen Duc

  4. University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Michael Felderer

  5. Okayama Prefectural University, Soja, Japan

    Sousuke Amasaki

  6. Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland

    Tommi Mikkonen

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Kropp, M., Meier, A., Biddle, R. (2016). Agile Practices, Collaboration and Experience. In: Abrahamsson, P., Jedlitschka, A., Nguyen Duc, A., Felderer, M., Amasaki, S., Mikkonen, T. (eds) Product-Focused Software Process Improvement. PROFES 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10027. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49094-6_28

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49094-6_28

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