Becoming agile: a grounded theory of agile transitions in practice

Rashina Hoda; James Noble

doi:10.1109/ICSE.2017.21

Becoming agile: a grounded theory of agile transitions in practice

Rashina Hoda, James Noble

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Paper › Research › peer-review

103 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Agile adoption is typically understood as a oneoff organizational process involving a staged selection of agile development practices. This view of agility fails to explain the differences in the pace and effectiveness of individual teams transitioning to agile development. Based on a Grounded Theory study of 31 agile practitioners drawn from 18 teams across five countries, we present a grounded theory of becoming agile as a network of on-going transitions across five dimensions: software development practices, team practices, management approach, reflective practices, and culture. The unique position of a software team through this network, and their pace of progress along the five dimensions, explains why individual agile teams present distinct manifestations of agility and unique transition experiences. The theory expands the current understanding of agility as a holistic and complex network of on-going multidimensional transitions, and will help software teams, their managers, and organizations better navigate their individual agile journeys.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings - 2017 IEEE/ACM 39th International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2017
Editors	Alessandro Orso, Martin Robillard
Place of Publication	Piscataway NJ USA
Publisher	IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Pages	141-151
Number of pages	11
ISBN (Electronic)	9781538638682
ISBN (Print)	9781538638699
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSE.2017.21
Publication status	Published - 2017
Externally published	Yes
Event	International Conference on Software Engineering 2017 - Buenos Aires, Argentina Duration: 20 May 2017 → 28 May 2017 Conference number: 39th http://icse2017.gatech.edu/ https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/7976701/proceeding (Proceedings)

Conference

Conference	International Conference on Software Engineering 2017
Abbreviated title	ICSE 2017
Country/Territory	Argentina
City	Buenos Aires
Period	20/05/17 → 28/05/17
Other	IEEE/ACM International Conference on Software Engineering Companion (ICSE-C 2017)
Internet address	http://icse2017.gatech.edu/ https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/7976701/proceeding (Proceedings)

Keywords

agile software development
culture
grounded theory
management
selforganizing
teams
theory
transition

Access to Document

10.1109/ICSE.2017.21

Cite this

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title = "Becoming agile: a grounded theory of agile transitions in practice",

abstract = "Agile adoption is typically understood as a oneoff organizational process involving a staged selection of agile development practices. This view of agility fails to explain the differences in the pace and effectiveness of individual teams transitioning to agile development. Based on a Grounded Theory study of 31 agile practitioners drawn from 18 teams across five countries, we present a grounded theory of becoming agile as a network of on-going transitions across five dimensions: software development practices, team practices, management approach, reflective practices, and culture. The unique position of a software team through this network, and their pace of progress along the five dimensions, explains why individual agile teams present distinct manifestations of agility and unique transition experiences. The theory expands the current understanding of agility as a holistic and complex network of on-going multidimensional transitions, and will help software teams, their managers, and organizations better navigate their individual agile journeys.",

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pages = "141--151",

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booktitle = "Proceedings - 2017 IEEE/ACM 39th International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2017",

publisher = "IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers",

address = "United States of America",

note = "International Conference on Software Engineering 2017, ICSE 2017 ; Conference date: 20-05-2017 Through 28-05-2017",

url = "http://icse2017.gatech.edu/, https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/7976701/proceeding",

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Hoda, R & Noble, J 2017, Becoming agile: a grounded theory of agile transitions in practice. in A Orso & M Robillard (eds), Proceedings - 2017 IEEE/ACM 39th International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2017. IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Piscataway NJ USA, pp. 141-151, International Conference on Software Engineering 2017, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 20/05/17. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSE.2017.21

Becoming agile: a grounded theory of agile transitions in practice. / Hoda, Rashina; Noble, James.
Proceedings - 2017 IEEE/ACM 39th International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2017. ed. / Alessandro Orso; Martin Robillard. Piscataway NJ USA: IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2017. p. 141-151.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Paper › Research › peer-review

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N2 - Agile adoption is typically understood as a oneoff organizational process involving a staged selection of agile development practices. This view of agility fails to explain the differences in the pace and effectiveness of individual teams transitioning to agile development. Based on a Grounded Theory study of 31 agile practitioners drawn from 18 teams across five countries, we present a grounded theory of becoming agile as a network of on-going transitions across five dimensions: software development practices, team practices, management approach, reflective practices, and culture. The unique position of a software team through this network, and their pace of progress along the five dimensions, explains why individual agile teams present distinct manifestations of agility and unique transition experiences. The theory expands the current understanding of agility as a holistic and complex network of on-going multidimensional transitions, and will help software teams, their managers, and organizations better navigate their individual agile journeys.

AB - Agile adoption is typically understood as a oneoff organizational process involving a staged selection of agile development practices. This view of agility fails to explain the differences in the pace and effectiveness of individual teams transitioning to agile development. Based on a Grounded Theory study of 31 agile practitioners drawn from 18 teams across five countries, we present a grounded theory of becoming agile as a network of on-going transitions across five dimensions: software development practices, team practices, management approach, reflective practices, and culture. The unique position of a software team through this network, and their pace of progress along the five dimensions, explains why individual agile teams present distinct manifestations of agility and unique transition experiences. The theory expands the current understanding of agility as a holistic and complex network of on-going multidimensional transitions, and will help software teams, their managers, and organizations better navigate their individual agile journeys.

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ER -

Becoming agile: a grounded theory of agile transitions in practice

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

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Distinguished Paper Award - IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE)

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Becoming agile: a grounded theory of agile transitions in practice

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Prizes

Distinguished Paper Award - IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE)

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