The Role of the Agile Manifesto in Partial and Tailored Agile Methods Adoption : A Systematic Literature Review

Details

Supervisors

Kiv, Soreangsey ; Kolp, Manuel

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences de gestion

Abstract

This master thesis aims to understand the role of the historical document in software development called the “Agile Manifesto”, in partial and tailored agile methods adoption. Written in 2001, the Agile Manifesto was a revolutionary paper and it had a large influence on project management and software development. It was the deed that officially launched the agile movement. We thus aimed to assess the influence of this manifesto on partial and tailored agile methods adoption in the relevant literature from 2001 to 2017. We strongly believed that the true essence of agility has been lost due to the industrialization of agile methods. Agile methods should be adopted in a defined framework following specific guidelines based on values and not as a simple process or practice. Several authors proved that the cultural fit is the most important success factor for agile methods adoption, and only 50% of agile methods adoption in 2014 were considered as successes. This led us to think that the Agile Manifesto is not represented or valued as it deserves. The results of the study showed that, in fact, only a minority of the papers in the relevant literature about agile methods adoption mentioned clearly the Agile Manifesto and its influence on the adoption. We could also assess that the Agile Manifesto is still relevant to a vast majority of the problems, expectations and benefits experienced before, during and after an agile methods partial or tailored adoption. As a conclusion, we defined the Agile Manifesto as cultural guidelines for partial or tailored adoption that will help the adopting team to better understand the needs and the direction of the adoption. We also stated that only tailored adoption respects truly the agile values and principles.