A systematic mapping study on the combination of software architecture and agile development

Context: Combining software architecture and agile development has received significant attention in recent years. However, there exists no comprehensive overview of the state of research on the architecture-agility combination. Objective: This work aims to analyze the combination of architecture and agile methods for the purpose of exploration and analysis with respect to architecting activities and approaches, agile methods and practices, costs, benefits, challenges, factors, tools, and lessons learned concerning the combination. Method: A systematic mapping study (SMS) was conducted, covering the literature on the architecture-agility combination published between February 2001 and January 2014. Results: Fifty-four studieswere finally included in this SMS. Some of the highlights: (1) a significant difference exists in the proportion of various architecting activities, agile methods, and agile practices employed in the combination. (2) none of the architecting approaches has been widely used in the combination. (3) there is a lack of description and analysis regarding the costs and failure stories of the combination. (4) twenty challenges, twenty-nine factors, and twenty-five lessons learned were identified. Conclusions: The results of this SMS help the software engineering community to reflect on the past thirteen years of research and practice on the architecture-agility combination with a number of implications. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.