Towards an Understanding of the Contextual Influences on Distributed Agile Software Development: a Theory of Practice Perspective
چکیده
As the number of organisations involved in agile software development in the Global Software Development context is rising, there is a need for comprehensive research on distributed agile practices. Numerous papers have been published prescribing how distributed agile should be employed but do not provide enough information on the context of use. However, the successful use of a methodology depends on a broader and more tacit understanding of the usage context and it is inappropriate to assume that practitioners can merely apply prescribed sets of agile best practices and expect them to succeed. As such, this study proposes another perspective on agile software development by exploring the underlying forces shaping agile practices. Instead of merely prescribing sets of best practices, the reasons why distributed agile practices (as embodied by the Scrum methodology) are adapted and followed were investigated. By appreciating the various contextual factors shaping most of their decisions pertaining to how agile practices are adapted and followed, it is hoped that practitioners would make more informed decisions which would meet the needs of most stakeholders.