Investigating Crucial Factors of Agile Software Development Through Composite Approach

The major emphasis of Software Engineering (SE) discipline is to produce successful software systems. The success of software projects is estimated through quadruple measures including budget, cost, scope, and quality. To meet this aim of SE, several software development processes are presented in the literature. Such processes are categorized into two different methodologies which are known as traditional and agile software development methodologies. The issue with traditional software development methodologies is that they had not shown any remarkable progress towards the fundamental goal of SE. Consequently, software development organizations have started to adopt agile methodologies in the pursuit of successful software development. However, agile adoption does not come without challenges that vary from one context to another. Therefore, it is necessary to figure out the key factors of agile software development for successful project outcomes. In the wake of such need, this study investigated the Critical Success Factors (CSFs), categorized and prioritized them through a mixed-method approach. Such an approach was based on the detailed literature review and Delphi method accompanied with Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) technique. Twelve CSFs were revealed and categorized into people, organization and technical dimensions. Among these factors, ‘team capability’ was found the most significant factor where ‘culture’ was revealed as the least significant factor. The findings of the study would be promising for agile software development that is carried on in the local software industry.
Keywords: Critical success factors; agile methodology; software development; analytical hierarchical process