On Thursday, April 9, QSM's Pam Simonovich will present Does Agile Scale? - A Short Case Study, hosted at the University of Minnesota.
This presentation uses completed project data as an example to show that when organizations make a conscious decision to adopt Agile methods in conjunction with other traditional development methodologies, these approaches can be effectively scaled and implemented for larger projects and enterprises – to a point.
With Agile becoming more commonly implemented in software development organizations, it is reasonable to wonder whether Agile development delivers significantly different results than more traditional methods, and what tangible advantages Agile adoption actually offers. Using results from a study of completed projects from the financial, government, and health sectors (N = 186) the data shows that when Agile projects were stratified by team size - regardless of the project’s functionality - small teams were able to deliver more affordable, higher quality software with only modest schedule impact. While larger project teams were able to achieve relatively minor schedule compression by comparison, it resulted in lower quality and exponentially higher cost. What the data suggests is that large-scale Agile projects may not need to staff-up in order to deliver greater functionality at a reasonable cost. Additionally, a case study from an organization that switched to Agile from more traditional Waterfall methods, showed that there may in fact be a scaling “sweet spot” in which the greatest benefits can be realized from employing Agile methodologies. Observations from this study provides insights to organizations considering adopt Agile and how to adopt it more effectively. While Agile offers the potential for faster delivery and better quality, it must be scaled and realistically implemented for the intended environment for these effects to be realized.
About Pam Simonovich
Pam Simonovich is a Senior Consultant at Quantitative Software Management, Inc. (QSM) a recognized pioneer and industry leader in software estimation and control. Recognized as Certified Software Measurement Specialist (CSMS) and a Certified Function Point Specialist (CFPS), Ms. Simonovich is an adviser and trainer specializing in the areas of software productivity, quality, and process improvement through the use of metrics. With almost 29 years of IT experience - 17 years specifically as a software measurement, metrics and analytics consultant she has advised and taught clients in 15 countries and 5 continents.
Read more information about attending this event here.