Towards A Double-Edged Sword: Modelling the Impact in Agile Software Development
Michael Neumann, Philipp Diebold
TL;DR
The paper addresses the need to capture both how cultural and contextual factors influence agile practices and how those practices impact product and process characteristics. It introduces the Agile Influence and Impact Model (AIIM) by merging the APIM and MoCA frameworks into a single UML-based meta-model, enabling a unified view of influences on agile elements and their outcomes. The core contributions include formalizing a meta-model with Agile Elements, Agile Activities, Influence and Impact Factors, and Conditions to reflect non-binary, context-dependent relations. This work provides a theoretical foundation for practitioners to select context-appropriate agile practices and sets the stage for real-world evaluation and deployment tools.
Abstract
Agile methods are state of the art in software development. Companies worldwide apply agile to counter the dynamics of the markets. We know, that various factors like culture influence the successfully application of agile methods in practice and the sucess is differing from company to company. To counter these problems, we combine two causal models presented in literature: The Agile Practices Impact Model and the Model of Cultural Impact. In this paper, we want to better understand the two facets of factors in agile: Those influencing their application and those impacting the results when applying them. This papers core contribution is the Agile Influence and Imact Model, describing the factors influencing agile elements and the impact on specific characteristics in a systematic manner.