article

Customising agile methods to software practices at Intel Shannon

Authors:

Brian Fitzgerald,

Gerard Hartnett,

Kieran ConboyAuthors Info & Claims

European Journal of Information Systems, Volume 15, Issue 2

Pages 200 - 213

https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.ejis.3000605

Published: 01 April 2006 Publication History

Abstract

Tailoring of methods is commonplace in the vast majority of software development projects and organisations. However, there is not much known about the tailoring and engineering of agile methods, or about how these methods can be used to complement each other. This study investigated tailoring of the agile methods, eXtreme programming (XP) and Scrum, at Intel Shannon, and involved experienced software engineers who continuously monitored and reflected on these methods over a 3-year period. The study shows that agile methods may individually be incomplete in supporting the overall development process, but XP and Scrum complement each other well, with XP providing support for technical aspects and Scrum providing support for project planning and tracking. The principles of XP and Scrum were carefully selected (only six of the 12 XP key practices were implemented, for example) and tailored to suit the needs of the development environment at Intel Shannon. Thus, the study refutes the suggestion that agile methods are not divisible or individually selectable but achieve their benefits through the synergistic combination of individual agile practices; rather, this study shows that an a la carte selection and tailoring of practices can work very well. In the case of Scrum, some local tailoring has led to a very committed usage by developers, in contrast to many development methods whose usage is limited despite being decreed mandatory by management. The agile practices that were applied did lead to significant benefits, including reductions in code defect density by a factor of 7. Projects of 6-month and 1-year duration have been delivered ahead of schedule, which bodes well for future ability to accurately plan development projects.

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Cited By

Meckenstock J(2024)Shedding light on the dark side – A systematic literature review of the issues in agile software development methodology useJournal of Systems and Software10.1016/j.jss.2024.111966211:COnline publication date: 2-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.jss.2024.111966
Khan AAkbar MLahtinen VPaavola MNiazi MAlatawi MAlotaibi S(2024)Agile meets quantum: a novel genetic algorithm model for predicting the success of quantum software development projectAutomated Software Engineering10.1007/s10515-024-00434-z31:1Online publication date: 4-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10515-024-00434-z
Santos RRalph PArshad AStol K(2023)Distributed Scrum: A Case Meta-analysisACM Computing Surveys10.1145/362651956:4(1-37)Online publication date: 10-Nov-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626519
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Index Terms

Customising agile methods to software practices at Intel Shannon
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Management of computing and information systems
      1. Project and people management
      2. Software management
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software creation and management
    1. Designing software
      1. Software implementation planning
        Software design techniques
    2. Software development process management

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Published In

cover image European Journal of Information Systems

European Journal of Information Systems Volume 15, Issue 2

Including a special section on business agility and diffusion of information technology

April 2006

126 pages

ISSN:0960-085X

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Publisher

Macmillan Press Ltd.

United Kingdom

Publication History

Published: 01 April 2006

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Cited By

Meckenstock J(2024)Shedding light on the dark side – A systematic literature review of the issues in agile software development methodology useJournal of Systems and Software10.1016/j.jss.2024.111966211:COnline publication date: 2-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.jss.2024.111966
Khan AAkbar MLahtinen VPaavola MNiazi MAlatawi MAlotaibi S(2024)Agile meets quantum: a novel genetic algorithm model for predicting the success of quantum software development projectAutomated Software Engineering10.1007/s10515-024-00434-z31:1Online publication date: 4-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10515-024-00434-z
Santos RRalph PArshad AStol K(2023)Distributed Scrum: A Case Meta-analysisACM Computing Surveys10.1145/362651956:4(1-37)Online publication date: 10-Nov-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626519
Benlian A(2022)Sprint Zeal or Sprint Fatigue? The Benefits and Burdens of Agile ISD Practices Use for Developer Well-BeingInformation Systems Research10.1287/isre.2021.106933:2(557-578)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1287/isre.2021.1069
Vial GRivard S(2022)Conceptualizing Information Systems Development as an Organizational RoutineACM SIGMIS Database: the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems10.1145/3551783.355179053:3(91-107)Online publication date: 26-Jul-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3551783.3551790
Nazir SPrice BSurendra NKopp K(2022)Adapting agile development practices for hyper-agile environments: lessons learned from a COVID-19 emergency response research projectInformation Technology and Management10.1007/s10799-022-00370-y23:3(193-211)Online publication date: 30-Jul-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10799-022-00370-y
Chengalur-Smith INevo SFitzgerald B(2021)Enhancing Hybrid OSS Development Through Agile Methods and High Media SynchronicityACM SIGMIS Database: the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems10.1145/3508484.350849052:4(92-118)Online publication date: 29-Dec-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3508484.3508490
Agh HRamsin R(2021)Scrum metaprocess: a process line approach for customizing ScrumSoftware Quality Journal10.1007/s11219-021-09551-429:2(337-379)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s11219-021-09551-4
Gerster DDremel CBrenner WKelker P(2020)How Enterprises Adopt Agile Forms of Organizational DesignACM SIGMIS Database: the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems10.1145/3380799.338080751:1(84-103)Online publication date: 21-Jan-2020
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Szabó DSteghöfer JSharp HWhalen M(2019)Coping strategies for temporal, geographical and sociocultural distances in agile GSDProceedings of the 41st International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering in Practice10.1109/ICSE-SEIP.2019.00025(161-170)Online publication date: 27-May-2019
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