Running head: AGILE ADOPTION DECISIONS 1

Article Review: Agile Methodology Adoption Decisions

Jennifer Dulek

Trevecca Nazarene University

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Article Review: Agile Methodology Adoption Decisions

Instructors tasked with teaching agile methodology to software development students

may tend to focus on how to use the many agile approaches rather than on when or why to use

them (McAvoy & Sammon, 2005). Most research on agile methods has assessed their

effectiveness but not the conditions under which they are effective or useful (McAvoy &

Sammon, 2005). In order to move past this and ensure that education in agile methodologies

incorporates active learning and addresses a sufficient decision-making process, authors

McAvoy and Sammon (2005) designed a “Critical Adoption Factors workshop” (p. 409) using

case studies and real-world applications. Their article entitled “Agile Methodology Adoption

Decisions: An Innovative Approach to Teaching and Learning” (McAvoy & Sammon, 2005)

details this process and the results, and also provides some useful insights to other professionals

such as instructional designers who use agile methods to manage projects in industry.

In the article’s introduction and literature review, McAvoy and Sammon (2005) highlight

the major differences between traditional software development and newer agile approaches, and

argue that neither is the best fit for all circumstances. In a novel approach to a review of the

literature, the authors then shift focus from identifying factors critical to the success of agile

projects to using these factors to “determine the viability of adopting an agile approach”

(McAvoy & Sammon, 2005, p. 410). This review helped the authors identify eleven critical

adoption factors that they categorized into four groups; each group identifies an aspect of a

situation where a decision must be made regarding use of agile approaches (McAvoy &

Sammon, 2005). The groups that McAvoy and Sammon (2005) identified are: project, team,

customer, and organization.

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The remainder of the article describes how the authors used these factors and groups to

create an “adoption assessment matrix” (McAvoy & Sammon, 2005, p. 413), and how they used

this matrix to instruct their students and to make methodology-related decisions in industry

context. In Phase One, they introduced the matrix to software development students so that they

could actively learn the details and decision-making process useful in choosing to apply agile

methodologies to a project in an academic context (McAvoy & Sammon, 2005). Students

identified this process as useful to their learning (McAvoy & Sammon, 2005), as it helped them

to learn to critically question the application of the agile methodology to certain scenarios, which

is an innovative approach and important skill for graduates to gain. In Phase Two, groups of

students were assigned to software development companies and asked to utilize the decision-

making matrix to assess the viability of applying agile methodologies within the actual industry

environment (McAvoy & Sammon, 2005). Developers’ scores were compared to the scores that

the managers assigned their projects, teams, customers, and organizations, and it was determined

that although there were some differences in scores, the matrix could be useful in making

decisions regarding the use of agile methodologies in industry (McAvoy & Sammon, 2005).

Although McAvoy and Sammon (2005) focused their research on the software

development industry, the content of their research may be useful to other professions such as

instructional design as well. Their argument that agile methods should not be indiscriminately

applied without consideration of the context of their application is an important one. Learning to

use agile methods is only piece of the puzzle; being able to determine when or why to use them

is another. McAvoy and Sammon’s (2005) decision-making matrix may be useful to

instructional designers who must determine if agile methods would be effective in a certain

situation. Consideration of factors such as duration and criticality of the project, team size and
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skill level, location and involvement of the customer, and workspace layout, reporting structure,

and documentation requirements may help instructional designers determine if agile

methodologies may be effective in a given project or organization.

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References

McAvoy, J. & Sammon, D. (2005). Agile methodology adoption decisions: An innovative

approach to teaching and learning. Journal of Information Systems Education, 16(4),

409-420.