Abstract
The question of how to increase speed and flexibility in times of digital disruption is essential to almost any company. While previous research mainly addresses agility in the context of information systems development, as form for organizing startups or "born digital" companies, little knowledge exists about the adoption of agile practices and structures at established enterprises. With an exploratory study of fifteen global cases, we aim at examining how established enterprises adopt and scale agile forms of organizational design. We found that (1) agile forms of organizational design are currently adopted by enterprises at large scale, (2) agile forms of organizational design are adopted not only by IT, but successively also by business units and in contexts outside information systems development, and (3) while Spotify's organization serves as a widespread template for a fully agile unit, enterprises adapt and fine-tune this template according to their needs and scale. We identified three additional models for fully agile forms of organizational design where a fully agile unit with cross-product support is the most frequently observed model.
- Abrahamsson, P., Conboy, K., & Wang, X. (2009). "Lots done, more to do': The current state of agile systems development research. European Journal of Information Systems, 18(4), 281--284.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Ågerfalk, P. J., Fitzgerald, B., & Slaughter, S. A. (2009). Introduction to the special issue-flexible and distributed information systems development: State of the art and research challenges. Information Systems Research, 20(3), 317--328.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Ambler, S. W. (2010). Scaling agile: an executive guide. Agility@ Scale Whitepaper, 1--21. Retrieved from ftp://170.225.15.26/software/emea/de/rational/ekit/Scaling_Agile.pdfGoogle Scholar
- Arbogast, T., Larman, C., & Vodde, B. (2012). Agile contracts primer. Retrieved from https://agilecontracts.org/agile_contracts_primer.pdfGoogle Scholar
- Austin, R. D., & Devin, L. (2009). Research commentary-weighing the benefits and costs of flexibility in making software: Toward a contingency theory of the determinants of development process design. Information Systems Research, 20(3), 462--477.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Boehm, B., & Turner, R. (2005). Management challenges to implementing agile processes in traditional development organizations. IEEE Software, 22(5), 30--39.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Book, M., Gruhn, V., & Striemer, R. (2012). Advantage: A fair pricing model for agile software development contracting. Berlin, Heidelberg.Google Scholar
- Bygstad, B. (2015). The coming of lightweight IT. Proceedings of the 22nd European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS). Munster, Germany.Google Scholar
- Conboy, K. (2009). Agility from first principles: Reconstructing the concept of agility in information systems development. Information Systems Research, 20(3), 329--354.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Conboy, K., & Carroll, N. (2019). Implementing large-scale agile frameworks: Challenges and recommendations. IEEE Software, 36(2), 44--50.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Coram, M., & Bohner, S. (2005). The impact of agile methods on software project management. Paper presented at the Engineering of Computer-Based Systems, 2005. ECBS'05. 12th IEEE International Conference and Workshops on the Engineering of Computer-Based Systems, Greenbelt, MD, USA.Google Scholar
- D'Aveni, R. A., Dagnino, G. B., & Smith, K. G. (2010). The age of temporary advantage. Strategic Management Journal, 31(13), 1371--1385.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Deming, W. E. (2000). Out of the crisis (Vol. 1st MIT Press ed). Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
- Dikert, K., Paasivaara, M., & Lassenius, C. (2016). Challenges and success factors for large-scale agile transformations: A systematic literature review. Journal of Systems and Software, 119, 87--108.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Dremel, C., Herterich, M. M., Wulf, J., & Vom Brocke, J. (2018). Actualizing big data analytics affordances: A revelatory case study. Information & Management.Google Scholar
- Dremel, C., Wulf, J., Herterich, M. M., Waizmann, J.-C., & Brenner, W. (2017). How AUDI AG established big data analytics in its digital transformation. MIS Quarterly Executive, 16(2), 81--100.Google Scholar
- Dyba, T., & Dingsoyr, T. (2009). What do we know about agile software development? IEEE Software, 26(5), 6--9.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Building Theories from Case Study Research. Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 532--550.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Fitzgerald, B., Hartnett, G., & Conboy, K. (2006). Customising agile methods to software practices at Intel Shannon. European Journal of Information Systems, 15(2), 200--213.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Fitzgerald, B., & Stol, K.-J. (2017). Continuous software engineering: A roadmap and agenda. Journal of Systems & Software, 123, 176--189.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Fowler, M., & Highsmith, J. A. (2001). The agile manifesto. Software Development, 9(8), 28--35.Google Scholar
- Gerster, D., Dremel, C., & Kelker, P. (2018). "Agile Meets Non-Agile": Implications of Adopting Agile Practices at Enterprises. Proceedings of the 24th Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), New Orleans, LA, USA.Google Scholar
- Gerster, D., Dremel, C., & Kelker, P. (2019). How enterprises adopt agile structures: A multiple-case study. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Maui, HI, USA.Google Scholar
- Gonçalves, E., & Lopes, E. (2014). Implementing Scrum as an IT Project Management Agile Methodology in a Large Scale Institution. Proceedings of the European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies, London, UK.Google Scholar
- Haffke, I., Kalgovas, B., & Benlian, A. (2017a). Options for transforming the IT function using bimodal IT. MIS Quarterly Executive, 16(2), 101--120.Google Scholar
- Haffke, I., Kalgovas, B., & Benlian, A. (2017b). The Transformative Role of Bimodal IT in an Era of Digital Business. Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Waikoloa, HI, USA.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Hekkala, R., Stein, M.-K., Rossi, M., & Smolander, K. (2017). Challenges in transitioning to an agile way of working. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Waikoloa, HI, USA.Google Scholar
- Herrmann, A., Brenner, W., & Stadler, R. (2018). Autonomous driving: How the driverless revolution will change the world. In: Emerald Publishing Limited.Google Scholar
- Highsmith, J. A. (2009). Agile project management: creating innovative products: Pearson Education.Google Scholar
- Highsmith, J. A. (2013). Adaptive leadership - Accelerating enterprise agility. Retrieved from https://assets.thoughtworks.com/articles/adaptive-leadership-accelerating-enterprise-agility-jim-highsmith-thoughtworks.pdfGoogle Scholar
- Hinings, B., Gegenhuber, T., & Greenwood, R. (2018). Digital innovation and transformation: An institutional perspective. Information and Organization, 28(1), 52--61.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Holmström, H., Fitzgerald, B., Ågerfalk, P. J., & Conchúir, E. Ó. (2006). Agile practices reduce distance in global software development. Information Systems Management, 23(3), 7--18.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Horlach, B., Drews, P., & Schirmer, I. (2016). Bimodal IT: Business-IT alignment in the age of digital transformation. Proceedings of the MKWI 2016, Ilmenau, Germany.Google Scholar
- Horlach, B., Drews, P., Schirmer, I., & Böhmann, T. (2017). Increasing the agility of IT delivery: Five types of bimodal IT organization. Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Waikoloa, HI, USA.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Humble, J., & Molesky, J. (2011). Why enterprises must adopt DevOps to enable continuous delivery. Cutter IT Journal, 24(8), 6.Google Scholar
- Joehnk, J., Röglinger, M., Thimmel, M., & Urbach, N. (2017). How to implement agile IT setups: A taxonomy of design options. Proceedings of the 24th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), Guimaraes, Portugal.Google Scholar
- Kiely, G., Kiely, J., & Nolan, C. (2017). Scaling agile methods to process improvement projects: A global virtual team case study. Proceedings of the 23rd Americas Conference on Information Systems, Boston, MA, USA.Google Scholar
- Kim, G., Debois, P., Willis, J., & Humble, J. (2016). The DevOps handbook: How to create world-class agility, reliability, and security in technology organizations. IT Revolution.Google Scholar
- Kniberg, H. I., Anders. (2012). Scaling agile @ spotify with tribes, squads, chapters & guilds. Retrieved from https://creativeheldstab.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/scaling-agile-spotify-11.pdfGoogle Scholar
- Kohli, R., & Melville, N. P. (2018). Digital innovation: A review and synthesis. Information Systems Journal, 1--24.Google Scholar
- Kulak, D., & Li, H. (2017). The journey to enterprise agility: Systems thinking and organizational legacy. Springer.Google Scholar
- Kurapati, N., Manyam, V. S. C., & Petersen, K. (2012). Agile software development practice adoption survey. Paper presented at the 13th International Conference, XP 2012, Malmö, Sweden.Google Scholar
- Langley, A., & Abdallah, C. (2011). Templates and turns in qualitative studies of strategy and management. In Building methodological bridges (pp. 201--235): Emerald Group Publishing Limited.Google Scholar
- Larman, C., & Vodde, B. (2017). Less.works. Retrieved from https://less.works/less/framework/index.htmlGoogle Scholar
- Lee, O.-K., Sambamurthy, V., Lim, K. H., & Kwok Kee, W. (2015). How does it ambidexterity impact organizational agility? Information Systems Research, 26(2), 398.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Leffingwell, D. (2007). Scaling software agility: Best practices for large enterprises. Pearson Education.Google Scholar
- Lyytinen, K., & Rose, G. M. (2006). Information system development agility as organizational learning. European Journal of Information Systems, 15(2), 183--199.Google ScholarDigital Library
- March, J. G. (1991). Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning. Organization Science, 2(1), 71--87.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Maruping, L. M., Venkatesh, V., & Agarwal, R. (2009). A control theory perspective on agile methodology use and changing user requirements. Information Systems Research, 20(3), 377--399.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Morse, J. M. (2015). Data were saturated. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
- Myers, M. D., & Newman, M. (2007). The qualitative interview in IS research: Examining the craft. Information and Organization, 17(1), 2--26.Google ScholarDigital Library
- O'Reilly, C. A., & Tushman, M. L. (2008). Ambidexterity as a dynamic capability: Resolving the innovator's dilemma. Research in Organizational Behavior, 28, 185--206.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Overby, E., Bharadwaj, A., & Sambamurthy, V. (2005). A framework for enterprise agility and the enabling role of digital options. In R. L. Baskerville, L. Mathiassen, J. Pries-Heje, & J. I. DeGross (Eds.), Business agility and information technology diffusion (pp. 295--312). Boston, MA: Springer.Google Scholar
- Overby, E., Bharadwaj, A., & Sambamurthy, V. (2006). Enterprise agility and the enabling role of information technology. European Journal of Information Systems, 15(2), 120--131.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Paasivaara, M., Lassenius, C., & Heikkilä, V. T. (2012). Inter-team coordination in large-scale globally distributed scrum: Do scrum-of-scrums really work? Proceedings of the ACM-IEEE international symposium on Empirical software engineering and measurement, Lund, Sweden.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Pries-Heje, L., & Pries-Heje, J. (2014). Agile contracts: Designing an agile team selection guideline. Paper presented at the Information Systems Research Seminar in Scandinavia.Google Scholar
- Przybilla, L., Wiesche, M., & Krcmar, H. (2018). The influence of agile practices on performance in software engineering teams: A subgroup perspective. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 2018 ACM SIGMIS Conference on Computers and People Research, Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY, USA.Google Scholar
- Raisch, S., Birkinshaw, J., Probst, G., & Tushman, M. L. (2009). Organizational ambidexterity: Balancing exploitation and exploration for sustained performance. Organization Science, 20(4), 685--695.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Recker, J., Holten, R., Hummel, M., & Rosenkranz, C. (2017). How agile practices impact customer responsiveness and development success: A field study. Project Management Journal, 48(2), 99--121.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Reifer, D. J., Maurer, F., & Erdogmus, H. (2003). Scaling agile methods. IEEE Software, 20(4), 12--14.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Rigby, D. K., Sutherland, J., & Noble, A. (2018). Agile at scale. Harvard Business Review, 96(3), 88--96.Google Scholar
- Rigby, D. K., Sutherland, J., & Takeuchi, H. (2016). Embracing agile. Harvard Business Review, 94(5), 40.Google Scholar
- Roemer, M., Weiss, C., Venus, M., Linhart, A., Eistert, T., Schmidl, J., . . . Utz, L. (2017). Designing IT setups in the Digital Age. Retrieved from: http://www.fim-rc.de/wp-content/uploads/Designing-IT-Setups-in-the-Digital-Age.pdf.Google Scholar
- Ross, J. W., Sebastian, I., Beath, C., Mocker, M., Moloney, K., & Fonstad, N. (2016). Designing and executing digital strategies. Paper presented at the 37th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Dublin, Ireland.Google Scholar
- Royce, W. W. (1987). Managing the development of large software systems: Concepts and techniques. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Software Engineering, Monterey (CA), USA.Google Scholar
- SAE. (2018). Taxonomy and definitions for terms related to on-road motor vehicle automated driving systems. Retrieved from https://www.sae.org/standards/content/j3016_201401/Google Scholar
- Sambamurthy, V., Bharadwaj, A., & Grover, V. (2003). Shaping agility through digital options: Reconceptualizing the role of information technology in contemporary firms. MIS Quarterly, 27(2), 237--263.Google ScholarCross Ref
- ScaledAgile. (2017). Essential SAFe 4.5. Retrieved from http://www.scaledagileframework.com/Google Scholar
- Schultze, U., & Avital, M. (2011). Designing interviews to generate rich data for information systems research. Information and Organization, 21(1), 1--16.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Schwaber, K., & Beedle, M. (2002). Agile software development with Scrum (1): Prentice Hall Upper Saddle River.Google Scholar
- Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Procedures and techniques for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
- Swartout, P. (2014). Continuous delivery and DevOps--A quickstart guide. Birmingham, Mumbai: Packt Publishing Ltd.Google Scholar
- Tumbas, S., Berente, N., & vom Brocke, J. (2017). Born digital: Growth trajectories of entrepreneurial organizations spanning institutional fields. Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Seoul, Korea.Google Scholar
- Turner, J. R., & Müller, R. (2003). On the nature of the project as a temporary organization. International Journal of Project Management, 21(1), 1--8.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Versionone, C. (2018). 12th annual state of agile report. Retrieved from https://explore.versionone.com/state-of-agile/versionone-12th-annual-state-of-agile-reportGoogle Scholar
- Wang, X., Conboy, K., & Pikkarainen, M. (2012). Assimilation of agile practices in use. Information Systems Journal, 22(6), 435--455.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Weill, P., & Woerner, S. (2018). Surviving in an increasingly digital ecosystem. MIT Sloan Management Review, 59(2), 26--28A.Google Scholar
- Weill, P., & Woerner, S. L. (2015). Thriving in an increasingly digital ecosystem. MIT Sloan Management Review, 56(4), 27--34.Google Scholar
- Wendler, R. (2016). Dimensions of organizational agility in the software and it service industry: Insights from an empirical investigation. CAIS, 39, 439--482.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research: Design and methods. Essential guide to qualitative methods in organizational research (5). Paper presented at The Information Systems Research Challenge (Harvard Business School Research Colloquium). London: Sage.Google Scholar
Index Terms
- How Enterprises Adopt Agile Forms of Organizational Design: A Multiple-Case Study
Recommendations
Organizational implications of agile adoption: a case study from the public sector
ESEC/FSE 2021: Proceedings of the 29th ACM Joint Meeting on European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software EngineeringWhile agile software development is increasingly adopted in large organizations, there is still a lack of studies on how traditionally organized enterprises adopt and scale agile forms of organization. This industrial multiple embedded case study ...
Adopting to Agile Software Development
Abstract Agile software development can be made successful, but there is no well-defined way how to achieve this. The problem is that the successful adoption of agile methods and practices is a complex process and this process should be customizable for ...
Combining agile software projects and large-scale organizational agility
Special Issue on Systems InteroperabilityNowadays many new product development (NPD) software projects employ agile methodologies. Their basic premise is that a small, colocated team working closely together with the business customer can produce high-value, high-quality software efficiently ...
Comments