A Survey of Agile Methods, Processes, and Tools

There is an increasing emphasis on rapid development of products and services to meet immediate, mission-critical needs. In order to reduce the development cycle, "agile" approaches are needed. There are methods, processes, and tools (MPTs) already in existence, and gaps where new solutions are needed that work within specific contexts. For a context where developers with unstable requirements must react quickly to stakeholder needs to build new capabilities that rely on existing systems in a wide range of operational environments, applicable MPTs were investigated using an online survey on approaches to requirements, stakeholders, sustainment and integration. Participants provided information on their experience and development environment, allowing responses to be evaluated within the context of interest. Scrum, Rapid Prototyping, and Continuous Integration emerged as promising MPTs. Further investigation included follow-up interviews with survey participants in similar environments to determine what did and did not work when implementing these and other MPTs.