Motivators for Large-Scale Agile Adoption From Management Perspective: A Systematic Literature Review

The use of agile methods for software development has grown to a large extent in the last few years. These methods ensure the quick delivery of software products with minimal cost and user satisfaction. Though these techniques were initially developed for small developmental teams, certain challenges have been observed when these methods are applied on large scale. However, we have conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) for the identification of motivators for adopting agile methods on a large scale from a management perspective. Thus, we have identified a total of 21 motivators for adopting agile methods on a large scale from a management perspective. Among these motivators, some were marked as critical motivators depending on variables, e.g., the factors critical in one variable might not be critical in another variable. The factors which were recorded as critical in all variables are strong executive support, agile development environment training and learning, agile development expertise, team competency, and briefing of top management on agile. Furthermore, we also found that the impact of different motivators was different depending on time and place for project manager guidance, i.e., some motivators were most critical in one region while less critical in another. Similarly, some of the motivators were more critical in previous decades but less critical in recent decades because of different improvements in software processes and technologies. These motivators are also analyzed from different angles, i.e., decade-wise and region wise for project managers guidance. The motivators are extracted from a sample of 58 research papers identified via an SLR process. Finally, we have analyzed the identified motivators based on various variables, such as continents and digital libraries.