A study on Agile Scrum Engineering practices

Agile development has gained popularity in recent years and there is an increasing trend of following the agile principles and practices in many industries and organisations particularly in the software industry. In agile projects team development and employee development are given preference. Today's business, political and economic environment is very much dynamic, and customers are adapting their software requirements to adjust with this new environment. In particular the software needs to cater to the change in business environment due to the current economic down trend situation. This research is the first step of an endeavour to embark on a comprehensive study of the Agile Scrum method with specific focus on IT industries. An overview of the agile from various literatures would be a value addition to the knowledge community. This study should also provide a record for future developers to get new ideas, methods to develop software and also helps to choose the right methodology. This study in general aims to contribute to the agile body of knowledge. We used both quantitative and qualitative analyses to carry out this research. A qualitative design, consisting of few case studies, was used to test the theoretical model. Data was gathered from nine IT projects using questionnaires and surveys of project stakeholders. Cross-case analysis was carried out on the project factor in the theoretical model.

The empirical data analysis showed that specific organisational culture parameters correlate with effective use of an agile scrum method. Each agile method has its own engineering practices, which ensure success of the corresponding agile projects but following the best practices from other similar agile methods is the need of the hour, which will ensure more success.