Moving from a plan driven culture to agile development

Summary form only given. Plan driven cultures are characterized by a strong belief in the plannability and predictability of software development projects. The SEI-CMM, software process improvement initiatives, and software metrics programs are some of the hallmarks of this school of thought. The trend towards agile development places the emphasis on constantly adapting to a project's changing goals rather than on detailed upfront planning. The majority of reports from practitioners of agile development are positive and confirm the advantages of this approach. However, moving from a plan driven culture to agile development is not easy. Making the transition requires changes to many established practices and may even touch core values held by stakeholders. Areas affected are requirements and change management, user involvement, willingness to take on responsibility, contract management, and the ability to live with many uncertainties. This paper looks at what it takes to make the transition and presents lessons learned from organizations and projects which have successfully completed the switch to agile development.