A Case Study: Introducing eXtreme Programming in a US Government System Development Project

The US Military's ability to meet its mission critical requirements calls for increased agility in its information technology development process. The purpose of this case study is to better understand how agile principles, specifically eXtreme Programming (XP) practices, can be effectively introduced and implemented into government organizations that have historically embraced the plan-driven traditional software development environment. In particular, we studied the eXtreme Programming process to develop a new capability for USSTRATCOM's premier knowledge management system, SKIWeb. There were several lessons learned that will assist practitioners in future implementations of XP and new research questions emerged that suggest further study.