Toward the Integration of Traditional and Agile Approaches

TL;DR

This paper investigates the integration of traditional plan-driven and agile development approaches by analyzing source code, logs, and notes to identify shared characteristics, aiming to provide objective evidence for combining the benefits of both methods.

Contribution

It introduces an analysis method that uncovers common features between agile and traditional approaches through empirical data, supporting their integration.

Findings

Shared characteristics exist between agile and traditional methods.

Development phases can be identified in agile history.

Analysis supports better integration strategies.

Abstract

The agile approach uses continuous delivery, instead of distinct procedure, to work closer with customers and to respond faster requirement changes. All of these are against the traditional plan driven approach. Due to agile method's characteristics and its success in the real world practices, a number of discussions regarding the differences between agile and traditional approaches emerged recently and many studies intended to integrate both methods to synthesize the benefits from these two sides. However, this type of research often concludes from observations of a development activity or surveys after a project. To provide a more objective supportive evidence of comparing these two approaches, our research analyzes the source codes, logs, and notes. We argue that the agile and traditional approaches share common characteristics, which can be considered as the glue for integrating both methods. In our study, we collect all the submissions from the version control repository, and meeting notes and discussions. By applying our suggested analysis method, we illustrate the shared properties between agile and traditional approaches; thus, different development phases, like implementation and test, can still be identified in agile development history. This result not only provides a positive result for our hypothesis but also offers a suggestion for a better integration.