# The prospects of a quantitative measurement of agility: A validation study on an agile maturity model

## TL;DR

This study validates an agile maturity measurement model using statistical tests and empirical data, highlighting its potential while acknowledging the need for further refinement to ensure validity across cultural and contextual factors.

## Contribution

It provides empirical validation of an agile maturity model with statistical analysis, proposing a new categorization of measurement items and identifying areas for further development.

## Key findings

- Empirical support for new factor groupings in the measurement tool.
- Reliability confirmed through Cronbach's alpha.
- Further work needed for comprehensive validity including cultural factors.

## Abstract

Agile development has now become a well-known approach to collaboration in professional work life. Both researchers and practitioners want validated tools to measure agility. This study sets out to validate an agile maturity measurement model with statistical tests and empirical data. First, a pretest was conducted as a case study including a survey and focus group. Second, the main study was conducted with 45 employees from two SAP customers in the US. We used internal consistency (by a Cronbach's alpha) as the main measure for reliability and analyzed construct validity by exploratory principal factor analysis (PFA). The results suggest a new categorization of a subset of items existing in the tool and provides empirical support for these new groups of factors. However, we argue that more work is needed to reach the point where a maturity models with quantitative data can be said to validly measure agility, and even then, such a measurement still needs to include some deeper analysis with cultural and contextual items.