A Tale Of Two Agile Implementations: A Cross-Case Exploratory Analysis

There is a growing trend towards the adoption of agile methods for information systems development in organisations due to the pressures for products and services to be faster to market. This paper examines the introduction and use of agile methods in two significantly different organizations; a bank and an international law firm. The adoption of agile methods in one organization was deemed a success whereas in the other it was not, although the agile approach did salvage an on-going project, but was not considered for further use. The cases were investigated via action research and the analysis adopted the competing values framework as the theoretical lens. This framework takes a cultural perspective to organisational effectiveness and requires the mapping of organisations into a four-quadrant model along the dimensions of organisational focus (internal versus external) and flexibility (change versus stability). Differences in the two cases and the organisational environments were examined for the purpose of identifying factors related to the successful and sustained adoption of agile methods. One organisation clearly emphasized stability over change and an internal focus, whereas the other was almost the complete opposite. The findings demonstrate the organisational cultural differences of the two organisations and their importance in the successful adoption of agile methods. Organisations should be aware of these differences and be wary of adopting agile development methods in otherwise historically and culturally non-agile organisations..