Aligning Adoption Theory with Agile System Development Methodologies

Studies show that many software developers are reluctant, for a variety of reasons, to employ system development methodologies (SDMs) in the course of building their applications. The proponents of Agile methodologies suggest that many of the factors that have inhibited the use of SDMs to date have largely been addressed in the underlying principles of Agile methods. Using adoption theory as a basis to inform, this paper contextualises the results of a preliminary study into the adoption process of an early adopter of Extreme Programming (XP). The case study undertaken provides further insights into the factors that have thus far inhibited the use of SDMs and describes the potential for the more widespread adoption and diffusion of Agile methodologies, as a relatively new systems development approach.