The State of Agile and Lean in New Zealand: A survey on the use of Agile and Lean methods

Abstract

Agile and Lean methods are used extensively to help organisations meet current challenges in the provision of software services. This paper presents the results of an exploratory research study that investigates current trends in the organisational usage of these methods. An online survey was developed to allow comparisons with previous studies on Agile and Lean method usage and to investigate any changes since these studies. The research investigates how these approaches are distributed amongst New Zealand (NZ) organisations and how usage may vary from country to country. The research looks at organisational characteristics and how this may affect which approach is followed, as well as what challenges and benefits have been experienced. The results from the quantitative data collected in the survey study indicate that the NZ experience largely reflects the usage of Agile and Lean Methods found in previous studies, and is consequently able to prosper from the benefits in a similar manner to others. The study also finds that management support is a significant factor in the success of adopting these methods; that the methods are no more difficult to manage in distributed systems than any other method; and that there was no evidence of any particular organisational characteristics being an important factor. Like other studies in this area, a conclusive measure of actual usage remains elusive.