Case Study Research in Software Engineering: Guidelines and Examples

CHAPTER 10

CASE STUDY OF EXTREME PROGRAMMING IN A STAGE–GATE CONTEXT

10.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter reports the experience of the first author conducting a case study on the introduction of eXtreme Programming (XP) [17] practices in a context that is governed by plan-driven practices and a stage–gate approach to project management [33]. The cases in the study come from three different application domains—automation, defense, and telecom—and are denoted ABB, Ericsson, and Vodafone for the corporation names, respectively.

10.1.1 Methodological Status

At the time of the study (2003–2004), qualitative research was not fully accepted in the software engineering domain, and the overall share of empirical studies was low [61]. Seaman’s seminal paper [176] inspired the use of qualitative methods, but guidelines from the social science were mostly used [162].

10.2 CASE STUDY DESIGN

10.2.1 Rationale

We undertook the study in response to questions raised at an industrial seminar on eXtreme Programming [17] and Agile development methods held in 2003. The Software Engineering Research Group at Lund University sponsored the seminar, which included representatives from more than 20 different software companies. The representatives were very much interested in agile development, but they were not sure whether or how it might coexist with their existing project management models. Their interest prompted us to study the feasibility of applying agile methods in the context of large software development ...