Agile Research Network

Collaboration of researchers from two UK universities at the forefront of investigating agile methodologies

 

What is the Agile Research Network?

The Agile Research Network (ARN) is a collaboration of researchers from two UK universities at the forefront of investigating agile methodologies.

  • The Open University has a strong record of research in the use of agile methods in practice
  • The University of Glasgow has strong record in software engineering research from a practice perspective, as well as an excellent record in undertaking interdisciplinary research that benefits society.

Visit their website for more information:

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What does ARN do?

As agile methodologies mature and become mainstream, it is important to understand what implications and influences they have on organisations and individuals, and to assess the scope and nature of their effectiveness.

The Agile Research Network seeks to work closely with practitioners in their place of work to gain such insights and then disseminate practical findings to a wider audience

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White Paper Access

The Agile Research Network team is very active and are continuously involved in various conferences and workshops. The results of ARN work are usually published as either white papers or conference papers. This page provides an up-to-date reflection of our white papers, some created by the Agile Research Network.

 

ARN Blogs

Here you can find a selection of blogs based on ARN research. The blogs cover all aspects of Agile, from starting an organisation’s transformation to agility, through to sustaining Agile and agile leadership.

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How are ARN funded?

ARN get funding through a number of sources; currently the two university institutes, and the Agile Business Consortium.

As the network grows the intention is to extend opportunities to other industry partners and funding bodies to contribute to this ongoing industry-based research initiative.

 

 

 

Get Involved

Do you use agile approaches? We are currently looking for collaborators, and are
interested in working with you on challenges that you are facing.

 

Publications

The Agile Research Network publishes work for both practitioner and academic audiences.

Practitioner Publications

Pocketbooks:

White Papers:

Academic Publications

  • Strode, D.E.; Sharp, H.; Barroca, L.; Gregory, P.; Taylor, K. (2022) Tensions in Organisations Transforming to Agility. Transactions on Engineering Management, https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2022.3160415
  • Weichbrodt, J.; Kropp, M.; Biddle, R.; Gregory, P.; Anslow, C.; Bühler, U.M.; Mateescu, M.; Meier, A. (2022). Understanding Leadership in Agile Software Development Teams: Who and How? Proceedings of 23rd International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP2022, Copenhagen, Denmark, June 2022
  • Uwadi, M.; Gregory, P.; Allison, I.; Sharp, H. (2022) Roles of Middle Managers in Agile Project Governance. Proceedings of 23rd International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP2022, Copenhagen, Denmark, June 2022
  • Gregory P.; Strode D.E.; Sharp H.; Barroca L. (2021) An Onboarding Model for Integrating Newcomers into Agile Project Teams. Information and Software Technology 143, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2021.106792
  • Zaina, L.A.M., Sharp, H. and Barroca, L. (2021) UX information in the daily work of an agile team: A distributed cognition analysis. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 147 (March), 102574, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2020.102574
  • Gregory, P.; Strode, D.; Barroca, L.; Sharp, H.; Taylor, K. (2020) Stakeholder Perceptions of IT Business Value in a Public Sector IT Digitalisation Project. European Conference of Information Systems (ECIS 2020), Online June 2020
  • Gregory, P.; Strode, D.; Barroca, L.; Sharp, H.; Taylor, K. (2020) Onboarding: How Newcomers Integrate into an Agile Project Team. Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP 2020, Online June 2020
  • Sharp, H. and Taylor, K. (2020), Strategy-focused Agile Transformation: A Case Study. In: Paasivaara M., Kruchten P. (eds) Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming – Workshops. XP 2020. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 396. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58858-8_17
  • Gregory, P. and Taylor, K. (2019) Defining Agile Culture: A Collaborative and Practitioner-Led Approach. IEEE/ACM 12th International Workshop on Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering (CHASE), Montreal, QC, Canada, 2019, pp. 37-38, doi: 10.1109/CHASE.2019.00016.
  • Barroca, L., Sharp, H., Dingsoyr, T., Gregory, P., Taylor, K., AlQaisi, R. (2019) Enterprise Agility: A Balancing Act – A Local Government Case Study. In: Kruchten P., Fraser S., Coallier F. (eds) Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming. XP 2019. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 355. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19034-7_13
  • Barroca, L., Gregory, P., Kuusinen, K., Sharp, H., AlQaisi, R. (2018) Sustaining Agile Beyond Adoption, in Proceedings of the Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications (SEAA), 29-31 August 2018, Prague. Paper available here
  • Karvonen, T., Sharp, H. and Barroca, L. (2018) Enterprise Agility: Why Is Transformation so Hard?.19th International Conference on Agile Software Development XP2018, 21-25 May 2018, Porto, Portugal. In Springer, Cham, pp. 131–145. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-91602-6_9. Abstract available here.
  • Kuusinen, K., Gregory, P., Sharp, H., Barroca, L., Taylor, K., Wood, L. (2017) Knowledge Sharing in a Large Agile Organisation: A Survey Study. XP2017. Abstract available here
  • Deshpande, A., Sharp, H., Barroca, L., Gregory, P. (2016). Remote Working and Collaboration in Agile Teams. International Conference on Information Systems, 11-14 December 2016, Dublin, Ireland. Paper available here
  • Kuusinen, K., Gregory, P., Sharp, H., Barroca, L. (2016) Strategies for doing Agile in a non-Agile Environment. Proc. Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement, ESEM’16. Paper 5. ACM. DOI: 10.1145/2961111.2962623 Free full text version available here
  • Gregory, P., Barroca, L., Sharp, H., Deshpande, A., Taylor, K. (2016) The Challenges that Challenge: Engaging with Agile Practitioners’ Concerns. Information and Software Technology 77 pp.92-104. DOI: 10.1016/j.infsof.2016.04.006.
  • Gregory, P., Barroca, L., Taylor, K., Salah, D., Sharp, H. (2015) Agile Challenges in Practice: A Thematic Analysis. Proceedings of XP 2015, LNBIP 212, pp.64-80, Helsinki, Finland, May 2015. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-18612-2_6
  • Barroca , L., Sharp, H., Salah, D., Gregory, P., Taylor, K. (2015) Bridging the gap between research and agile practice: an evolutionary model. International Journal of Strategic Engineering Asset Management, April 2015. DOI: 10.1007/s13198-015-0355-5
  • Gregory, P., Plonka, L., Sharp, H. and Taylor, K.J. (2014) Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice: The Agile Research Network in Proceedings of ECRM (13th European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies), London, June 2014.
  • Sharp, H., Plonka, L., Taylor, K.J., and Gregory, P. (2014) Overcoming challenges in Collaboration between research and practice: the Agile Research Network in Proceedings of Software Engineering Research and Industrial Practices, a workshop co-located at ICSE 2014, 1st June, Hyderabad
  • Plonka, L., Sharp, H., Gregory, P. and Taylor, K.J. (2014) UX design in Agile: A DSDM Case Study in Proceedings of XP 2014, Rome, Italy, May 2014