What Leads to the Success of Agile Transformation Initiatives? A Study on Critical Success Factors
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5753/jserd.2025.4502Keywords:
Agile Transformation, Agile Software Development, Critical Success Factors, Project Management, SurveyAbstract
Background: Agile methods and practices have been consistently adopted in recent years as alternatives to traditional software development processes to address the ever-changing needs of IT organizations. In previous research, we identified twelve critical success factors of agile transformations from a project management perspective and evaluated their relevance with practitioners. In this research, we also identified other factors suggested by the study’s participants. Objective: In this article, we extend our investigation of how practitioners perceive the relevance of these factors and whether other factors should be considered. In addition, we investigate the relevance of the effects these factors have on agile transformations. Method: We conducted a survey involving project managers from several organizations undergoing agile transformations. We analysed the data quantitative and qualitatively. Results: The participants’ perceptions provided valuable insights into the relevance of the critical success factors. Additionally, we identified four new critical success factors: capacity building and continuous learning, improving processes to meet business needs, organizational change management, and focusing on product quality. These newly identified factors foster the understanding of organizations’ challenges during an agile transformation and contribute to a more comprehensive depiction of the challenges involved with such endeavour. Based on the results and the literature, we present three propositions representing recommendations capable of promoting agile transformations. Conclusions: The evidence gathered in this article indicates that the factors and effects investigated are highly relevant. Moreover, organizations should consider them to enhance the chances of success of agile transformation initiatives.
Downloads
References
Abdalhamid, S. and Mishra, A., "Factors in agile methods adoption," TEM Journal, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 416–421, 2017.
Adler, P. S., Goldoftas, B., and Levine, D. I., "Flexibility versus efficiency? A case study of model changeovers in the Toyota production system," Organization Science, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 43–68, 1999.
Ahmed, A., "Customer relationship management: Best practices for business managers," Journal for Business Research Review, vol. 2, pp. 1–25, 2024.
Alami, A., Krancher, O., and Paasivaara, M., "The journey to technical excellence in agile software development," Information and Software Technology, vol. 150, p. 106959, 2022.
Alami, A., Zahedi, M., and Krancher, O., "Antecedents of psychological safety in agile software development teams," Information and Software Technology, vol. 162, p. 107267, 2023.
Albadarneh, A., Albadarneh, I., and Qusef, A., "Risk management in agile software development: A comparative study," in 2015 IEEE Jordan Conference on Applied Electrical Engineering and Computing Technologies (AEECT), 2015, pp. 1–6.
Alhroub, A. and Jaaron, A. A., "Assessing agile project management practices: The case of Palestinian software development companies," Middle East Journal of Management, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 95–120, 2019.
Altuwaijri, F. S. and Ferrario, M. A., "Factors affecting agile adoption: An industry research study of the mobile app sector in Saudi Arabia," Journal of Systems and Software, vol. 190, p. 111347, 2022.
Andrade, A. J. D. C., Mattos, C. S., Fortuna, A., Ramos, L. F., Santos, R. P. D., and Santos, G., "Critical success factors of agile transformation initiatives from a project management perspective," in Proceedings of the XIX Brazilian Symposium on Information Systems, SBSI ’23, New York, NY, USA, 2023, pp. 443–450. Association for Computing Machinery.
Andrade, S. and Tait, T. F., "Uma aplicação do guia PMBOK na gestão de projetos de software," Revista Brasileira de Computação Aplicada, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 2–11, 2012.
Ayed, H., Vanderose, B., and Habra, N., "Agile cultural challenges in Europe and Asia: Insights from practitioners," in 2017 IEEE/ACM 39th International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering in Practice Track (ICSE-SEIP), 2017, pp. 153–162.
Barros, L., Tam, C., and Varajão, J., "Agile software development projects—unveiling the human-related critical success factors," Information and Software Technology, vol. 170, p. 107432, 2024.
Basili, V. R., "Software modeling and measurement: The goal/question/metric paradigm," Technical report, University of Maryland, 1992.
Bayona, S., Calvo-Manzano, J. A., and San Feliu, T., "Critical success factors in software process improvement: A systematic review," in Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination, A. Mas, A. Mesquida, T. Rout, R. V. O'Connor, and A. Dorling, Eds., Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2012, pp. 1–12.
Beedle, M., Van Bennekum, A., Cockburn, A., Cunningham, W., Fowler, M., Highsmith, J., Hunt, A., Jeffries, R., Kern, J., Marick, B., et al., "Manifesto for agile software development," [link], 2001.
Behutiye, W., Karhapää, P., López, L., Illa, X. B., Martínez-Fernández, S., Vollmer, A. M., Rodríguez, P., Franch, X., and Oivo, M., "Management of quality requirements in agile and rapid software development: A systematic mapping study," Information and Software Technology, vol. 123, p. 106225, 2020.
Bishop, J. W. and Scott, K. D., "An examination of organizational and team commitment in a self-directed team environment," Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 85, 2000.
Brace, P., "Psychological safety and power distance: What makes the Asia-Pacific region different?" Human Capital Realisation, 2021. [Online]. Available: [link]. Last accessed: May 17, 2024.
Bullen, C. V. and Rockart, J. F., "A primer on critical success factors," Working papers 1220-81, Report, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management, 1981.
Burga, R., Spraakman, C., Balestreri, C., and Rezania, D., "Examining the transition to agile practices with information technology projects: Agile teams and their experience of accountability," International Journal of Project Management, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 76–87, 2022.
Calnan, M. and Rozen, A., "Ing’s agile transformation—teaching an elephant to race," Journal of Creating Value, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 190–209, 2019.
Campanelli, A. S., Bassi, D., and Parreiras, F. S., "Agile transformation success factors: A practitioner’s survey," in Advanced Information Systems Engineering, E. Dubois and K. Pohl, Eds., Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2017, pp. 364–379.
Campanelli, A. S. and Parreiras, F. S., "Agile methods tailoring – a systematic literature review," Journal of Systems and Software, vol. 110, pp. 85–100, 2015.
Chow, T. and Cao, D.-B., "A survey study of critical success factors in agile software projects," Journal of Systems and Software, vol. 81, no. 6, pp. 961–971, 2008.
Clark, T. R., "Agile doesn’t work without psychological safety," Harvard Business Review (Online), 2022. [Online]. Available: [link]. Last accessed: May 17, 2024.
Conboy, K., Coyle, S., Wang, X., and Pikkarainen, M., "People over process: Key challenges in agile development," IEEE Software, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 48–57, 2011.
Cruzes, D. S. and Dyba, T., "Recommended steps for thematic synthesis in software engineering," in 2011 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement, pp. 275–284, 2011, IEEE.
de Oliveira Santos, P. and de Carvalho, M. M., "Exploring the challenges and benefits for scaling agile project management to large projects: A review," Requirements Engineering, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 117–134, 2022.
DIEESE, "Anuário do Trabalho na Micro e Pequena Empresa 2013," Departamento Intersindical de Estatística e Estudos Socioeconômicos (DIEESE), Brasília, DF, 2013. [Online]. Available: [link].
Digital.ai, "15th annual state of agile report," 2021. [Online]. Available: [link]. Last accessed: 12/06/2022.
Dikert, K., Paasivaara, M., and Lassenius, C., "Challenges and success factors for large-scale agile transformations: A systematic literature review," Journal of Systems and Software, vol. 119, pp. 87–108, 2016.
Duncan, R. B., "The ambidextrous organization: Designing dual structures for innovation," The Management of Organization, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 167–188, 1976.
Fortuna, A., Mattos, C. S., Andrade, A. J. D. C., Ramos, L. F., Dutra, E., Santos, R. P. D., and Santos, G., "Surveying the relevance of the critical success factors of agile transformation initiatives from a project management perspective," in Proceedings of the XXII Brazilian Symposium on Software Quality, SBQS ’23, New York, NY, USA, 2023, pp. 110–119, Association for Computing Machinery.
Gallo, A., "What is psychological safety?" Harvard Business Review, last checked 24.07.2023.
Gandomani, T. J. and Nafchi, M. Z., "An empirically-developed framework for agile transition and adoption: A grounded theory approach," Journal of Systems and Software, vol. 107, pp. 204–219, 2015.
Gandomani, T. J., Zulzalil, H., Ghani, A. A. A., Sultan, A. B. M., and Nafchi, M. Z., "Obstacles in moving to agile software development methods; at a glance," Journal of Computer Science, vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 620–625, 2013.
Gandomani, T. J., Zulzalil, H., and Nafchi, M. Z., "Agile transformation: What is it about?" in 2014 8th Malaysian Software Engineering Conference (MySEC), pp. 240–245, 2014.
Grass, A., Backmann, J., and Hoegl, M., "From empowerment dynamics to team adaptability: Exploring and conceptualizing the continuous agile team innovation process," Journal of Product Innovation Management, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 324–351, 2020.
Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., and Minkov, M., Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind, vol. 3, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2010.
Hohl, P., Klünder, J., van Bennekum, A., Lockard, R., Gifford, J., Münch, J., Stupperich, M., and Schneider, K., "Back to the future: origins and directions of the ‘agile manifesto’ – views of the originators," Journal of Software Engineering Research and Development, vol. 6, no. 1, p. 15, 2018.
ISACA, "Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Version 3.0," 2023. [Online]. Available: [link]. Last accessed: May 17, 2024.
ISO/IEC/IEEE, "ISO/IEC/IEEE 12207:2016 Systems and software engineering – Software life cycle processes," 2016. [Online]. Available: [link].
Javdani Gandomani, T., Zulzalil, H., Abd Ghani, A. A., Md. Sultan, A. B., and Sharif, K. Y., "Exploring key factors of pilot projects in agile transformation process using a grounded theory study," in Information and Software Technologies, T. Skersys, R. Butleris, and R. Butkiene, Eds., Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013, pp. 146–158.
Jovanović, M., Mesquida, A.-L., Mas, A., and Colomo-Palacios, R., "Agile transition and adoption frameworks, issues and factors: A systematic mapping," IEEE Access, vol. 8, pp. 15711–15735, 2020.
Junior, G., Amaral, J., Matsubara, P., and Neto, V., "Influences of organizational culture in the adoption of agile methodologies in information systems development: A systematic mapping," in Anais do XI Simpósio Brasileiro de Sistemas de Informação, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil, 2015, pp. 227–234, SBC.
Kitapçi, H. and Çelik, V., "The relationship between ambidexterity, organizational learning capacity and firm quality performance: An empirical study," Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 109, pp. 827–836, 2nd World Conference on Business, Economics and Management.
Kitchenham, B. A., Budgen, D., and Brereton, P., Evidence-Based Software Engineering and Systematic Reviews, Chapman & Hall/CRC, 2015.
Kitchenham, B. A. and Pfleeger, S. L., "Personal Opinion Surveys," in Personal Opinion Surveys, pp. 63–92, Springer London, London, 2008.
Leone, R. P., Aaker, D. A., and Day, G. S., Marketing Research, John Wiley & Sons, 2018.
Mishra, A., Abdalhamid, S., Mishra, D., and Ostrovska, S., "Organizational issues in embracing agile methods: An empirical assessment," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, vol. 12, no. 6, pp. 1420–1433, 2021.
Montoni, M. and Rocha, A. R., "Uma investigação sobre os fatores críticos de sucesso em iniciativas de melhoria de processos de software," in Anais do X Simpósio Brasileiro de Qualidade de Software, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil, 2011, pp. 151–165, SBC.
Motingoe, M. and Langerman, J. J., "New organisational models that break silos in organisations to enable software delivery flow," in 2019 International Conference on System Science and Engineering (ICSSE), pp. 341–348, 2019.
Napier, N. P., Mathiassen, L., and Robey, D., "Building contextual ambidexterity in a software company to improve firm-level coordination," European Journal of Information Systems, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 674–690, 2011.
Niazi, M., Wilson, D., and Zowghi, D., "Critical success factors for software process improvement implementation: An empirical study," Software Process: Improvement and Practice, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 193–211, 2006.
Oliveira, R. R., Cruz, J. E., and Oliveira, R. R., "Fatores críticos de sucesso na gestão de projetos: Análise dos indicadores que constituem os predecessores da estratégia, pessoas e operações," Gestão e Projetos: GeP, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 49–66, 2018.
Oliveira, T. d., "Amostragem não probabilística: adequação de situações para uso e limitações de amostras por conveniência, julgamento e quotas," Administração on line, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 01–10, 2001.
Paasivaara, M. and Lassenius, C., "Communities of practice in a large distributed agile software development organization – case Ericsson," Information and Software Technology, vol. 56, no. 12, pp. 1556–1577, Special issue: Human Factors in Software Development, 2014.
Reginaldo, F. and Santos, G., "Challenges in agile transformation journey: A qualitative study," in Proceedings of the XXXIV Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering, SBES ’20, New York, NY, USA, 2020, pp. 11–20, Association for Computing Machinery.
Rialti, R. and Filieri, R., "Leaders, let’s get agile! Observing agile leadership in successful digital transformation projects," Business Horizons, 2024.
Rodriguez, R. P. and Hechanova, M. R. M., "A study of culture dimensions, organizational ambidexterity, and perceived innovation in teams," Journal of Technology Management & Innovation, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 21–33, 2014.
Russo, D., "The agile success model: A mixed-methods study of a large-scale agile transformation," ACM Trans. Softw. Eng. Methodol., vol. 30, no. 4, 2021.
Russo, N. L., Fitzgerald, G., and Shams, S., "Exploring adoption and use of agile methods: A comparative case study," in Americas Conference on Information Systems - AMCIS 2013 Proceedings, number 5, 2013.
Saldaña, J., The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers (2nd ed.), SAGE Publications Ltd, 2013.
Santos, G., Conte, T., de Oliveira, N. H. F., Prikladnicki, R., da Rocha, A. R. C., Travassos, G. H., and Weber, K. C., "Towards successful software process improvement initiatives: Experiences from the battlefield," in 21st Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2015, Puerto Rico, August 13-15, 2015, Association for Information Systems.
Santos, G., Kalinowski, M., Rocha, A. R., Travassos, G. H., Weber, K. C., and Antonioni, J. A., "MPS.BR program and MPS model: Main results, benefits and beneficiaries of software process improvement in Brazil," in Faria, J. P., da Silva, A. R., and Machado, R. J., Eds., 8th International Conference on the Quality of Information and Communications Technology, QUATIC 2012, Lisbon, Portugal, 2-6 September 2012, Proceedings, pp. 137–142, IEEE Computer Society.
Severgnini, E., Galdamez, E. V. C., and Vieira, V. A., "Efeitos do exploration, exploitation e ambidestria no desempenho das organizações de software," Revista de Administração Contemporânea, vol. 23, pp. 111–134, 2019.
Sharif, Y., "Exploring facilitators of transition and adoption to agile methods: A grounded theory study," Journal of Software, vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 1666, 2014.
Sharma, A., Basora, D., Chhillar, N., and Yadav, D., "A comprehensive study of software risk management," International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science, vol. 4, no. 10, 2013.
Silva, K. M. B. d. and Santos, S. C. d., "Critical factors in agile software projects according to people, process and technology perspective," in 2015 6th Brazilian Workshop on Agile Methods (WBMA), pp. 48–54, 2015.
Silva, R. and Santos, G., "Surveying the academic literature on the use of OKR (Objectives and Key Results) – An update," iSys - Brazilian Journal of Information Systems, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 4:1 – 4:26, 2024.
Softex, "Guia Geral MPS de Software - MPSSW:2023," General Guide MPS for Software - MPSSW:2023, [link], last accessed: May 17, 2024.
Srinivasan, J. and Lundqvist, K., "Agile in India: Challenges and lessons learned," in Proceedings of the 3rd India Software Engineering Conference, ISEC ’10, pp. 125–130, New York, NY, USA, Association for Computing Machinery, 2010.
Stankovic, D., Nikolic, V., Djordjevic, M., and Cao, D.-B., "A survey study of critical success factors in agile software projects in former Yugoslavia IT companies," Journal of Systems and Software, vol. 86, no. 6, pp. 1663–1678, 2013a.
Stankovic, D., Nikolic, V., Djordjevic, M., and Cao, D.-B., "A survey study of critical success factors in agile software projects in former Yugoslavia IT companies," Journal of Systems and Software, vol. 86, no. 6, pp. 1663–1678, 2013b.
Stettina, C. J., van Els, V., Croonenberg, J., and Visser, J., "The impact of agile transformations on organizational performance: A survey of teams, programs and portfolios," in Gregory, P., Lassenius, C., Wang, X., and Kruchten, P., Eds., Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming - 22nd International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP 2021, Virtual Event, June 14-18, 2021, Proceedings, vol. 419 of Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, pp. 86–102, Springer, 2021.
Tam, C., da Costa Moura, E. J., Oliveira, T., and Varajão, J., "The factors influencing the success of on-going agile software development projects," International Journal of Project Management, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 165–176, 2020.
Toledo, J. C. d., Silva, S. L. d., Mendes, G. H. S., and Jugend, D., "Fatores críticos de sucesso no gerenciamento de projetos de desenvolvimento de produto em empresas de base tecnológica de pequeno e médio porte," Gestão & Produção, vol. 15, pp. 117–134, 2008.
Trzeciak, M. and Banasik, P., "Motivators influencing the efficiency and commitment of employees of agile teams," Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, vol. 8, no. 4, 2022.
van Manen, H. and van Vliet, H., "Organization-wide agile expansion requires an organization-wide agile mindset," in Jedlitschka, A., Kuvaja, P., Kuhrmann, M., Männistö, T., Münch, J., and Raatikainen, M., Eds., Product-Focused Software Process Improvement, pp. 48–62, Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2014.
Vasylieva, K., Küpper, S., and Kuhrmann, M., "Breaking old habits: On success factors in software process improvement," in Proceedings of the 2024 International Conference on Software and Systems Processes, ICSSP ’24, pp. 13–23, New York, NY, USA, Association for Computing Machinery, 2024.
Wells, H., Dalcher, D., and Smyth, H., "The adoption of agile management practices in a traditional project environment: An IT/IS case study," in 2015 48th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, pp. 4446–4453, 2015.
Wodtke, C., Introduction to OKRs, 1st ed., O'Reilly Media, Sebastopol, CA, USA, 2016.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Gleison Santos, Eliezer Dutra, Claudio Saraiva Mattos, Alessandra Fortuna, Rodrigo Pereira dos Santos, Luiz Felipe Ramos, Álan Júnior da Cruz Andrade
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
