An explorative survey of formal and agile software development methods

Abstract

This research work explores the trends in formal and agile software development methods. Software development has evolved, from the era of “code and fix” to methods categorized as “heavyweight” and “lightweight”. The heavyweight methods are championed by the waterfall method, while agile methods are considered the lead in lightweight methods of software development. Both methods have proven records of successes and failures. Bridging the divide between them and harmonizing their symbiotic properties has the synergy of creating beneficial and more robust methodology with complementary advantage which is termed ambidexterity.

Ambidexterity allows for a high level approach of selecting a methodology on the basis of the problem requirements, and coordinates their independent processes complementarily without conflict.

Keywords: Global Software Development, Agile Software Development, off Shoring, Near-shoring, Distribution