Agile Software Development Research

This assignment delves into the principles and practices of Agile software development. Students are expected to conduct research on various Agile methodologies such as Scrum, Kanban, and Lean, analyzing their advantages and disadvantages. The research should also encompass the impact of Agile development on software quality and risk management within IT organizations. Finally, students will evaluate the effectiveness of Agile in real-world scenarios and consider its future trends.

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
GRAD 699-90-2017 LATE FALL - GRADUATE THESIS
Nischay Varma Mudida
Harrisburg University of Science and Technology
Assignment submitted to Dr. Stanley Nwoji in Fulfillment of GRAD 699

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Abstract
As companies invest huge amounts of money on developing software, it is important to
recognize the effective methodology to save money while improving the quality of the software
product (Permana, Bali, 2015). Successful software development has various factors impacting
the development. Every methodology has tried to address these factors which also help in the
success. (Avison and Fitzgerald 1998; Hirschheim et al. 1995). For this study, Constructivism
would be used, and the gathered data would be further analyzed to validate the impact of Scrum
Methodology on factors like software quality, operation costs, and project success. For this
research using a more quantitative approach will give the expected results. The collected data
will be recorded, measured and analyzed to display the variables used in this research. This
action would be a research method which makes use of surveys, questionnaires, interviews along
with numerical data, statistics to come to a quantitative result. This research paper would be
helpful in deciding for the companies across the industry willing to consider implementing
Scrum methodology in their organization.
Keywords: Software development, Agile methodology, Scrum

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................5
Problem Statement.....................................................................................................................................5
Purpose Statement......................................................................................................................................5
Research questions:....................................................................................................................................6
Research objectives.....................................................................................................................................6
Theoretical Framework...............................................................................................................................7
Hypothesis...................................................................................................................................................7
Significance of study....................................................................................................................................7
Definition of terms......................................................................................................................................8
Ethical Considerations.................................................................................................................................8
Delimitations...............................................................................................................................................8
Limitations...................................................................................................................................................9
Literature Review........................................................................................................................................9
Methodologies for Software Development...............................................................................................12
Factors affecting Software Development..................................................................................................14
Research Design and Methodology...........................................................................................................15
Research Worldview..................................................................................................................................15
Research Design........................................................................................................................................15

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Research Strategy......................................................................................................................................16
Method of Data Collection........................................................................................................................16
Method of Data Analyses..........................................................................................................................17
Population (Unit of Analysis).....................................................................................................................17
Sample.......................................................................................................................................................17
Results.......................................................................................................................................................18
Descriptive analysis...................................................................................................................................18
Inferential statistics...................................................................................................................................20
Discussion..................................................................................................................................................21
Scrum methodologies................................................................................................................................21
Traditional methodologies........................................................................................................................24
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................26
Recommendation......................................................................................................................................27
References.................................................................................................................................................28

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Introduction
The software industry has always been implementing various software development
methodologies to ensure efficient development, optimizing resources, time and money. Since the
origin of software technology, many popular methods like Traditional Waterfall methodology,
Agile methods have been adopted by companies (Livermore, 2007). Scrum methodology, since
its introduction, has been proving that it is the efficient methodology in various terms. Some
companies implemented Scrum methodology by making suitable changes to meet the
organizational processes. (Tripp, 2012)
Problem Statement
Businesses intend to develop any software with the highest quality while keeping
operating costs low. Many development methodologies have been created to achieve the same,
but have failed in meeting the quality and budgets. (Permana, Bali, 2015). Waterfall being the
traditional methodology, many companies have been reluctant to change and are still
implementing Waterfall, with which there might be loss economically. (Altameem, 2015). But
since Scrum Methodology is responsive to change and is economically viable, implementing
Scrum Methodology has been widespread, (Ambler 2009; Schwaber and Fichera 2005). As per
reports, more than 50% of businesses have been adopting Scrum Methodology (West and Grant
2010). The goal of this paper is to prove that developing software's using Scrum Methodology is
far efficient, both for quality and budget, then using Waterfall Methodology.
Purpose Statement
Any developed software should be of high quality and businesses intend to achieve this
within a limited budget. (Permana, Bali, 2015). Since early stages of software development,
many methodologies were created with the same intention, but each of them had their limitations

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
(Avison and Fitzgerald 1998; Hirschheim et al. 1995). For this study, Constructivism would be
used, and the gathered data would be further analyzed. This will help in validating the impact
Scrum Methodology has on software development regarding software quality, operation costs,
and project success. For this research using a more quantitative approach will give the expected
results. Many variables will be taken into consideration and will be used to perform the research.
These variables will be recorded, measured and analyzed to finally obtain a report which will
solve the purpose of the research. Also, non-experimental research strategy can be used to
approach this research. This research method makes use of surveys, questionnaires, interviews
along with numerical data, statistics to come to a quantitative result. For conducting research
using the quantitative approach, the questions should be very specific, mathematical.
Research questions:
The questions about this research are listed below:
 How does traditional Waterfall Methodology differ from Scrum Methodology?
 What are the factors that affect software development?
 How effective is Scrum Methodology in developing software?
Research objectives
The objectives of the research are listed below:
 To identify the factors that affect software development
 To understand and scrutinize how these factors affect the software development
 Compare the factors of Scrum and Waterfall methodology
 Recommend solution based on the outcome

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Theoretical Framework
The above diagram only depicts the fact that Scrum methodology is very efficient than Waterfall.
If any company adopts waterfall, then it is an inefficient methodology to implement and whereas
any company taking Scrum will have a successful implementation.
Hypothesis
H0: Implementing Scrum methodology has no impact: as there are other methodologies
which may be efficient based on the organizational needs, Scrum may have no impact
Ha: Implementing Scrum methodology has an impact: As Scrum methodology is efficient in
saving time and resources, this will have an impact on organizations implementing it.
Significance of study
Several software methodologies have been implemented and have been emerging since
last four decades. Every methodology has been implemented to address issues related to growing
systems and complexity (Hirschheim et al. 1995). These methodologies haven’t been able to
reduce the failure rates of projects. The failure rates continue to increase. (Standish Group,
2009). To overcome this, Scrum methodology has been introduced. This scrum methodology
takes into consideration, a variety of factors that are negatively affected by Waterfall. (Beck and
Andres 2004; Conboy 2009). Implementing Scrum methodology has not only increased project

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
success ratio but also positively impacted many factors. And companies implementing this
methodology have been able to complete projects on time and saved time and resources in the
process. (Boehm and Turner 2004; Cockburn 2001; Highsmith 2002; Schwaber 1996).
So, this study will help many companies which haven’t moved to Scrum methodology, in
making their organizational change decision.
Definition of terms
Scrum Methodology: “Scrum is an agile information systems and software development
method with a strong focus on project management, which was formalized and tested by
Schwaber and Sutherland in the mid 1990ties” (Schwaber & Beedle 2002, Schwaber 2004).
Software Development: "Software development methodology is a process of organizing a set of
method and notation convention which has been defined to develop software" (Johannesson,
2003)
Ethical Considerations
In the process of conducting research, no human subjects are involved in this research. But the
participant's privacy, confidential information will be secured consistent with ethical measures.
All participants consent will be obtained from the data collection. The process of data collection
is transparent, and measures are taken to ensure participants safety. The research data doesn't
comprise any personal information.
Delimitations
As for the boundaries, this research doesn’t take into consideration all the other software
development methodologies except Scrum and Waterfall. This research is only focused on
research questions stated above, and any other questions are not covered in this research. Also,

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
this research doesn't consider data collected by other means of collection techniques. As this
research adopted a research design which uses interviews, surveys, and questionnaires with 50
human participants, the analysis is limited to the data from these and any additional data will not
be part of the analysis.
Limitations
As Scrum methodology is being implemented on a large scale only for the past five years, only
certain factors have to be chosen for comparison as there are very few similarities in factors
between Waterfall and Scrum methodologies. Also, the researcher has certain limitations
regarding time and budget. The research had to be completed within 15 weeks. This implies that
the researcher had to limit the data collection methods to survey, questionnaires and interviews.
And as this research uses human participants, the quality of data is dependent on knowledge and
responsiveness of the participant. This may result in questionable and misleading responses.
Literature Review
This research is mainly focused on the Impact of Scrum Methodology, while there are many
other methodologies like XP, FDD, TDD, etc. Hence this literature review is only focused on
Scrum Methodology and not in other Agile Methodologies. This limited the sources for this
research which performed their research on Scrum Methodology. As for finding appropriate
sources keywords such as ‘Scrum Methodology,' ‘Impact of Scrum Methodology,'
‘Implementing Scrum Methodology' etc. were used. This search led to finding five relevant
articles which are dealing with similar research. Also, several other articles related to Agile
Methodologies have been reviewed for this research.

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
As Toer & Torgier (2008) stated, Scrum Methodology is widely implemented as it is more
responsive to change. Scrum Methodology also introduces some new roles around which the
entire methodology is based on.
Mike (2014) argues that Scrum Methodology gains its popularity because it acts as a “wrapper”
for all other Software Methodologies while being supported by rest of Agile Methodologies.
Mike (2014) also identifies the importance of Product Owner, as developers work closely with
Product Owner in this methodology, to prioritize the product backlog and develop the
functionality accordingly.
Sserena (2007) describes the product backlog and product owner in depth. The product backlog
contains all the requirements for the software in the form of epics, features and user stories. The
product owner is responsible for managing this product backlog. Based on the priorities set by
the Product Owner, developers set the complexity and estimate the time it takes to develop the
shippable product increments. The team further decides either to add new items or make changes
that help them in taking further steps.
Ambler (2010) identifies the emphasis on lean software development which is designed to
develop the software is small chunks while reviewing it, to improve the quality of end product.
This way certain important features can be delivered with the highest efficiency. This is
discussed in depth by Moran (2014), who emphasize the importance of developing software in
small increments. This way the process involved in development is review constantly while
providing communication between developers and business. Instant feedback only helps the
quality of the end product. The risk is always analyzed in the process, ensuring risk management
processes in place.

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Yoong & Sidney (2007) identifies that traditional software methodologies have many limitations
and replacing them with Scrum Methodology has benefits. Scrum Methodology also enhances
trust between involved individuals. This only helps them to perform their roles efficiently. This
method also emphasizes on developers working closely with the business to satisfy the business
need of developing a product which has a competitive advantage in the market. Fergus (2012)
accurately identifies that Scrum Methodology involves a lot of retrospection of the developed
product from iteration to iteration. This helps the team in identifying the errors in code and
correcting them to ensure the product works as per design. Scrum Methodology encourages
developers to be independent. This helps in creating a good environment in the workplace, where
a developer can perform their daily activities with motivation.
Software development
Brunetti, G discusses the current trends in the software industry, which there has been in a
massive rise in software packages that are being developed. Johannesson (2003) defines the steps
involved in Software Development. The development usually involves collecting requirements,
coding the software, testing it and then rolling into production. There can be other aspects of
software development besides these two. But these are the major steps/pieces that have to be
included while developing a software. This is called Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
As discussed by Langer (2012), the development can be anywhere from 3 months to several
years, based on various factors like software size, team size, resources, budget, etc. But every
software that is being developed has to go through various phases like Inception, Requirements,
Development, Testing, Roll-out to be a finished product. The various phases as explained by
Langer (2012) are described below:

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
 Inception: This phase usually is when the business decides to develop an idea and will
perform various types of analysis to develop the software.
 Requirements: When developing the software is deemed feasible, the requirements
around the features of the software are collected, analyzed and documented. This phase
will help the business understand what is to be built. This phase is critical to
development. Many artifacts are created during this phase, which will be used in the
subsequent phases for reference.
 Development: The requirements need to be developed into working software. So in this
phase, the various modules/features will be designed and have to be developed which
reflects the requirements.
 Testing: The developed software has to be developed to make sure that the requirements
have been met. Various kinds of testing will be done to make sure the software is robust
and can work as intended.
 Roll-out: The developed and tested software will be required to roll out as planned. The
rollout has to be done in a manner that would allow the software to be used by the
intended users.
These different phases have to be done with precision to achieve the goals in developing
software.
Methodologies for Software Development
As Brunetti, G discusses, the software development industry has been using several
methodologies which suit their organizational needs to achieve the goal. Every company has
been choosing to either implement an existing methodology or adopt and modify it to suit their
organizational needs. There might also be various methods implemented which are created by

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
the companies for their use. Various methodologies have been introduced which were helpful in
developing the software with very minimal loss and high success. Some of those methodologies
have been explained below:
 Waterfall methodology: As for Langer (2012)’s research, it is concentrated on Waterfall
Methodology. Also called the traditional methodology, this has influenced software
development a lot. Many companies have implemented this methodology. In this
methodology, the software is developed in ten phases, which include the phases
mentioned above. Some of the advantages in implementing this methodology are to be
able to manage resources based on the phase, whereas not being able to see the end
product until the end, not having clear requirements are some reasons why this
methodology would become difficult to rely on.
 Agile Framework: Martin (2003) defines Agile Methodology as a process framework
rather than a methodology. This is the next famous method to be implemented by
numerous software development companies after traditional waterfall methodology.
Within the Agile framework, there have been several different methodologies, of which
Scrum methodology has been very popular recently.
 Scrum Methodology: Scrum was developed by Jeff Sutherland in 1993. This
methodology is implemented at several fixed intervals called Sprints/Iterations. As
identified by Pham (2011) the intended software has to be developed in independent
modules, which is prioritized by the business. So, within the fixed sprint, the
development team attempts in developing and testing the piece of software.
Implementing a software using Scrum methodology has several advantages, which
attracted the industry. Some include being able to see the piece of software during initial

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
stages also, being responsive to change, very aggressive while also being very self-
governing and collaborative for the development team. Hansmann (2010) emphasizes
that implementing this methodology requires expertise and need a complete makeover to
the team, business, and management idea of software development. Several companies
implemented this Scrum methodology and have been successful in developing the
software.
Factors affecting Software Development
A study by Nakki et al. (2011) shows that a successful software has various factors impacting the
development. These factors include well-defined requirements, large teams, large code bases,
etc. Every methodology has tried to address these factors which also help in the success. The
period in which the software is developed has to be very efficiently decided. The number of
resources, budget, and several other factors are affected by the time taken to develop software.
Kohlbacher et all (2011) highlights the importance of changing requirements and its impact on
software development. After the inception, every software development methodology will use
some time to gather the requirements around what software is to be developed, and some key
features are decided. Though the requirements get captured, it doesn't mean that there will be
final. As the project progresses, there is a high possibility that there might be changes to the
requirements. This is common in every industry. But when developing software, these changes
make a huge impact on timelines of the project. Imreh & Raisinghani(2011) states that one of the
reasons Waterfall methodology has become unpopular is because it is least receptive to change,
and every small change in phases after development will have a huge impact on timelines. Also,
one of the reasons Scrum and other Agile methodologies have become popular is because they
are very receptive to changes in requirements. This changed the timelines only a little. As the

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
software is being developed and tested iteratively, the business had a very clear idea of what is
being built and how it can be modified very early in the project.
Research Design and Methodology
Research Worldview
It is very important for any research to follow a Research Methods Worldview.
Depending on the type of research a suitable method can be selected. There are four worldviews
in research namely Postpositivism, Constructivism, Pragmatism, Advocacy/Participatory
(Creswell, J.W. (2009). Postpositivism is based on Objective which is independent of
participants, whereas research method is controlled experiment and survey. In this the method of
data collection is Quantitative. Constructivism is subjective and is dependent on the participants.
Both of these involve both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collections. (Petersen et
al., 2013)
For this study, Constructivism would be used, and the gathered data would be further
analyzed. This will help in validating the impact Scrum Methodology has on software
development regarding software quality, operation costs, and project success.
Research Design
As we discuss on research methods worldview, there are essentially three major types of
research design Qualitative, Quantitative, and mixed method approaches. The research design is
based on Research Worldview chosen for the research. As Newman & Benz, 1998 indicate,
Quantitative and Qualitative approaches are not entirely different, nor opposite of each other. But
there is a third method which is a balanced approach to qualitative and quantitative. This is

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
called a mixed methods research. Quantitative is more towards the use of numerical and
variables whereas qualitative is more words based.
Research Strategy
For this research using a more quantitative approach will give the expected results. Many
variables will be taken into consideration and will be used to perform the research. These
variables will be recorded, measured and analyzed to finally obtain a report which will solve the
purpose of the research. Also, non-experimental research strategy can be used to approach this
research. We can discard experimental research strategy for this research as this will deviate
from the scope of research.
Method of Data Collection
As the non-experimental research strategy is being used for this research, there is no need
to establish the impact of Scrum methodology on software development before performing the
research. This would be a research method which makes use of surveys, questionnaires,
interviews along with numerical data, statistics to come to a quantitative result. For conducting
research using the quantitative method, the questions should be very specific, numerical. There
might be some data available online which can also be used for research. For these purposes,
human participants can be chosen to provide required responses. The participants should be
chosen to include IT professionals both in Technology and Business sectors. This way aspects
like costs involved, quality of software can be evaluated. Along with these, independent scholars,
computer science students will be included in the list. The researcher intends to use 50
participants for surveys, interviews, and questionnaires. The responses will be analyzed without
any bias.

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Method of Data Analyses
After the data collection, the data has to be analyzed to yield expected results. Descriptive
and inferential statistics are two approaches to analyzing the data. The descriptive approach
shows what happens with the sample of data, whereas inferential method is used to further
investigate and drill down to an intended result. For this research as we study the impact, it
would be beneficial to use Inferential statistics approach like this will help in analyzing not only
the collected data but will also enable to further analyze beyond the immediate data.
For the responses from interviews, the conversations will be recorded and transcribed to
ensure no loss of information. These responses then undergo an algorithm which breaks downs
the responses. This will be helpful in performing quantitative analysis on text-based responses.
Also, the surveys and questionnaires will also be broken down to ensure quantitative analysis for
better result outcome. The numerical results then can be analyzed using MS Excel program
which is an available data analysis tool. Using this tool graphs can be created to provide a
pictorial representation of data.
Population (Unit of Analysis)
As this research is conducted on software methodologies, the population for this research
would be organizations, employees, etc. Various researches conducted on software development
available will be analyzed for this research. As far as demographics, this research cannot be
limited to a particular geographical location.
Sample
As the chosen population is wide, a sample of data should be collected and analyzed.
This sample would contain the variables chosen for this research along with small group of
participants from the population. Depending on the type of sample collected, the type of

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
statistical analysis can be chosen. Also, if the chosen sample doesn’t give similar results as the
population then a different analysis needs to be done, and also the sample should be chosen to
include random variables. For this research, two major groups are identified, one group which
are still using Traditional methodologies, whereas the other which uses Scrum for its software
development.
Results
Descriptive analysis
As identified in the previous chapter, the results of this study identified two categories of
groups. Some individuals used the traditional methodologies while others used Scrum
methodology. The participants helped this survey by the recognizing various reason why both
teams ascribed to specific methods. The results involved 40 software developers from different
companies where some described why they used scrum methodology while others waterfall
methodology, basing their arguments on eleven concepts of research. These concepts include:
1. Development of the software through listing down the priority of the modules
(prioritized list).
2. The ability of the development methodology to save time (saving time).
3. The ability of the development methodology to help the team maintain focus (focus
maintenance).
4. The evaluation of the software through the development methodology (evaluation).
5. The ability of the methodology of to adapt to new customer requirement (adaptation
to new requirements).
6. The ability of the methodology to correct mistakes caused during development (Easy
correction of mistakes).

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
7. The ability of the methodology to enhance customer feedback (customer feedback).
8. The ability of the methodology to implement big projects (big projects).
9. Less experience required to yield high quality (team experience).
10. Team leadership required to enhance high quality (team leader).
11. Less commitment required to produce high quality (commitment).
The bar graph above shows results of the research on scrum methodology and waterfall
methodology.
The bar chart shows that 63% of the respondent alluded to the fact that scrum
methodology has better impact in their organization compared to 37% of waterfall methodology.

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
The pie chart below shows the number of organizations that use scrum methodology
compared to those who use waterfall methodology as discovered by the research participants.
Inferential statistics
The data to be analyzed from the sample of 40 different organizations is as given below.
concepts of research scrum waterfall
priotized list 85.70% 14.30%
saving time 75% 25%
focus maintenance 67.50% 22.50%
Evaluation 65% 35%
adaptation to new requirements 90% 10%
Easy correction of mistakes 92.50% 6.50%
customer feedback 92.50% 6.50%
big projects 22.50% 67.50%
team experience 35% 65%
team leader 40% 60%
commitment 22.50% 67.50%
The hypothesis being tested in this research is stated below;
H0: Implementing Scrum methodology has no impact: as there are other methodologies
which may be efficient based on the organizational needs, Scrum may have no impact

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Ha: Implementing Scrum methodology has an impact: As Scrum methodology is efficient in
saving time and resources, this will have an impact on organizations implementing it.
The inferential statistics to tests the hypothesis in this case used Z-test analysis. The test
assumed that the null hypothesis is true with an alpha value of 0.05%. The results is shown
below.
According to the results above, Z-calculated value is 1.7379, Z critical two tail value is
1.95996. The P-value one-tail is 0.04111 while the value of P-value two-tail is o.08222. In this
case, because the P-value are lower than the Z-values, we can reject the null hypothesis and
conclude that the alternative hypothesis is correct. These resulst means that scrum methodology
has an impact.
Discussion
Scrum methodologies
One of the benefits identified by the team who utilize Scrum methodologies is the ability
to create a prioritized wish list. According to the group, when developing the software at the
planning phase, the team picks up a chunk at the top of the wish list identified as sprint backlog
and decides on how to implement the pieces in that chunk. This sprint backlog, helps the team to

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
identify, the most important phases of the software development and also identify the best
priority to implement them.
When developing the software, the team is always provided with certain amounts of time
in which they are expected to complete the development of the software. Scrum methodologies
contain a component called daily scrum which helps in this case. The daily scrum ensures that
the team meets daily to discuss the operations of the day as well as the progress. This action
helps the team to evaluate the time remaining versus the work remaining and plan appropriately.
According to the participants, the Scrum methodology has enabled them to deliver software at
the scheduled time.
The sample participants also identified that a component called scrum master helps the
team to maintain focus. Many traditional development software methodologies do not have a
way to help the team to keep focus which makes the team waste a lot of resources. Identifying
the phases to do on a daily basis is essential as it helps the developers achieve their goals. This
action helps them to maintain their focus together.
At the end of the development cycle, the team must evaluate the program in a module
called sprint review. This evaluation performed before handing over the software to the
customer. Assessment helps the team to maintain credibility with the customers by ensuring that
they test the software before delivering to the customer. This step helps the team or the company
to suffer a bad reputation due to careless mistakes.
The team also identified that scrum is of great importance in a case where a business
requirement documentation from the client is very hard to quantify. In many cases, the client
does not provide the full requirements to the development team. However, the development of

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
the software must continue, and therefore, there should be a way of incorporating new
requirements. Scrum methodology provides an easier way to include the new requirement to the
software that is already in the development cycle. This function helps the customer to exhaust all
the criteria to be implemented in the software.
In another case where the participants identified the usage of Scrum methodology is a
case where the client wants the software developed quickly. Developing the software quickly,
lead the team to make a lot of errors during the development. In this case, Scrum methodology
provides an interface to correct those mistakes quickly.
According to the participant who used Scrum methodology identified that it emphasizes
on the continuous customer feedback. It is critical to understand how the customer feels about
the software at the development phase than wait until the software is completed only for the
customer to reject the developed software. Customer feedback helps development team to
identify the changes to be made to the system earlier. The customer feedback also helps
development team to update the wish list.
However, few challenges were identified by the participants that utilized the Scrum
methodology. One of the problems identified was that Scrum is difficult when implementing big
projects. The team provided the information that they were not able to use Scrum methodologies
because it requires a small team of members who might take a lot of time to complete the
development of the software. Time is a resource that not only does it affects the developer of the
software but also the client who needs the software.
Another challenge identified by the participants is that the development team must be
very committed. In a case where the development team is not a commitment in its development,

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
the results are either incomplete software or a failure to develop the software. However, this is a
problem that cuts across all the development methodologies. The development team must be
committed to improving the software in accordance to the client's specifications.
Another disadvantage identified by the individuals who utilized the Scrum methodology
is that there is no team leader. The team manages itself which is in most cases might end up
losing their focus. The product owner is the one who controls the software to be developed
because he/she is the one who reviews the product and commits the team. The Scrum master
which is a component of the Scrum methodology is the one responsible for managing the process
of the software development which is a problem because it is not dynamic.
Lastly, the participants identified that Scrum methodology requires only an experienced
team. A new member of the team will lead to lower productivity of the team which in turn results
to the team not achieving their goal in time. However, this is another problem that cuts across all
the other development methodologies. All the methods require that all the team members are
experienced and that they can provide their best at a unit time.
Traditional methodologies
The second team identifies that they utilize the traditional methodologies during their
software development processes. One of the advantages determined by the development team is
that using waterfall method; they can implement large software easily. These participants
reported that they develop mostly big software that sometimes might take up to four years to
implement which has made them adapt to the waterfall method.
Another advantage identified by the participant who used the traditional methodologies during
software development is that they can plan before implementation. Those phases identified in

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
waterfall helped them to organize development into several steps which helped them successfully
develop the software.
The waterfall methodology was identified to produce quality software according to the
client’s requirements. However, there are very many challenges that are encountered by the
developers who utilize the traditional methodologies to implement the software development.
One of the challenges identified by the participants chosen is that traditional methodologies do
not provide a way to integrate new requirement from the client. This factor forces the client to
state all the requirements during the development of software requirement documentation. This
element is very unfair because the client might soon identify a new essential demand which
cannot get incorporated in the development of the software. The requirement will not be
integrated because the development will be forced to start again ending up wasting lots of
resources. In this case, the client cannot change his/her requirements that were provided initially.
Another challenge identified by the users of the traditional methodologies is that the
development is not iterative. In this case, the developers of the software do not keep delivering
the partial software to the client to either approve of the complete components or make changes
appropriately. Scrum on the other end accepts the changes readily. Waterfall model, for example,
has a very less user involvement while developing the software. This factor provides the
developers with a risk of the client rejecting the software at the last phase hence ending up
wasting time and resources.
Conclusion
The primary objective of this research was to analyze the impacts of Scrum software
methodology concerning the operation and resources utilized by both the development team and

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
the user of the software. The study has identified various ways in which Scrum has helped the
development of the software by ensuring that the minimum resources get utilized as well as the
client is involved in the whole development process. The usage of the Scrum has enabled the
client to make changes to the first requirement provided to the developer at any time to best fit
his current situation which is not the case with the traditional waterfall methodology. Most of the
challenges identified by the users of the Scrum methodology affect the other traditional methods
hence they cannot be assumed as the rationale for using traditional methods instead of Scrum
methodology.
As identified in the research, time if a factor that affects the development of the software. The
software should be developed within the minimum time to lower the cost of implementation. In a
case where the developers want to save on time as requested by the customer, the Scrum
methodology offers a better way to fix the errors that may arise after development which is not
the case with waterfall methodology. This factor provides such a significant impact on the team
utilizing the scrum methodology rather than the waterfall.
However, there have been several shortcomings that got identified associated with Scrum
methodology, and the company should be careful before implementing the Scrum methodology
in the sense that they can handle the results of the given shortcomings. However, there were a lot
of challenges that were identified by the participants who utilize the traditional methodologies in
the software development processes.
In conclusion, the research has identified that implementation of scrum methodology has
brought efficiency in software development by lowering the cost and increasing the reliability to
the customers thereby, proving the alternative hypothesis by negating the null hypothesis.

Running Head: IMPACT OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Recommendation
I would recommend the usage of scrum methodology to the software development teams
to lower the cost of production, increasing the productivity and also improve reliability and
customer satisfaction.
We have identified that Scrum methodology does not have a project leader. The software
development team should try to come up with a leader who will make sure that everything is
running smoothly. This leader will help because sometimes it is not easy for a team member to
push another team member around to doing any role.
Some software development industries are still using the traditional methodologies in the
development of software because of either the fear changes or because they do not know the
benefits of Scrum methodology. In that case, I would recommend the industries to inquire,
research or organize workshops to learn more about Scrum methodology. This action will ensure
that they are sure of implementing Scrum methodology as a new better way of achieving
software development.
Another shortcoming of Scrum methodology as identified is that Scrum methodology is
hard to get implemented for larger software. There should be research trying to come up with
modules to help the Scrum methodology get utilized in larger software by the introduction of
new modules.
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