Beyond the customer: Opening the agile systems development process

Context

A particular strength of agile systems development approaches is that they encourage a move away from ‘introverted’ development, involving the customer in all areas of development, leading to more innovative and hence more valuable information system. However, a move toward open innovation requires a focus that goes beyond a single customer representative, involving a broader range of stakeholders, both inside and outside the organisation in a continuous, systematic way.

Objective

This paper provides an in-depth discussion of the applicability and implications of open innovation in an agile environment.

Method

We draw on two illustrative cases from industry.

Results

We highlight some distinct problems that arose when two project teams tried to combine agile and open innovation principles. For example, openness is often compromised by a perceived competitive element and lack of transparency between business units. In addition, minimal documentation often reduce effective knowledge transfer while the use of short iterations, stand-up meetings and presence of on-site customer reduce the amount of time for sharing ideas outside the team.

Conclusion

A clear understanding of the inter- and intra-organisational applicability and implications of open innovation in agile systems development is required to address key challenges for research and practice.