THE FIGHT GOES ON: HEAVY VERSUS AGILE METHODOLOGIES

11 December 2001

As the debate over heavy versus agile (light) methodologies continues, Cutter Consortium, for its e-Project Management Advisory Service, conducted a survey to see how people planned to use agile methods in the coming years.

"Survey responses show that project duration and project team sizes are growing," says Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant Robert Charette. "Currently, the average agile-related project is lasting three to six months, and though 60% of projects are still expected to last six months or less in 2003, some 28% are expected to run six months to a year. And also by 2003, 24% of the projects will consist of teams of 21 to 200 people, compared with today's number of 9%."

What is the average length, in months, of projects using agile methodologies?

                               2001             2002           2003
0-1 month                        8%               6%             6%
1-3 months                      30%              29%            25%
3-6 months                      40%              39%            39%
6-9 months                      13%              20%            17%
9-12 months                      7%               6%            11%
Greater than 12 months           3%               1%             3%
[Cutter Consortium]

What is the average number of developers on project teams for projects using agile methodologies?

                       2001             2002           2003
0-2 people              19%               7%             4%
3-10 people             61%              62%            51%
11-20 people            11%              17%            21%
21-50 people             6%               9%            14%
51-100 people            1%               3%             5%
101-200 people           2%               2%             4%
Over 200 people          0%               0%             1%
[Cutter Consortium]

Over the next few years, projects using agile methodologies the most will continue to be small projects and pilot projects. "But the use of agile methods in larger projects seems to be where the future lies," says Charette. "Although only 19% of survey respondents say that agile projects are being used in large projects today, some 42% expect to have large agile projects by 2003."

What type of projects will agile methodologies be used for in your company?

                               2001            2002            2003
Small projects                  57%             62%             53%
Pilot projects                  45%             32%             28%
Faster time to market           41%             47%             53%
e-Projects                      36%             46%             47%
Large projects                  19%             30%             42%
Mission-critical projects       18%             21%             34%
Infrastructure                  15%             26%             33%
[Cutter Consortium]

"So, are we ready to call the fight for agile methodologies?" concludes Charette. "Well, given these results and previous Cutter Consortium data supporting agile methodologies, heavy methodologies look pretty bloodied. But it is important to remember that these trends aren't yet reality. There are organizational barriers in taking on a new approach, no matter how sound that approach may be."

Two hundred companies took part in this survey. Respondents were IS/IT managers of large IT organizations. A large IT organization is defined as having more than 25 people in the IT department.

--Cutter Consortium

[These statistics were taken from Cutter Consortium's Business Technology Trends and Impacts Advisory Service. For more information, please contact Dennis Crowley at +1 781 641 5125 or +1 800 964 5125 or e-mail dcrowley@cutter.com or visit http://www.cutter.com/consortium/index_trends.html.]