research-article

Enhancing agile software development in the banking sector—A comprehensive case study at LHV

Authors:

Ezequiel Scott,

Fredrik Milani,

Dietmar PfahlAuthors Info & Claims

Journal of Software: Evolution and Process, Volume 33, Issue 7

https://doi.org/10.1002/smr.2363

Published: 01 July 2021 Publication History

Abstract

FinTech companies are challenging established financial institutions' dominance by offering the same products with a superior customer experience and delivering new features faster. The adoption of agile software development partially enables this competitive advantage. In response to this challenge, banks explore how they can improve their agile processes. LHV, a mid‐sized bank, uses agile practices but faces the challenge of further improvement to stay competitive with FinTech companies. In this article, we explore how LHV can improve its agile software development process. We conduct a case study at LHV where we first derive eight change proposals based on a literature review and interviews. Then, we report on how LHV implemented the change proposals and their perceived impact. Our results stress the importance of taking a coherent approach to improving agile processes by considering both business units and operations involved in the product life‐cycle. It is also necessary to align organizational structures to enable team autonomy by, for instance, decentralizing decision authority. Finally, it is beneficial to adapt agile practices to their context and have an IT architecture and technology supporting the agile approach.

Graphical Abstract

We conducted a comprehensive case study to enhance the agile software process development at LHV, an Estonian bank. Our results stress the importance of (1) having an organizational‐wide agile mindset; (2) the alignment among organizational structures, products, and practices; (3) the coexistence of different practices and methods; and (4) a technical environment and software architecture that is coherent with the adopted agile practices.

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Cited By

Santokhee AAugusto JBrodie L(2024)Towards engineering higher quality intelligent environments: a multi case study approachSoftware Quality Journal10.1007/s11219-024-09678-032:3(1075-1135)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s11219-024-09678-0
Silva RSouza G(2023)Surveying the Academic Literature on the Use of OKR (Objective and Key Results)Proceedings of the XIX Brazilian Symposium on Information Systems10.1145/3592813.3592934(427-434)Online publication date: 29-May-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3592813.3592934
Vavpotič DBala SMendling JHovelja T(2022)Software Process Evaluation from User Perceptions and Log DataJournal of Software: Evolution and Process10.1002/smr.243834:4Online publication date: 5-Apr-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1002/smr.2438

Index Terms

Enhancing agile software development in the banking sector—A comprehensive case study at LHV
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Management of computing and information systems
      1. Project and people management
      2. Software management
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software creation and management
    1. Software development process management
  2. Software notations and tools
    1. Software configuration management and version control systems

Index terms have been assigned to the content through auto-classification.

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Published In

cover image Journal of Software: Evolution and Process

Journal of Software: Evolution and Process Volume 33, Issue 7

July 2021

129 pages

ISSN:2047-7473

EISSN:2047-7481

DOI:10.1002/smr.v33.7

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© 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

United States

Publication History

Published: 01 July 2021

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Cited By

Santokhee AAugusto JBrodie L(2024)Towards engineering higher quality intelligent environments: a multi case study approachSoftware Quality Journal10.1007/s11219-024-09678-032:3(1075-1135)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s11219-024-09678-0
Silva RSouza G(2023)Surveying the Academic Literature on the Use of OKR (Objective and Key Results)Proceedings of the XIX Brazilian Symposium on Information Systems10.1145/3592813.3592934(427-434)Online publication date: 29-May-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3592813.3592934
Vavpotič DBala SMendling JHovelja T(2022)Software Process Evaluation from User Perceptions and Log DataJournal of Software: Evolution and Process10.1002/smr.243834:4Online publication date: 5-Apr-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1002/smr.2438

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