Improved software development methods driving industry competitiveness: scaling agile methods

Agile software development methods are the most popular used today. However, agile methods were initially thought to be limited to small projects with co-located teams, in non-safety-critical domains. In the past 10 years, our research has focused on the first two constraints; agile methods are now often used for large projects with distributed development teams. The use of agile methods in regulated environments represents the final frontier. Recently, we embarked on a study of the use of agile methods in QUMAS, a leading supplier of Quality Management and Compliance Solutions for the life-sciences/pharma domain. We created a new agile method which has yielded positive impacts including quicker customer feedback and a shorter regulatory conformance assessment process. Furthermore, QUMAS were recently acquired by a larger overseas company, and used this research to prove the expertise of the Irish software development function, strengthening the case for retaining high value jobs in Ireland.