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How to Move from Agile to Agility in Software Organizations

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DOI: 10.54172/mjsc.v38i1.1015

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 Al-Mukhtar Journal of Sciences 38 (1): 30-42, 2023
ISSN: online 2617-2186 print 2617-2178
Journal Homepage https://omu.edu.ly/journals/index.php/mjsc/index
Doi: https://doi.org/10.54172/mjsc.v38i1.1015

How to Move from Agile to Agility in Software Organizations

Sumia A.A Albera*, Samia Abdalhamid and Asma M. Abd Aljalil
Department of Computer Science, Omar Al-Mukhtar University, Al-Bayda, Libya

ARTICLE Abstract: Agility adoption in software development organizations is considered a

HISTORY strong solution to managing a rapidly changing, uncertain, and unsteady workplace.
Especially, as the objective of Agility is to control changes that may happen. So, moving
Received: from Agile to Agility increases the organizations’ ability in swiftly and effectively react
26 September to unexpected variations in market requests. Agile refers to a mindset emphasizing
2022 teamwork, frequent value delivery, and the ability to deal with functional changes. The
Accepted: distinction between Agile and Agility needs to be understood in order to prevent
19 February 2023 misunderstandings, because Agility is recognized as one of the most important attributes
of an organization against market turbulence. Through systematic mapping, this research
explores the transition from Agile to Agility in software development companies.
Keywords: Systematic mapping is a technique for gathering, collating, and presenting research
Agile, evidence. Eight research questions were identified, and to provide answers to these
Agility, questions, several research papers have been explored in electronic databases.
model, Eventually, 33 research papers were inspected, and answers to all research questions
dimensions. were provided. The results that have been achieved by this research proved that Agile
and Agility differ in terms of definitions, attributes, numbers of dimensions, and the
dimensions themselves.
‫ ﻓﻲ ﻤؤﺴسﺎت اﻟبرﻤج�ﺎت‬Agility ‫ إﻟﻰ‬Agile ‫ﻛ�ف�ﺔ اﻻﻨتﻘﺎل ﻤن‬
: ‫اﻟكﻠمـــــﺎت اﻟمﻔتﺎﺤ�ـــــﺔ‬
‫ ﻓﻲ ﻤؤﺴسﺎت ﺘطو�ر اﻟبرﻤج�ﺎت اﻟحﻞ اﻟمنﺎﺴب ﻹدارة اﻟتﻐیرات اﻟسر�ﻌﺔ واﻟﻐیر‬Agility ‫ �ﻌتبر اﻋتمﺎد‬: ‫اﻟمستخﻠص‬
، Agile , Agility
.‫ ﻫــو اﻟســ�طرة ﻋﻠــﻰ اﻟتﻐیـ ـرات اﻟتــﻲ �مكــن أن ﺘح ــدث‬Agility ‫ﻤســتﻘرة ﻓــﻲ ﻤكــﺎن اﻟﻌم ــﻞ ﺨصوﺼــﺎ أن اﻟﻬــدف ﻤ ــن‬
‫ أ�ﻌﺎد‬. ‫ ﯿز�ـد ﻤـن ﻗـدرة اﻟمؤﺴسـﺎت ﻋﻠـﻰ اﻻﺴـتجﺎ�ﺔ اﻟسـر�ﻌﺔ واﻟﻔﻌﺎﻟـﺔ ﻟﻠتﻐیـرات ﻨموذج‬Agility ‫ اﻟـﻰ‬Agile ‫ﻟذﻟك ﻓﺈن اﻻﻨتﻘـﺎل ﻤـن‬
‫ و اﻟتس ــﻠ�م‬،‫ إﻟ ــﻰ طر�ﻘ ــﺔ اﻟتﻔكی ــر اﻟت ــﻲ ﺘش ــجﻊ ﻋﻠ ــﻰ اﻟﻌم ــﻞ اﻟجم ــﺎﻋﻲ‬Agile ‫ �ش ــیر‬.‫اﻟمﻔﺎﺠئ ــﺔ ﻓ ــﻲ ﻤتطﻠ� ــﺎت اﻟس ــوق‬
‫ ﻹ ازﻟـﺔ أي‬Agility‫ و‬Agile ‫ �جـب ﻓﻬـم اﻟﻔـرق اﻟجـوﻫري ﺒـین‬.‫ واﻟﻘدرة ﻋﻠﻰ اﻟتﻌﺎﻤﻞ ﻤـﻊ اﻟتﻐییـرات اﻟوظ�ف�ـﺔ‬،‫اﻟمتكرر‬
‫ ﻤﻌتــرف ﺒﻬــﺎ �واﺤــدة ﻤــن أﻫــم ﺴــمﺎت اﻟتنظــ�م ﻓــﻲ ﻤواﺠﻬــﺔ اﻀــطرا�ﺎت اﻟســوق �ﺎﺴــتخدام‬Agility ‫ ﻷن‬،‫ﻟــ�س ﺒینﻬمــﺎ‬
‫ �ﻌـد رﺴـم‬.‫ ﻓـﻲ ﺸـر�ﺎت ﺘطـو�ر اﻟبرﻤج�ـﺎت‬Agility‫ إﻟﻰ‬Agile ‫ �ستكشﻒ ﻫذا اﻟ�حث اﻻﻨتﻘﺎل ﻤن‬.‫اﻟخ ارﺌـط اﻟ�حث�ﺔ‬
‫ وﻹ�جﺎد إﺠﺎ�ﺎت ﻋـن‬،‫ ﺘم ﺘحدﯿد ﺜمﺎﻨ�ﺔ أﺴئﻠﺔ �حث�ﺔ‬.‫أﺴﻠو�ﺎ ﻟجمﻊ اﻷدﻟﺔ اﻟ�حث�ﺔ وﻤﻘﺎرﻨتﻬﺎ وﻋرﻀﻬﺎ‬ ً ‫اﻟخراﺌط اﻟمنﻬج�ﺔ‬
‫ي‬
‫ ﻓـﻲ ﻨﻬﺎ�ـﺔ‬.‫ﻫـذﻩ اﻷﺴـئﻠﺔ ﺘـم اﻟتحـر و�ﺠـراء د ارﺴـﺔ أوﻟ�ـﺔ ﻓـﻲ ﻋـدة أوراق �حث�ـﺔ ﺘـم ﻨشـرﻫﺎ ﻓـﻲ ﻗواﻋـد ﺒ�ﺎﻨـﺎت إﻟكتروﻨ�ـﺔ‬
‫ اﺜبتت اﻟنتﺎﺌﺞ اﻟتﻲ ﺘم ﺘحق�ﻘﻬﺎ ﻤن ﺨﻼل‬.‫ ورﻗﺔ ﻋﻠم�ﺔ وﺘﻘد�م إﺠﺎ�ﺎت ﻋن ﺠم�ﻊ أﺴئﻠﺔ اﻟ�حث‬33 ‫ ﺘم ﻓحص‬،‫اﻟمطﺎف‬
‫ ﺒـﻞ ان ﻟكـﻞ ﻤنﻬمـﺎ‬،‫ﻋـدد أ�ﻌـﺎد �ـﻞ ﻤنﻬمـﺎ‬، ‫ اﻟسـمﺎت‬،‫ ﺘختﻠﻔﺎن ﻤـن ﺤیـث اﻟتﻌر�ﻔـﺎت‬Agility‫ و‬Agile ‫ﻫذا اﻟ�حث أن‬
.‫أ�ﻌﺎد ﻤختﻠﻔﺔ ﻋن اﻵﺨر‬
steadiness and effectiveness. So Agile
INTRODUCTION development has taken broad steps somewhat
Agile associations implant a common recently, significantly further developing
objective and utilize new information to give programming delivery and establishing more
choice privileges to the groups nearest to the acceptable workplaces in many associations
data. In addition, Agile associations can (Highsmith, 2013). These days, companies
preferably merge speed and adaptability with work in an exceptionally tempestuous climate
adapting to a heightened speed of progress.
*Corresponding author: Sumia A.A Albera: sumia.Albera@omu.edul.ly, Department of Computer Science, Omar Al-Mukhtar
University, Al-Bayda , Libya
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 Al-Mukhtar Journal of Sciences 38 (1): 30-42, 2023

Changes in business climate and doubt have Organizational Agility is firmly obligated to
entered administration studies and exploration notions of adaptability and elasticity and these
for quite a while (Sherehiy et al., 2007). How concepts are sometimes interchangeably
to deal with the acceleration to adapt to utilized to signify the endeavors made by an
expanding dynamism and disturbance of the association for dealing with dynamic and
workplace has been the main determinant of unpredictable changes in the market. In other
an association's prosperity or lack of success words, adaptability and flexibility comprise
for a few decades. These aggressive and two principle attributes crucial for the
stressful conditions power companies to evolution of associations toward
combine new business esteem, increment accomplishing Agility. The most significant
functional proficiency, and recognize and level of development is reflected in the type
promptly react to actual organizational of organizational Agility, which contains the
dangers. In reality, continuing with process two ideas of adaptability and flexibility
association continues to be a struggle, as it (Sherehiy et al., 2007).
requests the high ability of quick adaptation
(Triaa et al., 2016). However, numerous In the way to illustrate the difference between
academics and counselors have been looking Agile and Agility (Park & Cho, 2022)
for fruitful ways to assist companies to explained that the Agile methodology is not
succeed in this quickly changing, doubtful, dependent on academic theories, but rather, it
and unstable workplace. One of the best and is a result of how different technologies and
most current methods of continuity and tools are designed, used, and organized in the
achievement of organizations is Agility, software development business. When it
considered an unavoidable aspect of the comes to the creation of competitive behavior
present forward-looking companies. The and chances for innovation, Agility is the
objective of Agility is to dominate changes capacity of an organization to react rapidly
that may happen. Throughout the most recent and effectively to changes in the market,
twenty years, corporates have concentrated on supply, and demand. Innovation is one aspect
developing the Agility of their business of organizational performance that Agility is
processes over two aspects: organizational known to enhance. Moving from Agile to
and technological levels (Triaa et al., 2016). Agility increases the ability of organizations
to react effectively and swiftly to surprising
Agility is identified as one of the most variations in market requests. Business
significant attributes of an organization in organizations need to adopt Agility to deal
lasting against market turbulence. The idea with unexpected changes in the market. Still,
was first presented by the specialists of the some organizations may have doubts about
Iacocca organization of Lehigh University adopting Agility. For this reason, a systematic
(USA) in the mid-1990s and got significant study was carried out to answer some
consideration from that point forward. questions pertaining to Agile and Agility
(Bottani, 2009; Sherehiy et al., 2007; Yusuf et movement. This systematic study attempts to
al., 1999). Agility is characterized as the evaluate, combine, and present the current
capacity of associations to react powerfully finding. The structure of this paper is
and swiftly to sudden variations in market introduced as follows: Section II illustrates
requests (Bottani, 2009; Harraf et al., 2015). related research; Section III presents the
Such a reaction is directed to satisfying research method; Section IV reports the
diverse client needs relating to item results of the study; Section V contains the
specification, value, quality, amount, and discussion; Section VI contains threats to
delivery (Lyytinen & Rose, 2005). validity; Section VII holds the conclusion,
limitations, and future work.

© 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
31
 Al-Mukhtar Journal of Sciences 38 (1): 30-42, 2023

RELATED WORKS to as the concept of Agility. Agility is quickly

becoming a key business driver for all
Businesses now run in a worldwide and organizations, as well as a critical factor in a
speedily changing environment. They have to company’s ability to survive and thrive in
respond to new chances, changing economic uncertain and volatile markets (Ganguly et al.,
conditions, and the emergence of vying 2009). Many studies have been conducted
services. As software is used in practically all regarding Agile development, Agility
business operations, new software is produced measurement, and the effectiveness of Agile
swiftly to take advantage of new opportunities methods (Gandomani & Nafchi, 2014). But
and adapt to competition pressure. These there are not many studies about the transition
requirements confirm the need to use Agile from Agile to Agility.
software, were Agile methods are incremental
development methods and based on iterative “Agile” does not equate to “Agility”.
delivery of software to customers in which the Following the Agile manifesto in small
increments are short, and new system releases projects can lead to Agility (VanderMeer,
are routinely generated and made available to 2008).
clients every two or three weeks. Customers
are involved in the development process to Customer and employee satisfaction is the
obtain quick feedback on changing goal of an Agile enterprise. An enterprise
requirements. They minimize documentation essentially owns a set of capacities that allow
by using informal communication rather than it to respond appropriately to changes in its
formal meetings with written documents business environment. However, the business
(Sommerville, 2015). conditions in which many companies find
themselves are characterized by volatile and
Agile is primarily intended to serve dynamic irregular demand due to the growing urgency
and small team sizes, which are typically to pursue Agility.
collocated in one location. These
characteristics make Agile methodologies Agility can thus be defined as an enterprise’s
suitable for use in managing small and ability to respond quickly to changes in
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), where the business and customer demands. To be truly
number of members is limited, and the nature Agile, a company should have a number of
of their projects is typically dynamic and distinct Agile enablers (Dahmardeh &
flexible (Bin-Hezam et al., 2018). However, Banihashemi, 2010).
with Agile software development, teams can
quickly adapt to changes in requirements A conceptual model was proposed by
without affecting release dates. Not only that, (Dahmardeh & Banihashemi, 2010; Zhang &
but it also aids in the reduction of technical Sharifi, 2000) for implementing Agility (as
debt, the improvement of customer Figure 1 shows). It consists of three major
satisfaction, and the delivery of a higher- stages: 1. Determining a company’s Agility
quality product. Due to rapid changes in needs and current Agility level; 2.
business organizations as well as the need to Determining the Agility functionalities
respond to these changes, the trend towards required for the company to become Agile; 3.
“Agility” has become important to keep pace Identifying business practices and tools that
with this evolution. The attributes of Agile could bring about recognized capabilities for
supported some business companies and the company. This model improves the fact
factories to apply Agility in their work. that companies which need to achieve Agility
The idea of adjusting to unanticipated must be Agile.
changes has led to the evolution of some
concepts in business strategies and is referred
© 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
32
 Al-Mukhtar Journal of Sciences 38 (1): 30-42, 2023

The author of (Sidky, 2017) presented a

chapter to introduce a transformation
approach for achieving sustainable
organizational Agility. He presents the
organization’s ecosystem, which plays a key
role in the culture of an organization and
subsequently in its Agility. Next, a couple of
common Agile transformation approaches
were explored while highlighting
sustainability challenges with both. Then, the
Figure: (1). Conceptual model for implementing Culture-led Transformation was presented,
Agility (Zhang and Sharifi, 2000) which focuses on changing organizational
habits in a staged approach leading to
Many software engineering researchers have sustainable changes.
focused on measuring the Agility of software
companies. Although a few Agility The Agile Manifesto and Agile Principles are
assessment models have been proposed, they usually used to identify “Agile” and
have significant drawbacks, such as being “Agility”. But, to understand how they can
inconsistent with the Agile approach, having scale Agile Software Development and
less flexibility, having limited scope and achieve Agility, they took a look at the
application, and so on. (Gandomani & Nafchi, available definitions, especially from sources
2014) proposed a model in their paper that that look at Agility from a viewpoint that it is
has none of the disadvantages of the previous more than just one team. They attributed that
models. To create an assessment model, they to the different perceptions that people have
used 44 Agile practices and their values in of “Agile” and “Agility” making deployment
achieving Agility in software companies. The of Agile Methods very hard. The conclusion
proposed model can simply compute a of this study showed that people really do
company's Agility based on the practices that mean different things when they are talking
the company has adopted. about Agile Software Development (Laanti et
al., 2013).
In terms of business management and cultural
lenses, (Karvonen et al., 2018) introduced the MATERIALS AND METHODS
definition of enterprise Agility for analyzing
large-scale Agile transformation. They RESEARCH QUESTIONS
summarized their findings, stating that there
are numerous proportions associated with RQ1. Which journals and conferences are
enterprise Agility, as well as numerous ways more focused on Agile and Agility?
to transform. Agile transformation may focus RQ2. What is the yearly distribution of
on operational, strategic, or cultural aspects of articles?
Agility; however, holistic transformation to RQ3. What is the country-wise distribution?
enterprise Agility requires a sophisticated and RQ4. How many researchers have a long-
unique interplay of all of these elements. term interest in Agile and Agility?
They addressed contemporary challenges RQ5. What are the attributes of Agility?
associated with a large organization's RQ6. Is Agile and Agility the same?
transformation to ‘enterprise Agility’ in the RQ7. Do we need a practical model to
higher education domain. Enterprise Agility achieve organizational Agility?
transformation is difficult because it RQ8. What are the dimensions that each of
necessitates the application of numerous Agile and Agility have?
considerations at the same time.
© 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
33
 Al-Mukhtar Journal of Sciences 38 (1): 30-42, 2023

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Table: (1). Selected databases.

A systematic mapping was used in this paper Source Location

to determine the kind and the extent of the IEEE xplore http://ieeexplore.ieee.org
obtainable research papers to answer the ACM digital http://portal.acm.org
research questions as it is shown in figure 2. Springer ink http://www.springer.com
Science direct https://www.sciencedirect.com
Google scholar https://scholar.google.com
Research gate https://www.researchgate.net

3. Execution In this stage

Different electronic databases were looked
through, utilizing the search string. At first,
around 149 preliminary studies on Agile and
Agility were observed.
Figure: (2). Research Methodology
4. Apply Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria
1. Definition of Research Questions As a rule, each title, abstract, and conclusion
Eight research questions (RQs) were set up to were investigated to distinguish articles that
decide the premier researches that investigate focus on Agile and Agility. Some studies
if Agile is the same as Agility which are: were excluded based on the accompanying
RQ1. Which journals and conferences are rules:
more focused on Agile and Agility? • Studies not presented in English.
RQ2. What is the yearly distribution of • Studies not accessible in full-text.
articles? • Studies not related to the subject
RQ3. What is the country-wise distribution? • Literature review studies
RQ4. How many researchers have a long- The number of papers initially acquired and
term interest in Agile and Agility? later included in this research concentrates
RQ5. What are the attributes of Agility? after applying the exclusion criteria can be
RQ6. Is Agile and Agility the same? shown in table 2.
RQ7. Do we need a practical model to Table: (2). Articles related to Agile and Agility
achieve organizational Agility?
Database Obtained Included
RQ8. What are the dimensions that each of IEEE xplore 30 10
Agile and Agility have? ACM digital 43 4
Springer ink 32 10
Science direct 12 3
2. Define Search technique Google scholar 19 3
A number of keywords and their equivalent Research gate 13 3
words were identified to look for pertinent Total 149 33
papers in electronic databases: "Agile" and
"Agility". A logical operator AND was RESULTS
utilized to make a combination of the
essential terms. The timeframe was set RQ1. Which journals and conferences are
between 1999 and 2021 when this SM was more focused on Agile and Agility?
conducted. During this research, five The most studied papers in the current
electronic databases were chosen, as they are research are conference papers at 52%. The
the most well-known scientific search engines remaining papers are journal publications at
for article locating and publication. The 39%, and others (Books & Workshops) at
chosen databases as displayed in table 1. 9.1%, as displayed in figure 3.
© 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
34
 Al-Mukhtar Journal of Sciences 38 (1): 30-42, 2023

In terms of journal publications, there are

about 2 different papers published in the same
journal which is IEEE Software journal. The
rest of the journals published one paper
related to the study topic as shown in Table 4.

Table: (4). Journals focused on Agile and Agility

Journals Name Number of

Papers
IEEE Software 2
Figure (3). Distribution of Journal & Conference IEEE Transactions on Engineering
1
Management
Technological Forecasting and Social
There are three papers published in the same 1
Change
conference, which is the International Public Relations Review 1
Production Economics 1
Conference on Agile Software Development European Journal of Economics,
conference, and the other three conferences 1
Finance and Administrative Sciences
published two papers. These conferences are: Review of Managerial Science 1
Information Systems Frontiers 1
Conference on Extreme Programming and Research in Engineering Design 1
Agile Methods, Agile Conference, and Technovation 1
International Conference on Software Research Journal of Applied
Engineering. The rest of the conferences Sciences, Engineering and 1
Technology
published one paper, as shown in Table 3. Academy of Management Annual
1
Meeting Proceedings
Table: (3). Conference focused on Agile and Agility
RQ2. What is the yearly distribution of
Number of
Conference Name
Papers
articles?
International Conference on Agile Software
3 The papers included in this study were
Development
International Conference on Software published between 1999 and 2021. The
2
Engineering
Agile Conference 2 highest number of papers was published in
Conference on Extreme Programming and
2
2018 at 4% in comparison with other years, as
Agile Methods shown in figure 4. In the meantime, the most
European Conference on Software Process
Improvement
1 minimal number in this regard, was between
International Conference on System Science, 2001- 2003 and 2011-2012.
Engineering Design and Manufacturing 1
Informatization
IEEE International Conference on
1
Management of Innovation and Technology
Euromicro Conference on Software
Engineering and Advanced Applications 1
(SEAA)
Malaysian Software Engineering Conference
1
(MySEC)
Proceedings of ISSM2000. Ninth
International Symposium on Semiconductor 1
Manufacturing
International Working Conference on
1
Transfer and Diffusion of IT
IFIP International Working Conference on Figure. (4): Number of papers per year
Business Agility and Information Technology 1
Diffusion
AIS SIGSAND Symposium on Research in
RQ3. What is the country-wise distribution?
1
Systems Analysis and Design

© 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
35
 Al-Mukhtar Journal of Sciences 38 (1): 30-42, 2023

The primary authors of the papers included in development of a learning organization

the current study are from thirteen distinct (Harraf et al., 2015).
nations, as displayed in table 5. The vast
majority of the lead authors are from the RQ6. Is Agile and Agility the same?
U.S.A and Portugal, followed by the United
Kingdom as nations having the highest Agility can be identified in software
number of authors in this field of research. development as the capability of a software
developer to feel and respond to advanced
Table: (5). Country wise distribution technical and business chances to remain
inventive and competitive in an unstable and
Country Number of Journals and rapidly changing business climate (Lyytinen
Conference Publications & Rose, 2005). While Agile is a perspective
USA 6 that centers on cooperation, recurrent
Portugal 2 conveyance of value, and the capacity to
manage functionality changes. It comprises
United Kingdom 1
rules, values, methods, and practices. At the
Canada 1 end of the day, Agile is a number of tools and
India 1 strategies that assist us with accomplishing
Ireland 1 Agility (Laanti et al. 2013).
China 1 RQ7. Do we need a practical model to
Singapore 1 achieve organizational Agility?
Austria 1
One of the primary integrated systems to
Malaysia 1
accomplish Agility is presented by
Japan 1 (Gunasekaran, 1998), which shows how the
Argentina 1 fundamental capabilities of Agile
industrialization, for example, collaboration,
worth- based pricing methodologies,
RQ4. How many researchers have a long- investments in individuals and data, and
term interest in Agile and Agility? organizational changes, ought to be confirmed
and integrated with proper lithe empowering
Long-term researchers are important, as they agents to evolve an adaptable association
have a greater chance to follow the area of (Gunasekaran, 1998; Sharifi & Zhang, 2001;
study in more depth, enhancing their results. Zhang & Sharifi, 2000) evolved a 3-step
method to implement Agility in
RQ5.What are the attributes of Agility? industrialization associations, which ties
Agility drivers (i.e., changes or tensions from
In attempting to define the main attributes of the business climate that lead organizations to
Agility, there was an initial analysis of Agile embrace the Agility model) to four
organizations and unification of exploration fundamental Agile attributes, to be specific,
on Agility that has prompted ten tentative responsiveness, capability, elasticity, and
attributes to serve as principal attributes of speed (Sharifi & Zhang, 2001; Zhang &
Agility. These ten attributes are: a culture of Sharifi, 2000).
innovation, empowerment, tolerance for
ambiguity, vision, change management, In addition, one of the studies that propose a
organizational communication, market technique to accomplish organizational
analysis and response, operations Agility is led by (Bottani, 2009). The Author
management, structural fluidity, and the has evolved a model that links Agile attributes
© 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
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 Al-Mukhtar Journal of Sciences 38 (1): 30-42, 2023

to Agile enablers utilizing the quality function journal publications and the remainder are
deployment (QFD) method and fuzzy logic books and workshops at (9.1%).
(Bottani, 2009).
Apparently, as shown in table 3, the
RQ8.What are the dimensions that each of (International Conference on Agile Software
Agile and Agility have? Development) is the most focused conference
on transforming from Agile to Agility, with
Each of Agile and Agility has different three conference papers published.
numbers of dimensions and different Meanwhile, there are three conferences
dimensions. In Agile there are six dimensions (International Conference on Software
which are: Organization, Talent, Technology Engineering), (Agile Conference) and
enablers, Planning and performance (Conference of Extreme Programming and
management, Ways of working, and Risk and Agile Methods), and each one of them
compliance (Siegel, 2020). While, there are published two papers related to the topic of
four dimensions of business Agility which research. IEEE, on the other hand, is the most
are: The degree of Agility, Research & focused in terms of publishing journal papers,
development, Agility, Transformation Agility, where two research papers have been
and Operation Agility (Gagnon & Hadaya, published in the research relating to
2018). transforming to Agility from Agile.

DISCUSSION The study includes papers published between

1999 and 2021. It can be seen from Figure 3
To obtain the research publications on the that in the period 2016 - 2018, the number of
transformation from Agile to Agility, the published papers increased by 4% when
study explores six electronic databases IEEE compared to previous years. Meanwhile, the
Xplore, ACM Digital, Springer, Science periods with the lowest numbers in this regard
Direct, Google Scholar, and Research Gate. were 2001- 2003 and 2011-2012. Which
Initially, there were 149 research studies on means there was an increase. Interestingly,
Agile and Agility. However, only 33 research the great majority of the present study’s lead
publications on the subject topic were authors are from the United States of
retrieved. The title, abstract, and conclusion America, 6 out of 18 authors, which can be
of each paper were examined to filter the seen in table 5. That is one-third of the lead
results and acquire the publications that authors all over the world. Despite the
focused more on the research topic. A necessity of a long-term researcher with a
substantial number of publications were comprehensive understanding of the field and
eliminated because they were not presented in its limitations, our research shows that there is
English, were not publicly available as a full no dedicated author in the field of Agile to
text, or were unrelated to the research subject Agility transition.
(transformation from Agile to Agility).
Following that, a spreadsheet was created to Following an initial analysis of Agile
extract the properties related to the research businesses and organizations as well as the
questions. Generally, as can be seen from consolidation of Agility research, the
table 2, the study discovers that 60.6% of the investigation resulted in ten tentative
results were accessed through IEEE Xplore attributes to serve as the main attributes of
and Springer, while the remaining papers Agility. These ten characteristics are:
were retrieved from the other databases. innovation culture, empowerment, ambiguity
Figure 2 shows that about half of the articles tolerance, vision, change management,
examined in the present study (52%) are organizational communication, market
conference papers, while the (39%) are analysis and response, operations
© 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
37
 Al-Mukhtar Journal of Sciences 38 (1): 30-42, 2023

management, structural fluidity, and the their equivalent words identified with Agile
formation of a learning organization. and Agility are utilized.

(VanderMeer, 2008) found that Agile is not CONCLUSION, LIMITATIONS, AND

equivalent to Agility while doing a detailed FUTURE WORK
theory-based investigation of the “Agile
manifesto” and developing the “Agility In recent years, the software development
principle”. In response to question 8, the industry has seen a significant increase in the
finding shows that Agile and Agility differ in use of Agile methods. Almost all software
terms of the number of dimensions and the companies claim to be ‘’Agile’’ on some level
dimensions themselves. It has been found and employ Agile practices in their software
that: degree of Agility, research and development processes. With globalization,
development Agility, transformation Agility technology, and outsourcing all contributing
and operation Agility are the four dimensions to uncertainty and unpredictability in all
of business Agility (Gagnon & Hadaya, sectors, an organization's ability to adapt to
2018), while Agile has six dimensions which unexpected change is critical to achieving and
are: Organization, Talent, technology enabler, maintaining a competitive advantage. This
planning and performance management, ways concept of adapting to unforeseen changes
of working, and risk and compliance (Siegel, has resulted in the evolution of one of the
2020). most recent concepts in business strategies,
which is known as the concept of ’’Agility’’.
The study addressed the subject of whether or As a result, transitioning from Agile to
not a practical model for organizational Agility improves an organization’s ability to
Agility was required. It was shown that many respond quickly and effectively to unexpected
studies suggest and evaluate practical models variants in business requests.
during their research. (Gunasekaran, 1998)
presents one of the key integrated systems for Our search shows there are no researchers
achieving Agility. In addition, a three steps who have a long-term interest in the
model for implementing Agility in transformation from Agile toward Agility.
industrialized organizations has been This, we believe, is due to the confusion that
developed by (Gandomani & Nafchi, 2014; Agile and Agility are synonyms, which has
Sharifi & Zhang, 2001; Zhang & Sharifi, been discussed in our research and we found
2000) create an assessment model that can that they are not. The findings clearly show
simply be used to compute a company’s that Agile and Agility differ in terms of
Agility based on 44 Agile practices and their definitions, attributes, number of dimensions,
values that have been implemented in the and the dimensions in themselves.
companies’ software.
During the search process, the most popular
THREATS TO VALIDITY electronic databases were searched (IEEE
Xplore, ACM Digital, Springer, Science
The validity issues are fundamentally in the Direct, Google Scholar, and Research Gate).
papers' picked cycle. Especially, the issue However, we might have missed some related
identified with the chance of losing relevant papers published in these databases during the
papers. To ensure the totality of our paper elimination process either because of the
archive, the most known scholarly web constraints imposed by some of them, such as
indexes, including IEEE Xplore, Research the paper’s full-text accessibility, or because
gate, and so forth, are chosen. In addition, they were not written in English . In terms of
different mixes of the subject of interest and future work, examining the success and
failure factors of adopting Agility in software
© 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
38
 Al-Mukhtar Journal of Sciences 38 (1): 30-42, 2023

organizations would be interesting. As a Gandomani, T. J., & Nafchi, M. Z. (2014).

result, these factors can be used to measure Agility assessment model to measure
the success of software organizations that Agility degree of Agile software
have adopted Agility. Also, further research companies. Indian Journal of Science
needs to be done to know if Agility can work and Technology, 7(7), 955-959.
well with large organizations.
Ganguly, A., Nilchiani, R., & Farr, J. V.
Duality of interest: The authors declare that (2009). Evaluating agility in corporate
they have no duality of interest associated enterprises. International journal of
with this manuscript. production Economics, 118(2), 410-
423.
Author contributions: Sumia Albera &
Samia. Abdalhamid conceived & design of Gunasekaran, A. (1998). Agile
the study, starting with collected the data, manufacturing: enablers and an
then performed the analysis using analysis implementation framework.
tools, and approval of the final version of the International journal of production
manuscript, Asma Abd-Aljalil Interpreted of research, 36(5), 1223-1247.
data, drafted the manuscript/revising for
important intellectual context and approval of Harraf, A., Wanasika, I., Tate, K., & Talbott,
the final version of the manuscript K. (2015). Organizational agility.
Journal of Applied Business Research
Funding: There is no funding or support for (JABR), 31(2), 675-686.
this manuscript.
Highsmith, J. (2013). Adaptive leadership:
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