Abstract Since the publication of the agile manifesto in 2001, many companies implement an agile—or at least more agile—software development process. However, only including agile methods or practices in the overall process does not guarantee being agile. The mindset of the people involved in the process, including the development team, the customers, and the management, is of particular importance. As such an agile mindset cannot be enforced, the process of creating a suitable mindset needs to be handled with care. In an interview study with nine agile coaches, we analyzed which aspects they perceive being of particular importance during an agile transformation. One of these aspects is the agile mindset. We figure out how they support the creation of such a mindset. We identify 12 categories related to the process of creating an agile mindset. These categories include the collaboration between the coach and the management as well as the necessity to internalize the agile values. The main factor for succeeding with the creation of an agile mindset, however, can be hardly influenced: The success strongly depends on the personal prerequisites and attitudes of the individuals involved in the process, mainly the development team. We synthesize the results of our study into a timeline describing the process of how an agile coach can support the development team creating an agile mindset as part of the transformation towards an agile development process.

Abstract The number of companies that use agile methods increases steadily. However, these companies often do not implement a pure agile approach but combine agile and plan‐based methods to so‐called hybrid development approaches. However, the development of these approaches is rather difficult for the companies, since agile and plan‐based approaches often follow opposite concepts. To benefit from agile and plan‐based approaches at the same time, the companies have to identify and address the conflicts between agile and plan‐based methods. The conflicts depend on the goals that are pursued with the implementation of agile and plan‐based methods. However, there is no overview of the exact goals that are pursued in hybrid approaches and which challenges and conflicts arise with them. Therefore, we conducted a systematic mapping study to gather and analyze the goals and challenges in hybrid development approaches. The mapping study is focused on literature that presents the actual needs and goals of companies and projects. Based on our results, we present the influence factors that cause conflicts in hybrid approaches and discuss how these conflicts can be addressed.

Agile methods were proposed to address the problems of traditional or plan-based software development, e.g., late customer feedback or resistance to change. However, unlike plan-based methods, they are not designed for long-term planning or to cope with large projects. Software companies want the ability of a fast reaction to changes but also the ability of long-term planning. To profit from the strength of both approaches, software companies often use a combination of agile and plan-based methods, called hybrid development approaches. These approaches depend on the respective context of each company. Therefore, the companies have to properly arrange and connect the phases, activities, roles, and artifacts from plan-based and agile approaches individually in their hybrid development approach. This is considered as the organization of hybrid development approaches. However, the organization of hybrid approaches is often difficult for the companies. Until now, research considers only the chosen development methods without the organization of hybrid development approaches. With my work, I want to strengthen the understanding of how hybrid approaches are organized and get a detailed picture of the challenges when organizing hybrid approaches. Based on my findings, I want to develop measures to support practitioners while organizing their development approach.

Agile software development methods promise shorter time-to-market and higher product quality, but lack the ability of long-term planning or coping with large projects. However, software companies often also want the ability of long-term planning, promised by traditional or plan-based methods. To benefit from the strengths of both approaches, software companies often use a combination of agile and plan-based methods, known as hybrid development approaches. These approaches strongly depend on the individual context and are customized. Therefore, companies have to organize their hybrid development approach individually. However, practitioners often have difficulties with the organization of hybrid approaches. The organization considers how the phases, activities, roles, and artifacts are arranged and connected. Research lacks the necessary detailed insight into how hybrid development approaches are organized to support practitioners. To gain better understanding of the organization of hybrid approaches, we conducted a systematic literature review to gather descriptions of hybrid approaches. We analyzed the found papers thoroughly and could identify three general patterns of how hybrid approaches are organized. We found that all these patterns are still based on Royce's waterfall model and use the standard software engineering activities. Our findings shall help to lead further research and help practitioners to better organize their individual development approach.

Abstract Almost all companies struggle with software systems that are getting increasingly complex. Therefore, in particular large companies often use software product lines, which provide an efficient way to manage software reuse as well as the high complexity. However, software product lines seem to be too slow to react to changes. Agile development approaches promise to meet this demand. At the same time, integrating an agile approach is not always easy. Consequently, there is a need for a transformation model that supports the agile transformation without harming the benefits of software product lines. In this paper, we present the results of a literature review regarding agile transformation in large software companies. Our results summarize the insights from 85 papers and present a list of 20 tasks and tasks that are recommended by several researchers to be considered during the transformation. On the basis of these results, we create an agile transformation model—the so‐called “agile hamburger”—that contains these tasks and preserves software product lines. Since the model is rather coarse grained and generic, we also support the adaption to different teams by presenting an assessment model tailored to the demands of the automotive domain.