How Software Development Methodologies Affect Dynamic Capabilities Under Extreme Contexts: A COVID-19 Study on Agile and Waterfall Methodologies

Abstract

Software development methodologies affect different aspects of software as a service companies. This research studies a particular effect – how a software development methodology affects dynamic capabilities of a company. Another aspect that this research studies is whether these effects would be different under different contexts – normal and extreme contexts. In this research, a real-life case company is studied, which survived through the COVID-19 pandemic. It is analysed how the software development methodology helped and evolved, and how the effects of the methodology on dynamic capabilities changed.

The research will first include some theoretical background and propose a framework. Then, the empirical part will come in through a series of interviews. The coding structure of the interviews will be laid out and the study results will be analysed. Then discussions and conclusions will be made.

Main conclusions of this research revolve around the notion that the software development methodologies do affect the dynamic capabilities differently and these effects do change over time, depending on the evolutionary stages of the company, team, product, and the contexts that the company and team operate in. How and why these changes may happen is discussed further.