Comparative Analysis of Agile Methods for Managing Software Projects

The purpose of this paper is to review and compare four of the widely used and referenced agile methods – Spiral model, Dynamic System Development Method, Scrum, and Extreme programming. These four methods are compared based on their process, roles, current research, project management, lifecycle coverage and practices. The result of this paper is a review and comparison of these four models, which shows that neither of the described methods provides full product life-cycle coverage. XP is concluded to be most specific when it comes to practical guidelines, but with a very limited scope. Other methods focus more on abstract principles. Spiral, DSDM and Scrum can be used as frameworks that can use other agile methods. Organizations should use principals and ideas behind these fours methods as inspiration when creating custom tailored development processes. This paper also provides a review of the current research on these four methods, therefore it can be used as a reference work for future studies.