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ABSTRACT
Achieving customer satisfaction by meeting client demand within a stipulated time frame is a major challenge for any organization. To this end, many organizations are showing a greater inclination to adopt agile testing. This is especially true of information technology (IT) firms that have clients in the services and manufacturing sectors. This study focuses on the implications of agile testing attributes across different phases of IT development and maintenance projects in the services and manufacturing sectors in India. Taking an empirical approach, it examines the impact and implications of five key agile testing attributes aimed at achieving higher customer satisfaction. One-way ANOVA is used to analyze the variances. From the findings, significant differences were identified among the attributes, both in terms of types and phases of projects. The outcomes reveal that the five attributes exhibit significant differences across project phases. These contribute to creation of a handy managerial framework for prioritizing the project-specific agile testing attributes.
Keywords: Agile testing, software development, customer satisfaction, services industry, manufacturing industry
1. INTRODUCTION
Continuous dynamic changes in today's business environment pose a challenge to business entities in terms of their readiness and flexibility to adapt to such changes in order to maintain their competitive advantage. The information technology (IT) services sector is no exception. As the needs of their clients change, so do their requirements. Such circumstances demand innovative and flexible approaches to incorporate changes in a fast and reliable manner. A close look at the software industry reveals a transformation, especially in the case of client-centric projects, with regard to clear articulation of the new order of thinking and working [exemplified by dynamic approaches like Scrum and Extreme programming (XP)]. These new approaches are called "agile."
The rise of the "agile" era made "agile" a buzz word and opened the door for parallel and dynamic service development, maintenance, and support. Agile approaches can manage constantly changing needs and requirements because they lack the disadvantages of traditional linear methodologies such as the waterfall model. These disadvantages include prolonged time requirements, less flexibility, and concrete phased processes. Because agile approaches are supported by the principles of transparency, responsiveness, collaboration, and iteration, they are close to the hearts of managers and clients. Agile approaches are being implemented in...