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Although organizations allocate substantial resources to software development process initiatives, a significant portion of these projects fail. The U.S. government software development leaders and managers need to understand the disadvantages of both waterfall and agile methodologies as leading indicators of project failure. Grounded in the diffusion of innovation theory, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the consequences in government software development fostered by a hybrid approach of waterfall and agile methodologies pertaining to the inherent shortcomings of each methodology. The participants consisted of four current and four former team members from the U.S. government software development entity. Data were collected using face-to-face interviews and U.S. Department of Defense open-source references. Four themes emerged from the thematic analysis: (a) a hybrid approach is the best of both worlds, (b) agile is better than waterfall, (c) resistance to change, and (d) lack of knowledge of methodologies. U.S. government software development leaders and managers can use these identified strategies to mitigate the weaknesses of both the waterfall and agile methodologies, leveraging their strengths to foster improvements in the government software development industry. The implications for positive social change include the potential for leaders and managers of U.S. government software development entities to implement software development best practices, thereby improving software that benefits service members, government agencies, and allies.