Update (04-Nov-2024): Paper is now available on AIS’s ICIS 2024 Proceedings.

Update (31-Oct-2024): the conference schedule has just been released, and I’m speaking on December 18th for those attending.

When I started this particular research project back in early 2022, you obviously have notions about how you think it might turn out. But now, after many rewrites during my doctoral studies and much methodological rigor, it’s still quite amazing to say that my paper accepted at the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) 2024 in Thailand this December.

Co-authored with my PhD dissertation chair Kalle Lyytinen, “Is Agile Software Development Innovative? A Software Developer Perspective” looks at the practitioner and scholarly claims that Agile methods foster creative software development that leads to original software product innovation. Research backing the claim primarily focuses on the effects of Agile practices on team dynamics and customer demands. While recent studies have begun to question the positive impact of Agile methods on creativity and innovation, the experienced impact of agile methods on individual software developer creativity has been neglected. We address whether agile software development supports or inhibits creativity among software developers.

To get at this question, we conducted a field study and using grounded theory analyze 31 open-ended interviews among highly experienced software developers across diverse sectors, organizations, and settings. We find that Agile practices reduce individuals' creativity and possibilities to engage in creative problem solving which hinders developers' engagement in creative processes, curbing radical product innovation. Our study contributes to the IS literature by advancing research on the unexplored topic of whether agile methods promote creativity.

By all accounts, I am very new to the procedural aspect of submitting academic proceedings papers to conferences. I’ve done a few as of late (e.g, Academy of Management, Engaged Management). After minor reviewer notes and one revision, the paper was accepted for publication and for presentation. I’m working on the video (a new requirement for ICIS) and look forward to presenting in Thailand later this year. Very excited on that this paper has found it’s way to ICIS (where Kalle and I originally thought it would belong best).