A Case Study in the Banking Sector: An Ontology for the Selection of Agile and Lean Software Development Methodologies

Nowadays, the application of methodologies that allow to guide the process of development of Software in the companies has become a fundamental aspect to achieve the suitable management of the processes in the projects. In view of the diversity of existing methodologies, there is a growing interest in defining strategies that allow the selection and application of the correct methodology, which adjusts to the characteristics of the work teams and the software projects. The aim of this work is to develop an ontology for the selection of the methodology that, according to its principles, is most appropriate and beneficial for the development of software projects. The domain of ontology is limited to the Agile and Lean approaches, without defining for Agile the specific method that it applies, but it involves any method that is governed by the agile values and principles established in the Agile manifesto. Onto-logy is applied in two organizations in the banking sector, allowing recommendations to be inferred for the use of Agile methodology in both, which will make it possible to reduce the delivery time of software products, improve communication between project participants, and facilitate the engineering of requirements. On the other hand, the ontology suggests co-regulating characteristic aspects of the Lean practices in order to minimize costs, optimize processes in the software projects and improve the organizational culture.