Impact of Turkish National Culture on Agile Software Development in Turkey

Abstract

The effect of national culture in the software development especially in Agile Software Development industry has a considerable place since national culture affects and shapes organizations and individuals. Our study examines the impact of Turkish national culture on Agile software transformations and developments in Turkey, as the first instance in/for Turkey scope, to the best of our knowledge. We conducted semi-structured interviews with fourteen experts in prominent nine companies from three major industries including TechFin, Aviation, and Telecommunication. In the study, motivations of organizations for transforming Agile, challenges with transitioning to Agile, Agile culture specific to Turkey and preferences on Agile frameworks in Turkey were investigated. The results were discussed along with their implications for Agile in Turkey by considering Hofstede's model which is designed to investigate country-level cultural traits. Our results are largely parallel with the existing knowledge of Hofstede Insights specific to Turkish culture, yet we additionally present the impacts of this national culture of Turkey on the country's Agile Software Development. Consequently, it was observed that the national cultural background has a considerable effect on the Turkish Agile software development domain. We have witnessed some similar effects in the Eastern culture as well. By providing the country's cultural patterns through a localized lens, the study may contribute to those who may have a practical interest to Turkish in terms of which potential challenges they need to be prepared for once they move into the adoption of agile working in/with this country and more generally in/with the countries with which has similar cultures as in the Eastern civilizations. Our study also comes with global insights to the other countries in terms of understanding the use of agile methods and practices in companies located outside of the early adopters of agile methods.