The Impact of Agile Software Development Approach on Software Developers' Responsibilities

Nowadays, software releases are expected to be produced in highspeed cycles, agile based methodologies are considered as default, and thereupon software developers face new demands and responsibilities. Agile methods give a lot of freedom to the software developers to manage projects and solve problems by themselves. In this paper we surveyed a group of Finnish software developers and asked what kind of tools and software development methods they use in their daily work and commitment to the agile methods. It was found that the developers interact directly with various end-customers and stakeholders, which increased the interaction surface and responsibilities. The software developers' decisions also directly affect the developed systems and processes. They also use numerous tools during their development work to get the needed information. It was also found that agile based rapid delivery approach increases the complexity of system management, need of decision making, and learning.