{"id":8017803,"date":"2015-08-07T10:57:49","date_gmt":"2015-08-07T17:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test-agilealliance.pantheonsite.io\/?post_type=aa_research_paper&#038;p=8017803"},"modified":"2023-08-29T09:36:16","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T16:36:16","slug":"explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change","status":"publish","type":"aa_research_paper","link":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/resources\/research-papers\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Explaining Agility with a Process Theory of Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Agile approaches have been widely adopted, our theoretical understanding of their foundations and impacts remains limited. This is due to conflating two entirely different meanings of \u201cAgile.\u201d We therefore unpack these two meanings and present our tentative understanding as a process theory. The theory posits that agility emerges from a dialectic interplay between recognizing and responding to needs for changes. Meanwhile, rather than directly affecting success, agility moderates the negative effects of the need for change on success. Viewing agility this way helps address the research-practice gap by highlighting the need for skepticism of methods and practices, and by suggesting practically relevant research questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-7387b849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Michael Wufka<\/strong><br>Department of Computing Science and Information Systems<br>Douglas College<br>New Westminster, Canada<br>wufkam@douglascollege.ca<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\">Paul Ralph<br>Department of Computer Science<br>University of Auckland<br>Auckland, New Zealand<br>paul@paulralph.name<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While Agile approaches have been widely adopted, our theoretical understanding of their foundations and impacts remains limited. This is due to conflating two entirely different meanings of \u201cAgile.\u201d We therefore [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6000331,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"tags":[],"content_source":[186],"class_list":["post-8017803","aa_research_paper","type-aa_research_paper","status-publish","hentry","content_source-agile2015"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 4.9.10 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While Agile approaches have been widely adopted, our theoretical understanding of their foundations and impacts remains limited. This is due to conflating two entirely different meanings of \u201cAgile.\u201d We therefore unpack these two meanings and present our tentative understanding as a process theory. The theory posits that agility emerges from a dialectic interplay between recognizing\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Agile Alliance\"\/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/resources\/research-papers\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\/\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 4.9.10\" \/>\n\n\t\t<!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics -->\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/www.googletagmanager.com\/gtag\/js?id=UA-17319182-1\"><\/script>\n<script>\n window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];\n function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}\n gtag('js', new Date());\n\n gtag('config', 'UA-17319182-1');\n<\/script>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Agile Alliance | Promoting a more effective, humane, and sustainable way of working\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Explaining Agility with a Process Theory of Change | Agile Alliance\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While Agile approaches have been widely adopted, our theoretical understanding of their foundations and impacts remains limited. This is due to conflating two entirely different meanings of \u201cAgile.\u201d We therefore unpack these two meanings and present our tentative understanding as a process theory. The theory posits that agility emerges from a dialectic interplay between recognizing\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/resources\/research-papers\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\/\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aafix23.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/agile-logo-new-1200x28-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:secure_url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aafix23.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/agile-logo-new-1200x28-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-07T17:57:49+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-29T16:36:16+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/agileallianceofficial\/\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AgileAlliance\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Explaining Agility with a Process Theory of Change | Agile Alliance\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"While Agile approaches have been widely adopted, our theoretical understanding of their foundations and impacts remains limited. This is due to conflating two entirely different meanings of \u201cAgile.\u201d We therefore unpack these two meanings and present our tentative understanding as a process theory. The theory posits that agility emerges from a dialectic interplay between recognizing\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aafix23.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/agile-logo-new-1200x28-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"aioseo-schema\">\n\t\t\t{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/resources\\\/research-papers\\\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\\\/#breadcrumblist\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org#listItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/sources\\\/agile2015\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Agile2015\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/sources\\\/agile2015\\\/#listItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Agile2015\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/sources\\\/agile2015\\\/\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/resources\\\/research-papers\\\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Explaining Agility with a Process Theory of Change\"},\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org#listItem\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/resources\\\/research-papers\\\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\\\/#listItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Explaining Agility with a Process Theory of Change\",\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/sources\\\/agile2015\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Agile2015\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Agile Alliance\",\"description\":\"Promoting a more effective, humane, and sustainable way of working\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/pmi-aa-logo-temp.png\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/resources\\\/research-papers\\\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\\\/#organizationLogo\",\"width\":798,\"height\":252,\"caption\":\"NOT FINAL\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/resources\\\/research-papers\\\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\\\/#organizationLogo\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/agileallianceofficial\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pinterest.com\\\/agilealliance\\\/_created\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/4860067\\\/admin\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/author\\\/6000331#author\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/author\\\/6000331\",\"name\":\"Agile Alliance\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/resources\\\/research-papers\\\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\\\/#authorImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6bcf4ab09b16c1463bc4f72064fcfc0d9c53fa76d9b63c193eb30cf55bd5c021?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"Agile Alliance\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/resources\\\/research-papers\\\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\\\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/resources\\\/research-papers\\\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\\\/\",\"name\":\"Explaining Agility with a Process Theory of Change | Agile Alliance\",\"description\":\"While Agile approaches have been widely adopted, our theoretical understanding of their foundations and impacts remains limited. This is due to conflating two entirely different meanings of \\u201cAgile.\\u201d We therefore unpack these two meanings and present our tentative understanding as a process theory. The theory posits that agility emerges from a dialectic interplay between recognizing\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/#website\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/resources\\\/research-papers\\\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\\\/#breadcrumblist\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/author\\\/6000331#author\"},\"creator\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/author\\\/6000331#author\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-07T10:57:49-07:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-29T09:36:16-07:00\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Agile Alliance\",\"description\":\"Promoting a more effective, humane, and sustainable way of working\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/#organization\"}}]}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO -->\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"Explaining Agility with a Process Theory of Change | Agile Alliance","description":"While Agile approaches have been widely adopted, our theoretical understanding of their foundations and impacts remains limited. This is due to conflating two entirely different meanings of \u201cAgile.\u201d We therefore unpack these two meanings and present our tentative understanding as a process theory. The theory posits that agility emerges from a dialectic interplay between recognizing","canonical_url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/resources\/research-papers\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\/","robots":"max-image-preview:large","keywords":"","webmasterTools":{"miscellaneous":"&lt;!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics --&gt;\n&lt;script async src=\"https:\/\/www.googletagmanager.com\/gtag\/js?id=UA-17319182-1\"&gt;&lt;\/script&gt;\n&lt;script&gt;\n&nbsp;window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];\n&nbsp;function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}\n&nbsp;gtag('js', new Date());\n\n&nbsp;gtag('config', 'UA-17319182-1');\n&lt;\/script&gt;"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/resources\/research-papers\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\/#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org#listItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/sources\/agile2015\/#listItem","name":"Agile2015"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/sources\/agile2015\/#listItem","position":2,"name":"Agile2015","item":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/sources\/agile2015\/","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/resources\/research-papers\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\/#listItem","name":"Explaining Agility with a Process Theory of Change"},"previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org#listItem","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/resources\/research-papers\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\/#listItem","position":3,"name":"Explaining Agility with a Process Theory of Change","previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/sources\/agile2015\/#listItem","name":"Agile2015"}}]},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/#organization","name":"Agile Alliance","description":"Promoting a more effective, humane, and sustainable way of working","url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/pmi-aa-logo-temp.png","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/resources\/research-papers\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\/#organizationLogo","width":798,"height":252,"caption":"NOT FINAL"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/resources\/research-papers\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\/#organizationLogo"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/agileallianceofficial\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/agilealliance\/_created\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/4860067\/admin\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/author\/6000331#author","url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/author\/6000331","name":"Agile Alliance","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/resources\/research-papers\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\/#authorImage","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6bcf4ab09b16c1463bc4f72064fcfc0d9c53fa76d9b63c193eb30cf55bd5c021?s=96&d=mm&r=g","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"Agile Alliance"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/resources\/research-papers\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/resources\/research-papers\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\/","name":"Explaining Agility with a Process Theory of Change | Agile Alliance","description":"While Agile approaches have been widely adopted, our theoretical understanding of their foundations and impacts remains limited. This is due to conflating two entirely different meanings of \u201cAgile.\u201d We therefore unpack these two meanings and present our tentative understanding as a process theory. The theory posits that agility emerges from a dialectic interplay between recognizing","inLanguage":"en-US","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/#website"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/resources\/research-papers\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\/#breadcrumblist"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/author\/6000331#author"},"creator":{"@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/author\/6000331#author"},"datePublished":"2015-08-07T10:57:49-07:00","dateModified":"2023-08-29T09:36:16-07:00"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/","name":"Agile Alliance","description":"Promoting a more effective, humane, and sustainable way of working","inLanguage":"en-US","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/#organization"}}]},"og:locale":"en_US","og:site_name":"Agile Alliance | Promoting a more effective, humane, and sustainable way of working","og:type":"article","og:title":"Explaining Agility with a Process Theory of Change | Agile Alliance","og:description":"While Agile approaches have been widely adopted, our theoretical understanding of their foundations and impacts remains limited. This is due to conflating two entirely different meanings of \u201cAgile.\u201d We therefore unpack these two meanings and present our tentative understanding as a process theory. The theory posits that agility emerges from a dialectic interplay between recognizing","og:url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/resources\/research-papers\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\/","og:image":"https:\/\/www.aafix23.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/agile-logo-new-1200x28-1.jpg","og:image:secure_url":"https:\/\/www.aafix23.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/agile-logo-new-1200x28-1.jpg","article:published_time":"2015-08-07T17:57:49+00:00","article:modified_time":"2023-08-29T16:36:16+00:00","article:publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/agileallianceofficial\/","twitter:card":"summary_large_image","twitter:site":"@AgileAlliance","twitter:title":"Explaining Agility with a Process Theory of Change | Agile Alliance","twitter:description":"While Agile approaches have been widely adopted, our theoretical understanding of their foundations and impacts remains limited. This is due to conflating two entirely different meanings of \u201cAgile.\u201d We therefore unpack these two meanings and present our tentative understanding as a process theory. The theory posits that agility emerges from a dialectic interplay between recognizing","twitter:image":"https:\/\/www.aafix23.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/agile-logo-new-1200x28-1.jpg"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"8017803","title":null,"description":null,"keywords":[],"keyphrases":{"focus":{"keyphrase":"","score":0,"analysis":{"keyphraseInTitle":{"score":0,"maxScore":9,"error":1}}},"additional":[]},"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"og_object_type":"default","og_image_type":"default","og_image_url":null,"og_image_width":null,"og_image_height":null,"og_image_custom_url":null,"og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":"","og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":null,"og_article_tags":[],"twitter_use_og":true,"twitter_card":"default","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"WebPage","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[]},"schema_type":null,"schema_type_options":null,"pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":"-1","robots_max_videopreview":"-1","robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":"default","local_seo":null,"breadcrumb_settings":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"ai":null,"created":"2021-02-02 20:36:02","updated":"2025-06-23 10:45:22","seo_analyzer_scan_date":null},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"<div class=\"aioseo-breadcrumbs\"><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\" title=\"Home\">Home<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/sources\/agile2015\/\" title=\"Agile2015\">Agile2015<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\tExplaining Agility with a Process Theory of Change\n\t\t<\/span><\/div>","aioseo_breadcrumb_json":[{"label":"Home","link":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org"},{"label":"Agile2015","link":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/sources\/agile2015\/"},{"label":"Explaining Agility with a Process Theory of Change","link":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/resources\/research-papers\/explaining-agility-with-a-process-theory-of-change\/"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aa_research_paper\/8017803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aa_research_paper"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/aa_research_paper"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6000331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8017803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aa_research_paper\/8017803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8017803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8017803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8017803"},{"taxonomy":"content_source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_source?post=8017803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}