Why Does the Engineering Manager Still Exist in Agile Software Development?

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2510.03920v1
• Date: Sat, 04 Oct 2025 19:52:11 GMT
• Title: Why Does the Engineering Manager Still Exist in Agile Software Development?
• Abstract summary: Although Agile methodologies emphasize decentralized decision-making and team autonomy, engineering managers continue to be employed in Agile software organizations.<n>This apparent paradox suggests that traditional managerial functions persist despite the theoretical displacement of managerial hierarchy in Agile.<n>We propose a conceptual model that reconciles Agile principles with managerial necessity, offering guidance for practitioners, researchers, and tool designers.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Although Agile methodologies emphasize decentralized decision-making and team autonomy, engineering managers continue to be employed in Agile software organizations. This apparent paradox suggests that traditional managerial functions persist despite the theoretical displacement of managerial hierarchy in Agile. This paper explores the persistence of engineering managers through a multidimensional framework encompassing historical context, theoretical tensions, organizational realities, empirical evidence, evolving managerial roles, and practical implications. A systematic literature review underpins our multifaceted analysis, supplemented by illustrative case studies. We conclude by proposing a conceptual model that reconciles Agile principles with managerial necessity, offering guidance for practitioners, researchers, and tool designers. Implications for leadership development, tool integration, and future research are discussed.

Related papers

• Spec-Driven Development for Agentic Software Engineering: Harnessing Human-Agent Teamwork [0.0]
  Spec-Driven Development (SDD) is an enabling discipline for at team scale.<n>This paper aims to establish the conceptual and methodological foundations of SDD.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-08-31T18:52:53Z)
• Human-AI Collaboration and the Transformation of Software Engineering Work [0.0]
  The integration of Generative AI (GenAI) and Agentic AI into software development is reconfiguring software engineering.<n>We map which traditional activities are being automated, which are being augmented, and which are newly emerging.<n>We derive nine empirically testable propositions and articulate implications for theory, industry workforce transformation, university curricula, and organizational leadership.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-06-02T09:36:39Z)
• What Characterizes a Software Leader? Identifying Leadership Practices from Practitioners Social Media [0.0]
  We conducted a content analysis of 116 practitioner-authored articles published on the Dev.to online community.<n>We identified 103 practices for software project leaders, distinguished between recommended and discouraged ones.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-04-30T20:12:45Z)
• Rethinking Software Engineering for Agentic AI Systems [0.0]
  Large language models and agentic AI systems have created an unprecedented abundance of automatically generated code.<n>This paper examines whether the discipline should be reoriented around orchestration, verification, and human-AI collaboration.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-04-12T12:08:53Z)
• Agentic Reasoning for Large Language Models [122.81018455095999]
  Reasoning is a fundamental cognitive process underlying inference, problem-solving, and decision-making.<n>Large language models (LLMs) demonstrate strong reasoning capabilities in closed-world settings, but struggle in open-ended and dynamic environments.<n>Agentic reasoning marks a paradigm shift by reframing LLMs as autonomous agents that plan, act, and learn through continual interaction.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-01-18T18:58:23Z)
• Revisiting Software Engineering Education in the Era of Large Language Models: A Curriculum Adaptation and Academic Integrity Framework [0.0]
  This paper proposes a theoretical framework for analyzing how generative AI alters core software engineering competencies.<n> Attention is given to computer engineering programs in Turkey, where centralized regulation, large class sizes, and exam-oriented assessment practices amplify these challenges.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-01-06T22:41:47Z)
• A Survey of Vibe Coding with Large Language Models [93.88284590533242]
  "Vibe Coding" is a development methodology where developers validate AI-generated implementations through outcome observation.<n>Despite its transformative potential, the effectiveness of this emergent paradigm remains under-explored.<n>This survey provides the first comprehensive and systematic review of Vibe Coding with large language models.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-10-14T11:26:56Z)
• A Comprehensive Survey on Benchmarks and Solutions in Software Engineering of LLM-Empowered Agentic System [56.40989626804489]
  This survey provides the first holistic analysis of Large Language Models-powered software engineering.<n>We review over 150 recent papers and propose a taxonomy along two key dimensions: (1) Solutions, categorized into prompt-based, fine-tuning-based, and agent-based paradigms, and (2) Benchmarks, including tasks such as code generation, translation, and repair.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-10-10T06:56:50Z)
• The Integration of Agile Methodologies in DevOps Practices within the Information Technology Industry [0.0]
  The demand for rapid software delivery in the Information Technology (IT) industry has significantly intensified.<n> Agile methodologies are replacing traditional approaches such as Waterfall.<n>This study aims to critically assess both Agile and DevOps practices in the IT industry.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-08-29T17:49:54Z)
• A Survey on Code Generation with LLM-based Agents [61.474191493322415]
  Code generation agents powered by large language models (LLMs) are revolutionizing the software development paradigm.<n>LLMs are characterized by three core features.<n>This paper presents a systematic survey of the field of LLM-based code generation agents.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-07-31T18:17:36Z)
• Position Paper: Towards Open Complex Human-AI Agents Collaboration System for Problem-Solving and Knowledge Management [0.48342038441006807]
  This position paper critically surveys a broad spectrum of recent empirical developments on human-AI agents collaboration.<n>We propose a novel conceptual architecture that systematically interlinks the technical details of multi-agent coordination, knowledge management, cybernetic feedback loops, and higher-level control mechanisms.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-04-24T05:57:03Z)
• Large Language Model Agent: A Survey on Methodology, Applications and Challenges [88.3032929492409]
  Large Language Model (LLM) agents, with goal-driven behaviors and dynamic adaptation capabilities, potentially represent a critical pathway toward artificial general intelligence.<n>This survey systematically deconstructs LLM agent systems through a methodology-centered taxonomy.<n>Our work provides a unified architectural perspective, examining how agents are constructed, how they collaborate, and how they evolve over time.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-03-27T12:50:17Z)
• Using Agile Story Points and Game Theory Together: Better Software Planning and Development in Agile Software Development [0.0]
  This study integrates key concepts from Agile software development, Story Point estimation, and Game Theory. We propose the application of game theoretic strategies, notably the Vickrey Auction and Stag Hunt Game.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-08-30T18:32:14Z)
• Igniting Language Intelligence: The Hitchhiker's Guide From Chain-of-Thought Reasoning to Language Agents [80.5213198675411]
  Large language models (LLMs) have dramatically enhanced the field of language intelligence. LLMs leverage the intriguing chain-of-thought (CoT) reasoning techniques, obliging them to formulate intermediate steps en route to deriving an answer. Recent research endeavors have extended CoT reasoning methodologies to nurture the development of autonomous language agents.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-11-20T14:30:55Z)
• Towards a General Framework for Continual Learning with Pre-training [55.88910947643436]
  We present a general framework for continual learning of sequentially arrived tasks with the use of pre-training. We decompose its objective into three hierarchical components, including within-task prediction, task-identity inference, and task-adaptive prediction. We propose an innovative approach to explicitly optimize these components with parameter-efficient fine-tuning (PEFT) techniques and representation statistics.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-10-21T02:03:38Z)
• Xcrum: A Synergistic Approach Integrating Extreme Programming with Scrum [0.0]
  This article aims to provide an overview of two prominent Agile methodologies: Scrum and Extreme Programming (XP) The integration of XP practices into Scrum has given rise to a novel hybrid methodology known as "Xcrum" It should be highlighted that, given this new approach's incorporation of the strengths of both methods, it holds the potential to outperform the original frameworks.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-10-05T01:39:10Z)
• AI for Agile development: a Meta-Analysis [0.0]
  This study explores the benefits and challenges of integrating Artificial Intelligence with Agile software development methodologies. The review helped identify critical challenges, such as the need for specialised socio-technical expertise. Further research is needed to better understand its impact on processes and practitioners, and to address the indirect challenges associated with its implementation.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-05-14T08:10:40Z)
• Empowered and Embedded: Ethics and Agile Processes [60.63670249088117]
  We argue that ethical considerations need to be embedded into the (agile) software development process. We put emphasis on the possibility to implement ethical deliberations in already existing and well established agile software development processes.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-07-15T11:14:03Z)

This list is automatically generated from the titles and abstracts of the papers in this site.

This site does not guarantee the quality of this site (including all information) and is not responsible for any consequences.