A Fuzzy AHP-based approach for prioritization of cost overhead factors in agile software development

Agile software development (ASD) is a widely-used practical approach for effective project management that intends to satisfy the client’s needs through continuous testing and frequent delivery. Accurate cost estimation plays a significant role in the success of ASD since the project’s success and failure greatly depend on the hidden cost factors. However, to the best of our knowledge, the current state-of-the-art lacks in considering, validating and prioritizing the critical cost factors helpful in improving the cost estimation accuracy during the ASD process. Thus, there is a need to provide a recent view of the critical factors impacting the cost of agile-based projects. This article provides an up-to-date view of the targeted research context. To accomplish this, we propose a quantitative framework that effectively prioritizes the identified cost factors grounded on the 4Ps (i.e., people, project, process, and product) standard. For identification and validation of the cost overhead factors, we perform a systematic literature review and empirical study in the ASD context. Likewise, the current study classifies and prioritizes the validated factors using a multi-criterion decision making Fuzzy-Analytic Hierarchy Process technique, which effectively rectifies the subjectivity and handles the uncertainty among the identified factors. The implementation results provide a list of prioritized cost overhead factors that would assist agile practitioners during the cost estimation process in the ASD context.