As we enter 2012, it seems appropriate to revisit a Strategic Planning Assumption made by Gartner in 2010.

By 2012, agile development methods will be utilized in
80% of all software development projects

Drafted by Gartner when entering 2010, this document gives arguments like:
Existing groundwork
The tools needed to support an agile transition become and will become more and more mature while the development teams will desire to come out from heavy development process.
Visible benefits
Organizations that have made ​​the shift recognize that the main visible benefits are the improvement of the productivity and flexibility of the teams but also the reduction of the costs of development and maintenance cumulated.

Necessary warnings related to challenges that organizations will have to face are mentioned like:
Cultural changes
The companies will have to take into account some key cultural elements like among others the team-focused and collaboration cultures, the needed of dedicated resources, the speedup of defects detection…
Achievement price
The price to continue benefit from agility will be concentrated in the necessary investment in training and coaching of teams together with the acquisition of tools enabling the transition.

Finally the utilization of agile development methods seems to be considered as a key driver to avoid in long-term the declining of product quality and to allow a better understanding of the project by the business.

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