(IJACSA) International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications Vol. 14, No. 7, 2023 802 | Page www.ijacsa.thesai.org The Essence of Software Engineering Framework-based Model for an Agile Software Development Method Teguh Raharjo 1 , Betty Purwandari 2 , Eko K. Budiardjo 3 , Rina Yuniarti 4 Faculty of Computer Science, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia 1, 2, 3, 4 Abstract—Agile development's rapid growth is due to its ability to address complex problems and facilitate a smooth transition from traditional methods. However, no single Agile method can fit every organization, which leads to a lack of adoption guidelines. It triggers this investigation by proposing an Agile development method model based on the Essence of software engineering framework and incorporating the common ground of popular methods such as Scrum, Kanban, Extreme programming, SAFe, Less, Nexus, Spotify Agile, Scrum of Scrums, and Disciplined Agile. The Essence of software engineering framework provides an approach for organizations to develop software development methods based on common ground or shared understanding among methods. We enhance this approach for Agile methods, resulting in a model to support organizations in developing their Agile methods and practices. Moreover, Design Science Research (DSR) was employed as a methodology to construct the artifact, demonstration, and evaluation. We demonstrated the model in an Agile product development at a national-wide bank in Indonesia. This investigation enhances Agile methods in SWEBOK's Software Engineering Models and Methods knowledge area, benefiting academics and practitioners. Practitioners can use the model as a reference to implement their Agile projects. Keywords—Agile; common ground; the essence of software engineering framework; Design Science Research (DSR) I. INTRODUCTION At present, the development of the Agile approach is very rapid in organizations [1]. This approach has a significant influence on the growth of businesses and the performance of projects, enabling them to tackle complex problems in an era of rapid disruptions [2]. The concept of Agile innovation teams, aimed at maintaining proximity to customers and swiftly adapting to evolving business conditions, is already well-known to most management levels [3]. Moreover, a captivating study conducted across multiple organizations revealed that companies that cultivate an adaptive Agile culture witnessed revenue growth exceeding the pace multiple times [4]. Therefore, the Agile approach must be scaled up at the enterprise level to handle multiple teams and projects. While organizations are transitioning to Agile, they are also looking to scale up [5]. The scaling approach provides value and benefits to the business operations and supports [6]. The organization could adopt the Agile methods to perform Agile implementation. Although several Agile methods offer the solutions, such as Scrum, Kanban, Extreme programming, SAFe, LeSS, Disciplice Agile, Nexus, and Spotify Agile, no single Agile method can fit every organization [7], which leads to a lack of adoption guidelines. To the best of our knowledge, there is no common ground or shared understanding of the Agile methods or the guideline for the organization to adopt the methods, as shown in Fig. 1. This is the problem we need to solve. Fig. 1. The problem needs to be solved No studies currently explore a model for Agile methods in organizations. The Essence provides a common ground for all methods in software engineering [8]. It offers a thinking framework for the team to collaborate; resources for discussing, improving, comparing, and sharing methods and practices; a foundation for defining practices independent of methods. This research aims to develop a model for an Agile method development based on selected practices, drawing from the Essence framework. The intended scope of this Agile method is up to scaling Agile, as it already encompasses the Agile method within it. This study serves as an academic reference for Agile methods. From the practitioners' perspective, the results can guide the organization to apply the scaling Agile methods. Additionally, the model can be integrated with the hybrid agile management approach [9], and DevOps [10] for organizations seeking a hybrid implementation. These contributions make this study unique. The remaining sections of this article are structured in the following manner: Following this introduction, the subsequent section offers a brief overview of the related work, covering concepts such as the common ground concept, scaling Agile methods, and the Essence framework. Section III explores the research methodology employed, specifically focusing on design science research. Moving on, Section IV presents the study's findings, which is resulting in the model, namely an Essence-based Agile method development model. Subsequently, in Section V, we present the case study of the software development organization in one bank in Indonesia. Section VI explains the evaluation of our research, respectively. Lastly, Section VII is the concluding section provides a summary and closure to the paper.