1 Agile Software Development and Agent-Based Social Simulation: A Review Francisco J Navarro-Meneses a, b a Universidad Nebrija, Santa Cruz de Marcenado 27, 28015 Madrid, Spain Faculty of Social Science Tel.: +34 914521101. E-mail: fnavarro@nebrija.es b Research Group Complex Systems in Social Science, Plaza Victoria s/n, 28802 Alcalá de Henares- Madrid, Spain Abstract Agile software development is having a profound impact on the software industry. However, the Agent-Based Social Simulation (ABSS) community has not kept the same pace with the growing interest in agile methods. A review of the evidence available on the relation between agile and ABSS was conducted, with 649 studies identified through a search strategy, of which 11 were considered relevant references. The studies were grouped into three themes: conceptual applications, surveys/literature reviews, and case studies. The review investigates what is currently known about agile adoption by ABSS and the benefits and limitations that can be derived from the relationship. Implications for researchers and practitioners are presented. The main implication for researchers is the need to implement agile methods in a greater number of ABSS projects, on which to support further research and experimentation. For practitioners, the review raises awareness on the topic and reveals that there is a long road ahead of challenges and opportunities for those willing to unlock value from ABSS. For both, it would be highly beneficial if they joined forces and agreed on a common research agenda. Keywords: agile, agent-based modeling, simulation, social science, software development INTRODUCTION The use of Agent-Based Social Simulation (ABSS) has grown to the point of being recognized as a third way of doing science or expressing theories, in contrast with the two “standard” scientific inquiry methods: deduction and induction, theoretical and empirical, or theories and equations (Axelrod 2005; Gilbert 1999; Hummon & Fararo 1995). ABSS’s freedom of design, high-level of flexibility, and intuitiveness provides a compelling approach to tackle real-life problems and operate on highly complex systems. Signs of ABSS’s success are the contributions made to a wide variety of fields of the social sciences, e.g. economics, finance, management, environmental planning, sociology, psychology, political science and anthropology. Many social challenges, seemingly intractable until now, have started to sketch an answer through ABSS, favored by a substantial increase in data availability and data processing capacity (Omicini et al. 2000; Schweitzer 2002). Notwithstanding the above, there are several threats hanging over ABSS’s adoption, partly due to a concomitant lack of robust software development processes and standardization. Hence, for ABSS to deliver on its promises, it needs to be engineered with quality and rigor. Agile is one of the software development methods that can create greater value for ABSS. However, there is scant evidence available on the adoption of agile methods within ABSS, and little is known about the benefits and limitations that their joint use can provide to a better understanding of how society works. This review seeks to collect evidence, from a conceptual and practical perspective, on the current state of adoption of agile software development methods within ABSS and how agile