Agile Practice & Research Workshop Proposes 4 Solutions to Close Gaps

The 2nd Agile Practice & Research Workshop, held at the International Conference on Agile Software Development (XP) 2026 in São Paulo, Brazil, focused on bridging the long-standing divide between academic research and industrial practice in agile software development. Building on two preceding sessions, participants engaged in structured collaborative groups to analyze three key gaps: the theory gap (lack of theoretical grounding), the time gap (slow transfer of research to practice), and the transfer gap (difficulty in applying findings). The workshop aimed to identify root causes and develop joint solutions.

The organizers synthesized the outcomes into four propositions: (1) improving scientific communication, (2) aligning research more closely with emerging industrial needs, (3) creating stronger incentives for sustained collaboration, and (4) integrating educational approaches into research practice. From these, three calls for research emerged: (a) broader adoption of open science practices for transparency and reproducibility, (b) higher empirical quality standards through stronger theoretical grounding and rigorous design, and (c) more explicit, value-oriented contributions that clearly articulate practical and scientific relevance. The paper provides a structured roadmap for strengthening research-practice collaboration, with implications for agile practitioners, academics, and tool vendors.