Perceptions of adapting to agile quality assurance practices in IT project

In the current Sri Lankan Information Technology (IT) industry, adapting software development methodologies to effectively satisfy customer requirements within constrained schedules and budgets has appeared as a paramount topic. As a consequence, Agile software development practices are now being adopted by many IT organizations. In this paper, we analyzed the QA proportions of Agile implementations in particular, as an immediate organizational challenge for a target entity ("Company AB"), which has suffered from high rates of project failure, despite adopting the core Agile development principles. A validated questionnaire was distributed across three selected IT companies in Sri Lanka. Data were gathered from cross-functional software professionals. Statistical relationships were assessed using Spearman’s Correlation Coefficient in SPSS. The analytical results show that all six identified Agile QA practices possess positive correlations with software project effectiveness. Maintaining an Agile Testing Mindset displayed a strong positive relationship (r=0.737, p < 0.001), whereas Test Automation and customer collaboration displayed weak positive relationships, signaling areas requiring broader implementation. Based on these findings, programmatic recommendations are provided for Company AB to successfully institute a whole-team approach and structured Exploratory Testing to aid in sustained optimization.