Title: Governed Extreme Programming for Auditable
Authors: Socio - Technical Information Systems: A Design Science Case Study of Doctoral Supervision and Progress Management
Volume: 10
Issue: 8
Pages: 165-183
Publication Date: 2026/08/28
Abstract:
Background: Agile methodologies are appealing for socio-technical information systems where requirements evolve through usage. However, rapid iterations can undermine traceability, architecture, security, privacy, accessibility, and independent acceptance. Doctoral supervision presents a challenging domain due to the dispersion of evidence, feedback, milestones, ethical approvals, and progress risks across diverse tools and institutional practices. Objective: This study develops and conducts an ex-ante evaluation of a governed form of Extreme Programming (G-XP) for auditable socio-technical systems, and implements it as a Doctoral Research Supervision and Progress Management System (DRSPMS). Method: A design science research process was employed to convert a dual-role user-developer case into a method artifact, a reference architecture, a requirements model, and an evaluation protocol. The design integrates XP feedback cycles with explicit role switching, evidence-bearing user stories, architectural decision records, default-deny authorization, immutable document versions, transparent risk indicators, and operational acceptance criteria. Results: The artifact encompasses 20 user stories (112 story points), 14 functional requirements, 12 quality requirements, 10 business rules, 80 technical task cards (522 ideal hours), and a six-iteration release plan. Eight critical workflows are delineated across requirements, rules, quality attributes, tests, and acceptance evidence. Ex ante scenario analysis demonstrates how the design addresses version ambiguity, review traceability, cross-team data isolation, action closure, explainable progress risk, and tested recovery, without asserting unobserved production outcomes. Conclusion: XP can effectively support governance-sensitive information systems when agility is understood as quick, evidence-driven learning instead of minimal documentation. G-XP provides adaptable design principles and testable hypotheses for exploring agile governance, requirements traceability, and digital doctoral supervision.