Imagine you work as a contractor in a large project involving multiple systems, and you are creating one of them. The whole project uses a traditional process, but there are smells that tell you that an agile process would be much better.
Now the question. Does it make sense to introduce an agile software development process in your own group only? There is no chance to change the whole project, but you might perhaps change the process in your own group.
What would be the major benefits and pitfalls of such a local process change? Are there specific agile processes that would work good in such a case?
Read Effective Ways to Introduce Agile into the Workplace and Joel’s seminal Getting Things Done When You’re Only a Grunt.
Beyond that it’s probably mostly marketing/expectation management with your superiors and customers. Both of which might resent investing in the various agile customer-inclusion ‘games’. Both of which also might resent the ‘new-fangled’ way of doing things.