Zhang, Yinghui (Michael)Lal, Ramesh2025-12-022025-12-022025-11-27Proceedings of the First New Zealand IT Project Management Research Symposium: Advancing IT and Engineering Project Management. 27th November 2025, AUT, Auckland. https://pmconference.aut.ac.nz/http://hdl.handle.net/10292/20251This paper presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of 44 primary studies to critically investigate the factors influencing the adoption of six major Agile methods, segmented into Basic (XP, Scrum, Kanban) and Scaled (SAFe, DAD, LeSS) frameworks. The analysis identifies key success factors (nine for Basic, eight for Scaled) and corresponding barriers. Findings confirm that top management support, effective communication, and training are fundamental enablers across both levels. Crucially, the study provides a comparative synthesis that distinguishes their focus: Basic Agile mitigates internal team process risks, while Scaled Agile addresses systemic coordination and enterprise governance challenges. Furthermore, we map the limitations and strengths of these methods onto Software Project Risk Quadrants, demonstrating that scaling is necessary to manage Execution and Environmental Risks effectively. This research offers crucial theoretical insights for balancing flexibility and structure in complex Agile transformations.By submitting and publishing with NZPMRS, authors retain copyright in their work but grant the NZPMRS and the Project Management Research Office a nonexclusive, worldwide license to publish and disseminate the article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialNoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). This license allows others to download and share the work for non-commercial purposes, with proper attribution, but does not permit remixing, transformation, or the creation of derivative works.AgileCritical factorsXPScrumKanbanSAFeDADLeSSConference Contribution