Scrum Abandonment in Distributed Teams: A Revelatory Case

The last decade has witnessed substantial growth in the adoption of both Agile and distributed software development. However, combining Agile practices, which emphasize regular informal communication, with geographically and temporally distributed sites, which hinder regular informal communication, presents numerous challenges. Proponents of Agile, especially the Scrum project management framework, have published several case studies of successful Scrum implementations in distributed environments. However, few empirical studies examine failed or abandoned Scrum implementations. Consequently, this paper presents a revelatory case study of a geographically and temporally distributed software development team that abandoned its attempted transition to Scrum. Two factors associated with the team’s decision to abandon Scrum are identified – degradation of Scrum practices due to distribution and the undermining of the ScrumMaster’s credibility. Based on this analysis the paper proposes that task/team familiarity, group cohesion and transactive memory may be combined to understand the relationship between geotemporal distribution, process and performance

Overcoming cultural barriers to being agile in distributed teams

Context: Agile methods in offshored projects have become increasingly popular. Yet, many companies have found that the use of agile methods in coordination with companies located outside the regions of early agile adopters remains challenging. India has received particular attention as the leading destination of offshoring contracts due to significant cultural differences between sides of such contracts. Alarming differences are primarily rooted in the hierarchical business culture of Indian organizations and related command-and-control management behavior styles. Objective: In this study, we attempt to understand whether cultural barriers persist in distributed projects in which Indian engineers work with a more empowering Swedish management, and if so, how to overcome them. The present work is an invited extension of a conference paper. Method: We performed a multiple-case study in a mature agile company located in Sweden and a more hierarchical Indian vendor. We collected data from five group interviews with a total of 34 participants and five workshops with 96 participants in five distributed DevOps teams, including 36 Indian members, whose preferred behavior in different situations we surveyed. Results: We identified twelve cultural barriers, six of which were classified as impediments to agile software development practices, and report on the manifestation of these barriers in five DevOps teams. Finally, we put forward recommendations to overcome the identified barriers and emphasize the importance of cultural training, especially when onboarding new team members. Conclusions: Our findings confirm previously reported behaviors rooted in cultural differences that impede the adoption of agile approaches in offshore collaborations, and identify new barriers not previously reported. In contrast to the existing opinion that cultural characteristics are rigid and unchanging, we found that some barriers present at the beginning of the studied collaboration disappeared over time. Many offshore members reported behaving similarly to their onshore colleagues.acceptedVersio

The Impact of Process on Virtual Teams: A Comparative Analysis of Waterfall and Agile Software Development Teams

Studies have shown that task type, social context, and time mediates virtual teams (Martins, Gilson, & Maynard, 2004; Townsend, Hendrickson, & DeMarie, 2002), yet no studies have been conducted comparing the process that the virtual teams are using to complete a task. Two global virtual teams from the same corporation who are using two different software development methodologies, waterfall and agile, were compared to understand the impact that process has on virtual teams. Interviews were conducted with both teams and their responses were coded using the constructs in Adaptive Structuration Theory. The results show that the software development process used by a virtual team does impact the team\u27s culture, orientation toward change, and ultimately the quality of the product they are developing. Careful consideration should be made by software development organizations when deciding which development process they should deploy, given the important implications for virtual team dynamics and product outcomes. Studies have shown that task type, social context, and time mediates virtual teams (Martins, Gilson, & Maynard, 2004; Townsend, Hendrickson, & DeMarie, 2002), yet no studies have been conducted comparing the process that the virtual teams are using to complete a task. Two global virtual teams from the same corporation who are using two different software development methodologies, waterfall and agile, were compared to understand the impact that process has on virtual teams. Interviews were conducted with both teams and their responses were coded using the constructs in Adaptive Structuration Theory. The results show that the software development process used by a virtual team does impact the team\u27s culture, orientation toward change, and ultimately the quality of the product they are developing. Careful consideration should be made by software development organizations when deciding which development process they should deploy, given the important implications for virtual team dynamics and product outcomes

Learning Scrum through PBL

Cada año se necesita más de un millón de gestores de proyectos en todo el mundo, haciendo imprescindible que los recién egresados dispongan de conocimientos sólidos y de vanguardia en gestión de proyectos. En el caso de los contextos caracterizados por la incertidumbre y el cambio, la gestión ágil de proyectos resulta especialmente apropiada. Se trata de una filosofía eminentemente práctica, basada en la acción y orientada a la rápida consecución de resultados. La inexperiencia limita la capacidad de comprensión de los conceptos e importancia de los métodos ágiles. Por ello, los métodos de aprendizaje capaces de proporcionar conocimientos y habilidades prácticas en gestión ágil a alumnos universitarios de manera efectiva son de especial interés. Este estudio aborda dicha problemática proponiendo un proceso formativo para el aprendizaje de Scrum a través del PBL, combinando autoaprendizaje, supervisión y aplicación práctica. Ello permite al alumnado aplicar los conceptos ágiles en un entorno cuasi real. Además, el feedback proporcionado les permite modificar y corregir progresivamente sus decisiones, mejorando gradualmente su conocimiento y uso del método. Así, se facilita la consecución de mayores capacidades de aplicación práctica en comparación con otros enfoques pedagógicos basados en enfoques tradicionales o en otras propuestas basadas en PBL

Risks in Distributed Agile Development: A Review

AbstractThere has been is a growing trend in software development through distributed agile approach and so, the study of risks in such environments becomes imperative. A number of studies have discussed about the problems faced by distributed agile teams. This study attempts to consolidate the existing studies on risks in distributed agile development. It helps in uncovering the areas of risk management in distributed agile, in which extensive work has been done and also presents the type of work that needs further consideration

Introducing Agile Principles and Management to a Library Organization

Libraries are pressured to adapt to changing conditions due to user demands, behavior, emerging technologies and a need for cost-efficient solutions. Software companies have turned to agile development to stay competitive and to deliver working solutions in a short timeframe. Agile processes are built upon co-operation, iterative workflows and delivering working solutions with a high business value. Agile development and management in an agile organization constitutes a controlled framework of principles with a promise to ensure that the organization focuses on the right things and is able to adapt to new needs. The Library at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden introduced agile software development in 2011 as a part of the work with the institutional repository. Following the success of introducing Scrum to system developers the formation of cross-disciplinary teams for other projects involved librarians. One of the projects for a cross-disciplinary team was to develop a brand new website. Drawing upon the experience of Scrum and with a focus on User Experience design (UX) the team was able to define an agile methodology involving different competences at the library. As other projects formed and adopted the principles of Scrum and agile the methodology spread throughout the library organization as it was re-organized. Managing an agile oriented organization can be challenging. Senior management has been forced to work with allocating resources, input to prioritization, sprint planning and judging business value thus forcing a transparency to appear in the organization and exposing its operations. Chalmers Library is still exploring the possibilities and challenges of working with agile development and management. It is an iterative and evolving process, but the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks as the organization can learn and respond to change, re-prioritize how resources are allocated, avoid knowledge silos, build strong teams and identify uncertainties early. As of January 1st 2014 the library organization changed and introduced agile principles throughout all operations

Aplicação de SAFe® a um Projecto de Manutenção de Aviões

Maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) operations have a great impact on the life cycle of an aircraft (A/C). MROs organizations address various challenges on planning activities to ensure the maximum reliability of an A/C, given the amount of unscheduled maintenance. Subcontracting MRO activities by airline companies, has been continuously increasing as an alternative of performing the heavy maintenance themselves, adding a constraint on this type of industries which is to manage the customer demands. Considering the main issues, it is required to select the most suitable approach to plan and manage A/C maintenance projects. Agile Project Management (PM) could be a solution to overcome the main difficulties in this sector, managing the uncertainty throughout the project, providing customer visibility and control over the service. This work arises in a real-life case of a subcontracted MRO program in a multinational A/C manufacture enterprise, which also suffers from significant challenges of planning and managing maintenance activities throughout the project life cycle. The program has experimented agile methodologies that revealed a positive impact. In order to the whole program embrace agility and overcome the identified main problems, it was proposed the usage of an elaborate and well-defined agile framework. Scaled Agile Framework for enterprises (SAFe®) is an online knowledge base that implements diverse agile techniques to support businesses, develop and deliver solutions, achieving business agility. As SAFe® was mainly developed for software industries, due to the characteristics of the project and the type of industry where it is inserted, the application of this framework needed to be customized. Accordingly to the particularities of the project, the most suitable PM approach is a hybrid approach, where initially the scope of the project is delineated, with a contingency plan, supported by SAFe® to manage the issues that arise throughout the project. The agile methodologies allow customer centred attention, more communication channels, and by iterating over the product, planning the unscheduled work focusing on high priority tasks. Lastly, a framework in the core of the appearance of the issues was developed, to define the interconnection between the whole SAFe® concepts and to provide an extended view of how the project will progress with the new approach.As operações de manutenção, reparação e revisão produzem grande impacto no ciclo de vida de uma aeronave. As organizações que operam neste setor enfrentam vários desafios no planeamento das atividades que garantem a máxima confiabilidade de uma aeronave, dada a quantidade de manutenção não programada. A subcontratação deste tipo de atividades, por parte das companhias aéreas, tem crescido continuamente como uma alternativa à realização da própria manutenção pesada, adicionando um constrangimento para este tipo de indústrias: gerir as exigências dos clientes. Considerando os principais problemas, é necessário selecionar a abordagem mais adequada para planear e gerir projetos de manutenção de aviões. A gestão ágil de projetos poderá ser uma solução para superar as principais dificuldades deste setor, gerindo as incertezas ao longo do projeto, proporcionando visibilidade ao cliente e controlo sobre o serviço. Este trabalho surge num caso real de um programa subcontratado numa empresa multinacional de fabrico de aviões, que também sofre de desafios significativos no planeamento e gestão de atividades de manutenção ao longo do ciclo de vida do projeto. O programa experienciou metodologias ágeis que revelaram um impacto positivo. Para que todo o programa adote a agilidade e supere os principais problemas identificados, foi proposto o uso de uma elaborada e bem definida estrutura ágil. O Scaled Agile Framework para empresas é uma base de conhecimento online que implementa diversas técnicas ágeis para apoiar as empresas no desenvolvimento e entrega de soluções, alcançando a agilidade nos negócios. O SAFe® foi desenvolvido principalmente para indústrias de software, devido às características do projeto e ao tipo de indústria em que está inserido, a aplicação desta estrutura necessitou de ser personalizada. De acordo com as particularidades do projeto, a abordagem de gestão de projetos mais adequada é uma abordagem híbrida, onde inicialmente o projeto é delineado, com um plano de contingência, apoiado pelo SAFe® para gerenciar os problemas que surgem ao longo do projeto. As metodologias ágeis permitem centrar a atenção no cliente, mais canais de comunicação e, ao iterar sobre o produto, planear o trabalho não programado com foco em tarefas de alta prioridade. Por fim, foi desenvolvido um framework no cerne do surgimento dos problemas, de forma a definir as interligações entre todos os conceitos do SAFe® e fornecer uma visão ampliada de como o projeto irá progredir com a nova abordagem

Management Strategies for Adopting Agile Methods of Software Development in Distributed Teams

Between 2003 and 2015, more than 61% of U.S. software development teams failed to satisfy project requirements, budgets, or timelines. Failed projects cost the software industry an estimated 60 billion dollars. Lost opportunities and misused resources are often the result of software development leaders failing to implement appropriate methods for managing software projects. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies software development managers use in adopting Agile methodology in the context of distributed teams. The tenets of Agile approach are individual interaction over tools, working software over documentation, and collaboration over a contract. The conceptual framework for the study was adapting Agile development methodologies. The targeted population was software development managers of U.S.-based companies located in Northern California who had successfully adopted Agile methods for distributed teams. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with 5 managers and a review of project-tracking documentation and tools. Data analysis included inductive coding of transcribed interviews and evaluation of secondary data to identify themes through methodological triangulation. Findings indicated that coaching and training of teams, incremental implementation of Agile processes, and proactive management of communication effectiveness are effective strategies for adopting Agile methodology in the context of distributed teams. Improving the efficacy of Agile adoption may translate to increased financial stability for software engineers across the world as well as accelerate the successful development of information systems, thereby enriching human lives