Leadership in Agile Software Development: A Systematic Literature Review

Effective leadership is deemed essential for successful projects and teams. However, leadership in agile software development projects and teams is a challenge in practice, and the research literature provides no general agreement on what constitutes effective leadership in this environment. To address this issue and give the agile community a comprehensive overview of the research on agile leadership we report the results of a systematic literature review (SLR). The SLR identified 33 studies in the Scopus database published from 2000-2019 that contribute to agile leadership knowledge. The results indicate that whilst some studies apply leadership theories to explore and explain the role of agile leadership other studies propose alternative approaches to leadership within agile software teams and projects. The results suggest that agile leadership research needs further attention and that more empirical studies are needed to better understand agile leadership in general and in the various agile information systems development environments

TOWARDS A TYPOLOGY OF AGILE ISD LEADERSHIP

Leadership influences the success of any project, including agile information systems development (ISD) projects. In fact, agile ISD projects are nowadays the ISD method of choice in practice irrespectively of the size of the project - either small or large projects. There, leadership is crucial because it transcends and influences other factors, such as team motivation and commitment. However, knowledge of agile ISD leadership is limited as research in this area is rare. This study aims to reveal how leadership manifests in an agile ISD project, specifically in the setting of large-scale projects. To investigate leadership in an agile ISD project, we conducted a qualitative case study and interviewed 12 agile ISD practitioners from three teams. Preliminary results show that personal attributes, attitudes, and behaviors of the leader are important for agile ISD leadership to be effective. Based on those characteristics, we develop a theoretical framework about leadership for agile ISD projects. Keywords: Leadership, Agile, Large-scale ISD, Case study

The Perceived Impact of the Agile Development and Project Management Method Scrum on Team Leadership in Information Systems Development

This research contributes to the body of knowledge in information systems development (ISD) with an empirical investigation in the form of a case study that demonstrates the positive impact of the agile development and project management method Scrum on team leadership in information systems and software development projects. It also provides a useful operationalization of the concept through six identified indicators for team leadership. Despite the fact that the case unit had challenges with the use of Scrum, the indicators identified the areas where the company had managed to exploit the potential of Scrum and its practices with regard to increasing team leadership. The research results are discussed with regard to the existing Scrum literature and briefly related to complex adaptive systems (CAS) as a foundation for ISD and agile developmen

Cultural dynamics: the interplay of culture, leadership and performance in Information Systems projects

Despite a long interest in Information Systems (IS) development, the need to improve the success rates of IS projects remains relevant. Continuing disappointment with project performance has led to suggestions that a broadening of the project management (PM) conceptual base could bring new insights to this enduring problem. Consequently, this study acknowledges the sociological nature of IS projects and will explore the dynamic interaction of culture and leadership to expose better explanations for project performance. This interpretive study will use the Cultural Dynamics Model (CDM) as a theoretical lens, and will privilege a view of ‘data as text’ over ‘data as fact’ by accentuating reflexivity in the research. Four IS projects in two organizations will serve as cases in a multiple case study approach. This paper argues for a dynamic, reflexive study of culture and leadership and positions the CDM as an appropriate theoretical framework to support this approach

Supporting Curriculum Leadership Capacity Development at a Ministry of Education

The objective of this organizational improvement plan (OIP) is to assist one Canadian ministry of education close the gap between its curriculum leaders’ roles and capacities. Tasked with leading curriculum reform projects, they are asking the ministry for help. By further supporting their continued education in the areas of curriculum theory, critical education studies, and social foundations, the organization can help its curriculum leaders deepen their knowledge and strengthen their practice. From a systems thinking perspective, focusing the ministry’s collective domain on curriculum leadership capacity development will shift individual and system domains, thereby affecting the education system’s instructional capacity and performance. To those ends, the organization can take an amalgamated leadership approach to change and utilize a hybrid change process in the establishment of a curriculum leadership-focused community of practice. This OIP provides valuable information to scholars and practitioners interested in curriculum leadership capacity development by bringing the voices of curriculum leaders working for a ministry of education into a discussion which focuses primarily on the needs of teacher leaders and principals

Impact of Servant Leadership on Project Success Through Mediating Role of Team Motivation and Effectiveness:A Case of Software Industry

Project management in today’s intensely competitive environment has compelled organizations to adopt project management approach for better business results. Therefore, current research study aims to investigate the impact of servant leadership on project success with the mediating role of team motivation and team effectiveness in the software industry. A field survey was conducted, using a questionnaire as a survey tool. Data were collected from 219 respondents who have been working as team members of software development projects. The statistical results were obtained using the SPSS Process macro. The results show project managers need to exhibit a servant leadership style due to its strong influence on project success, albeit through team motivation and effectiveness. The findings from this study contribute to the field of leadership and project management along with the field of information systems and software engineering.</p

VETSNET: A Case Study of Escalation and De-Escalation

Information systems development projects are more likely to fail than to succeed. One reason for this failure is a manager’s tendency to maintain commitment to projects despite receiving negative feedback. This phenomenon is known as escalation of commitment to a failing course of action, or simply escalation. This paper examines the case of escalation and de-escalation of commitment in the development of the Veteran’s Service Network (VETSNET) system for the United States Veteran’s Administration (VA). An exploratory content analysis of secondary data sources is performed to identify factors promoting escalation. Consistent with prior literature, support was found for project, organizational, and contextual determinants of escalation. The three relevant project factors were a perceived lock-in effect due to few alternatives, the long-term nature of the project, and ambiguity in the project’s requirements and schedule. Three organizational factors that contributed to escalation were poor software capability of VA, lack of dedicated leadership, and pervasiveness of an institutionalized “One VA” vision. Contextual factors in the form of congressional laws and oversight also impacted the VETSNET case. De-escalation was triggered by publicly committing to a deadline and changing top leadership

The Perceived Impact of the Agile Development and Project Management Method Scrum on Process Transparency in Information Systems Development

This paper contributes to research on information systems development (ISD) with a case study that demonstrates the positive impact of the agile development and project management method Scrum on process transparency in ISD projects. It is part of a project for which we developed a framework comprising of the six concepts productivity, quality, team leadership, employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and process transparency for investigating the impact of Scrum. It provides operationalizations of the latter concept through five identified indicators. Despite the fact that the case unit had challenges, the indicators identified the areas where it managed to exploit the potential of Scrum with regard to increasing process transparency. The research results are related to earlier findings concerning the other concepts. They are discussed both with regard to the existing Scrum literature as well as to complex adaptive systems (CAS) - a foundation for ISD and agile development

Measuring health systems strength and its impact: experiences from the African Health Initiative.

BACKGROUND: Health systems are essential platforms for accessible, quality health services, and population health improvements. Global health initiatives have dramatically increased health resources; however, funding to strengthen health systems has not increased commensurately, partially due to concerns about health system complexity and evidence gaps demonstrating health outcome improvements. In 2009, the African Health Initiative of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation began supporting Population Health Implementation and Training Partnership projects in five sub-Saharan African countries (Ghana, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia) to catalyze significant advances in strengthening health systems. This manuscript reflects on the experience of establishing an evaluation framework to measure health systems strength, and associate measures with health outcomes, as part of this Initiative. METHODS: Using the World Health Organization's health systems building block framework, the Partnerships present novel approaches to measure health systems building blocks and summarize data across and within building blocks to facilitate analytic procedures. Three Partnerships developed summary measures spanning the building blocks using principal component analysis (Ghana and Tanzania) or the balanced scorecard (Zambia). Other Partnerships developed summary measures to simplify multiple indicators within individual building blocks, including health information systems (Mozambique), and service delivery (Rwanda). At the end of the project intervention period, one to two key informants from each Partnership's leadership team were asked to list - in rank order - the importance of the six building blocks in relation to their intervention. RESULTS: Though there were differences across Partnerships, service delivery and information systems were reported to be the most common focus of interventions, followed by health workforce and leadership and governance. Medical products, vaccines and technologies, and health financing, were the building blocks reported to be of lower focus. CONCLUSION: The African Health Initiative experience furthers the science of evaluation for health systems strengthening, highlighting areas for further methodological development - including the development of valid, feasible measures sensitive to interventions in multiple contexts (particularly in leadership and governance) and describing interactions across building blocks; in developing summary statistics to facilitate testing intervention effects on health systems and associations with health status; and designing appropriate analytic models for complex, multi-level open health systems