Agile Cognition: Discovering the Cognitive Artifacts Used for Project Management in Agile Software Development

Using naturalistic decision making, cognitive artifacts help us understand the cognitive processes that take place on teams. For agile software development (ASD) teams, we focus on cognitive processes that take place during an iteration. We conducted four case studies of four different agile teams. Using media richness and media synchronicity theories, results suggest that ASD teams use multiple cognitive artifacts to plan and manage their iteration. The interactions with these artifacts include examples of lean and rich media, with ASD team members preferring richer media where more information is communicated accurately. Distributed cognition helps the ASD team both make sense of tasks in order to complete them on time for the client and cope with the complexity, uncertainty, and fast-paced nature of ASD. Our contribution includes a comprehensive list of cognitive artifacts and ASD team interactions categorized by media type, level of richness, information purpose, synchronicity, and usage purpose

Highlighting Communication Activities and Inefficiencies Between Agile vs. Waterfall Methods: An Agent Based Model of Knowledge Sharing

We employed agent-based simulation techniques to create a dynamic multi-level team environment to study communication activities as knowledge sharing occurred. We examined knowledge seekers and knowledge providers who act and react to one another’s communication behavior on Waterfall versus Agile teams using rich versus lean media to answer research questions regarding inefficient use of team members. The simulation model was checked for validity against assumptions that project management method drives project schedule and communication media motivates the number of meetings. Results further indicate that (a) slightly more knowledge seekers exceed their knowledge need on Agile teams using lean versus rich media; (b) knowledge overage was reduced by utilizing a Waterfall rather than Agile method, and through the use of lean media; and (c) the maximum time wasted by team members who completed gathering knowledge to meet their initial needs was on Agile teams using lean media

Research Methodologies and Business Discourse Teaching

This chapter will:; ; ; Define English for specific purposes and indicate the specific ways in which it has been influential on business discourse teaching;; ; ; Discuss the most relevant approaches to genre analysis that have been used in business discourse teaching;; ; ; Explore the most relevant approaches to critical discourse analysis and organizational rhetoric for business discourse teaching;; ; ; Identify the most relevant aspects of multimodal discourse analysis for business discourse teaching;; ; ; Provide a case study that illustrates the use of one approach to business discourse teaching, showing how practitioners can incorporate it into their classroom- or consultancy-based ideas

How Team Cognition and Cognitive Artifact Use Change During Agile Software Development Project Management

This study examines how team cognition and use of cognitive artifacts change during the course of an agile software development (ASD) iteration to better understand team member interactions. Four case studies of four different agile teams were conducted. Results demonstrate a team cognition change from planning, managing, developing, and concluding tasks in an iteration in preparation for delivering working functionality. We see the cognitive artifacts used throughout the iteration change. This supports ASD tenets of frequent, short, continuous communication and interaction on ASD teams. The contribution to project management and ASD is a clearer understanding of how and when team cognition changes and the cognitive artifact interaction changes during an iteration as ASD teams use artifacts to manage their project. The interactions that ensue with these artifacts move from individual to social interactions as the iteration progresses

An investigation of the decision-making process in agile teams

This paper first explores the decision-making process in agile teams using scrum practices and second identifies factors that influence the decision-making process during the Sprint Planning and Daily Scrum Meetings. We conducted 34 semi-structured interviews and 18 observations across four agile teams. Our findings show that a rational decision-making process is sometimes followed in the Sprint Planning and Daily Scrum Meetings and that three factors can influence the rational decision-making process: sprint duration, experience and resource availability. Additionally, decisions are not always made in a collaborative manner by team members. This research contributes to the decision-making literature and project management literature by highlighting difficulties pertinent to decision making in agile teams