Home // International Journal On Advances in Software, volume 11, numbers 1 and 2, 2018 // View article

Using Qualitative System Dynamics in the Development of an Agile Teamwork Productivity Model

Authors:
Israt Fatema
Kazi Sakib

Keywords: agile teamwork productivity; influence factors; qualitative system dynamics; social hierarchy culture; team effectiveness; causal loop diagram

Abstract:
Improvement in agile software development will not be achieved without considering that there is a large number of factors affecting agile teamwork productivity. The objective of this study is to explore what factors influence agile teamwork productivity, and how these factors interacted. This is achieved through a two-phase approach. The first phase involves reviewing relevant literature, performing a set of in-depth interviews with agile team members and conducting a survey to identify productivity factors. The survey has been administered to 60 respondents from 18 agile software companies in Bangladesh. The second phase involves the construction of qualitative system dynamics model (causal loop diagrams) of agile teamwork productivity with the findings from the first phase to analyze the productivity influence factors. The findings from the first phase reveal the most perceived factors are motivation, team effectiveness and team management. Social hierarchy culture influences self- managed agile team from correct implementation of agile practice. Although, the most followed organizational structure is horizontal, Scrum is leading agile practice among the participating companies. Lack of management support is found to be the most mentioned reason for any failed agile project. The resulting qualitative model is expected to provide more insight into the agile teamwork dynamics and establish a basis for a further quantitative modelling.

Pages: 170 to 185

Copyright: Copyright (c) to authors, 2018. Used with permission.

Publication date: June 30, 2018

Published in: journal

ISSN: 1942-2628