John McAvoy

The role of project management in ineffective decision making within Agile software development projects

Decision making in traditional software development lies with the project manager. In contrast, Agile software development teams are empowered to make decisions, while the role of project manager has changed from one of command and control (i.e. to make decisions and ensure they are implemented) to one of a facilitator. This article argues that decision making in software development is not characterised by a sequence of isolated or exclusive decisions; rather, decisions are inter-related, with each decision leading to further decisions, the chain of which often spans the entire duration of a project. Over this extended period, there are several potential factors that can negatively affect the efficacy of decision making by Agile teams. One of the findings of this exploratory longitudinal study is that the high level of empowerment of a cohesive software development team undertaking an Agile project may be one of these negative factors, as empowered, cohesive teams can exhibit problems such as groupthink or the Abilene Paradox. This article therefore argues that the role of project manager in Agile development initiatives needs to be reassessed, with project managers taking on the role of devils advocate in the decision-making process.

The impact of the Abilene Paradox on double-loop learning in an agile team

This paper presents a qualitative investigation of learning failures associated with the introduction of a new software development methodology by a project team. This paper illustrates that learning is more than the cognitive process of acquiring a new skill; learning also involves changes in behaviour and even beliefs. Extreme Programming (XP), like other software development methodologies, provides a set of values and guidelines as to how software should be developed. As these new values and guidelines involve behavioural changes, the study investigates the introduction of XP as a new learning experience. Researchers use the concepts of single and double-loop learning to illustrate how social actors learn to perform tasks effectively and to determine the best task to perform. The concept of triple-loop learning explains how this learning process can be ineffective, accordingly it is employed to examine why the introduction of XP was ineffective in the team studied. While XP should ideally foster double-loop learning, triple-loop learning can explain why this does not necessarily occur. Research illustrates how power factors influence learning among groups of individuals; this study focuses on one specific power factor - the power inherent in the desire to conform. The Abilene Paradox describes how groups can make ineffective decisions that are contrary to that which group members personally desire or believe. Ineffective decision-making occurs due to the desire to conform among group members; this was shown as the cause of ineffective learning in the software team studied. This desire to conform originated in how the project team cohered as a group, which was, in turn, influenced by the social values embraced by XP.

Using mindfulness to examine ISD agility

As information systems development (ISD) organisations face increasing market demands, strategies such as agile development have been used to help address these demands. Now, as information systems (IS) research in agile development is gaining in theoretical rigour, this study explores the use of mindfulness as a theoretical framework to examine ISD agility. At its core, the mindfulness theoretical concept promotes a focus on ‘continuous attention to detail’ and ‘vigilance to minimise errors and respond effectively to unexpected events’. Incorporating a sixteen month ongoing longitudinal case study of an ISD organisation, this research provides an insight into the practice of what we term ‘doing’ agile and ‘being’ agile, while also providing a number of theoretical contributions around the value of mindfulness for ISD agility.

A Failure to Learn in a Software Development Team: The Unsuccessful Introduction of an Agile Method

This paper presents an investigation of the failures associated with the introduction of a new software development methodology in a software project team. The failure to adopt the new methodology is seen as a failure to learn by the team. This paper posits that learning is more than the cognitive process of acquiring a new skill; learning also involves changes in behaviours, attitudes and opinions. As methodology adoption involves changes to a teams activities, values and norms, this study investigates the introduction of an Agile method by a software team as a learning experience. Researchers use the concepts of single- and double-loop learning to explain how social actors learn to (a) perform tasks efficiently and (b) decide on the best task to perform. The theory of triple-loop learning explains how a learning process can be ineffective; accordingly, it is employed to examine why the introduction of a new methodology was ineffective in the team studied. The theory illustrates how power factors influence learning. This study focuses on one specific power factor – the power inherent in the desire for cohesion and conformity within a team. Ineffective decision-making and related actions occur because of the desire to conform among group members; this was shown as the cause of ineffective learning in the software team. The findings illustrate how the values inherent in the Agile methodologies, primarily the desire for cohesion within the team, ultimately led to the failure of the team to learn.

A Failure to Learn By Software Developers: Inhibiting the Adoption of an Agile Software Development Methodology

Abstract The adoption of an Agile software development methodology can be impacted by many stakeholders. In the parlance of Chris Argyris, the adoption of Agile is an exercise in learning - behavioral change created by Agile’s values. This paper presents a case study investigating the failures associated with the introduction of elements of a new software development methodology by the software developers within a software development team. Although Argyis’ work is often portrayed at the organizational level, this case study examines individual learning. The failure to adopt aspects of the new methodology is seen as a failure to learn by the individual software developers within the team. This paper posits that learning is more than a pedagogical view of learning a new skill; learning also involves changes in individual behaviors, attitudes and opinions. As methodology adoption involves changes to the software developers’ activities and values, this study investigates the introduction of an Agile Method as a learning experience. This case study concentrates on one particular group of stakeholders - the software developers - and examines the affect their traits can have on the learning activity of adopting an Agile methodology in a project. Extant research focuses on the traits of software developers but does not incorporate influences from the values inherent in Agile. The objective of this case study is to examine the traits of individual programmers to determine the impact they can have on the adoption of an Agile methodology by examining, in depth, the introduction of Agile by the software developers in a team. This leads to the research question which asks if and how the traits of software developers can negatively impact on the behavioral changes required for the learning inherent in an Agile adoption?

A Simple Tool to Assist in Agile Methodology Adoption Decisions

This paper discusses the importance of adoption factors to the adoption of an Agile method and the usefulness of a decision support tool to help determine the viability of such methods for specific software projects. It proposes the Adoption Assessment Matrix, to be used as a precursor to the selection and use of an Agile method. The Adoption Assessment Matrix was used to assess the suitability of Agile methods in software development projects in a series of workshops. The experiments show that the tool is beneficial as a guide for discussions, concentrating the debate on the critical factors, applied to the individual project, which proved as valuable to the decision making process as the output of the tool itself. Furthermore, the use of the Adoption Assessment Matrix moves beyond the debate on Agile versus traditional methodologies and concentrates on adoption decisions for individual projects, rather than on Agile as universal solution. It is often argued in the diffusion of innovation literature that the adoption of innovations can be hindered by the learning required to successfully deploy innovations. The decision support tool we propose attempts to overcome knowledge barriers by raising stakeholder awareness as to the suitability of Agile.

Project Post-mortems Mindless Mismanagement of Agreement

Researchers have described how IS adoptions can be mindful or mindless. This paper first describes the socio-psychological factors associated with mindful or mindless decision making by social actors. A conceptual model based on these factors is proposed to study mindful or mindless behaviours of software team members in (a) the firm-specific postmortems of projects incorporating traditional software development methods and (b) the project reviews on the adoption and use of an Agile approach to software development, which was introduced to address problems with the traditional approach to software development. The setting for the project post-mortems is a large US multinational telecommunications manufacturer based in Ireland. One significant factor that leads to mindless adoption behaviours, and which was identified by this study, is the Abilene Paradox. The findings of this paper illustrate how ineffective management of agreement (as opposed to disagreement) contributes to the existence of this paradox, the consequence of which affects the mindfulness of an adoption and review processes.

A Paradox of Virtual Teams and Change: An Implementation of the Theory of Competing Commitments

During a longitudinal participant observation study of a virtual software development team, a strange paradox was noted. A new software development methodology was introduced to the project and the developers were initially committed to its use. Over time, the commitment gradually decreased to the stage where aspects of the new methodology were practically ignored. As the team was a virtual team, with group members rarely congregating as a whole for any length of time, it was hard to explain why this diminishing of commitment occurred. The remoteness and part-time participation of group members meant that the team deciding themselves to ignore aspects of the methodology was not a likely possibility. A review of existing research suggested that the concepts behind the diffusion of innovations (specifically software process innovations) may have a bearing. Although pertinent to the area of introducing new software development methodologies, diffusion theories did not provide a complete explanation for the decrease in commitment that was observed. The theory of competing commitments was applied, and it was discovered that one cause of the decreased commitment among team members was groupthink. Groupthink should not be a problem with virtual teams as there should be less cohesion—the lack of contact between members dictating the low level of cohesion. Further analysis showed that traditional peer groupthink was not the issue, but hierarchical groupthink influenced by the project manager had a large influence. These findings are in contrast to most expectations regarding virtual teams, including the project management of virtual teams.

A critical realist method for applied business research

ABSTRACT While the business research community has moved from describing critical realism as simply a compromise philosophy between positivists and interpretivists to its acceptance in its own right, it still lacks a choice of methods or processes for the business researcher to utilize. This paper presents a proposed method that can be used by business researchers who follow the critical realist paradigm. It explores the suitability of a critical realist approach to applied business and the importance of combining the ontological and epistemological elements described. The relevance of the search for causal mechanisms is shown and it is argued that this search benefits from the use of retroduction and retrodiction. A ‘causal framework’ is proposed as an optional artefact in the critical realist business researcher’s ‘toolkit’ and a three step process is described, which uses causal frameworks to guide analysis.

A Successful Failure to Collaborate on Storage Technology Education

In industry, up to 40% of an IS budget can be spent on Storage technology, making it the fastest growing segment of IT/IS. While industry has recognised the need to diffuse this technology, academia has been slow to respond to this diffusion need. Universities are not teaching courses in this area and a variety of reasons are presented ranging from lack of skills to cost (the cost of installing a Storage system for use by students is a massive expenditure well beyond the budgets of most IS academic departments).This paper concentrates on the lack of skills (knowledge barriers in the parlance of diffusion of innovation theory) and examines ways to overcome this. The knowledge skills are present in industry, so collaboration between industry and academia is a suggested solution. Collaboration between industry and academia, though, is fraught with problems. The aim of this research therefore is to examine how this collaboration can be effective. Interestingly, the result of this research suggests true collaboration is not the solution, but a win-win situation is still possible for all stakeholders.