Authors /Communication Methods in Agile Software Projects COMMUNICATION METHODS IN DEFINING AND MANAGING SCOPE IN AGILE SOFTWARE PROJECTS Research in Progress "Authors" Keywords: software development, project management, project communication, agile. 1 Introduction Project, as defined by the PMBOK® Guide (Project Management Institute, 2017), is “a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service or result”. Agile has become a widely used and generally-accepted approach for planning and executing projects in IT settings (Serrador & Pinto, 2015). Agile software development is an iterative and incremental approach used to regularly release software in a collaborative, disciplined, and self-organizing manner with active stakeholder participation (Ambler, 2009). Agile methods have become common in technology projects in the last 20 years, because they directly address the challenges so often confronted in dealing with dynamic and changing environments (Serrador & Pinto, 2015), and lately more and more organizations use agile to manage software projects. Project communication is the exchange of information between project stakeholders. Communication is a major element of software project management, and its importance for the project success is critical (Curtis, et al., 1988). The main goals of project communication are to improve synchronization between the various project stakeholders, with emphasis on the project manager, the project team and the project customer. According to (Pinto & Pinto, 1990), project teams often communicate to brainstorm about ideas, to resolve implementation problems and to review the progress of the project. Other goals include obtaining information, gaining authorization to perform tasks, receive feedback, etc. Effective project communication is essential for collaboration (Yagüe, Garbajosa, Díaz, & González, 2016), especially in agile projects, and is fully incorporated in the day-to-day work routines of every project manager. In addition, effective project communication is a critical success factor of any project (Charette, 2005) (Patrashkova-Volzdoska, McComb, Green, & Compton, 2003) (Coughlan & Macredie, 2002), especially in agile projects that define communication and exchange of information as one of the values and principles (Agile Alliance®, 2001). In this study we will research project communications of agile software development project in order to assess its effectiveness. 2 Objectives and Research Questions The main objective of this research is to analyse the communication methods between the major participants of an agile project – the project management, the project team and the customer representative, in order to find the most effective methods to achieve the goals of the communication. The research questions are as follows: RQ1: What information (i.e. information items or artifacts) is usually communicated? ILAIS 2019 1 Tel Aviv University Authors /Communication Methods in Agile Software Projects RQ2: Between what project stakeholders is the communication performed and the information exchanged? RQ3: What communication methods are used the most in agile projects? RQ4: What is the frequency of communication for each method that provides the most value to the project? RQ5: What communication methods are the most effective in achieving the communication goals and objectives? 3 Research Methods Two main research methods are being used: 3.1 Semi structured interviews Semi structured interviews were performed with 8 selected representatives (project / program managers, customer representatives team members) participating in agile software development projects. The interviews used a pre-determined list of themes to be covered and questions to be asked. The semi structured interviews were performed before the on-line survey in order to optimize the survey questions and to obtain some deep level insight on the surveyed projects. 3.2 On-line questionnaire Survey of a number of agile software projects using a structured and validated questionnaire, based on previous research by (Chow & Cao, 2008), (Tenhunen, 2010) and on the semi-structured interviews conclusions (see Discussion) regarding the different communication methods. The survey will address, for each project, three main stakeholder groups – the project management, the project team members (developers / analysts / testers) and the project customer. The data gathered from the survey will be analysed in order to compare the communication methods and artefacts used by different stakeholders and different projects, to demonstrate the effectiveness and relevance of the different communication methods on three hierarchical levels – overall project communication, project communication for each of the three main stakeholders’ groups, and finally, if possible, communication for each project separately. 4 Interim Results The semi structured interview consisted of 10 demographic questions and 25 questions regarding the communication of the projects the interviewee is participating in. This stage of the research was completed, and the data gathered from the interviews was analysed, using content analysis to categorize the emerging themes. The insights derived from the interviews helped define some of the on-line survey questions. For mapping of the main communication methods resulting from the interviews, see Appendix 1 below. 5 Discussion Following are some of the main insights resulted from the semi-structured interviews: ILAIS 2019 2 Tel Aviv University Authors /Communication Methods in Agile Software Projects In general, the communication is very helpful for all project stakeholders, and it helps get everyone passionate about the project goals on the same level. This finding is in line with previous research regarding project communication (Yagüe, Garbajosa, Díaz, & González, 2016). The information that is mostly communicated consists of status and open issues from the project manager and team towards the project customer representatives, and requirements and approvals are communicated from the customer representatives towards the project team. The methods that are used the most are e-mails, meetings and project collaboration environment. The actual frequency of communication for each method is listed in Appendix 2 below. However, for some of the communication methods this frequency is not optimal, i.e. a lot of excess e-mail traffic, daily stand-up meetings not performed every day, etc. Those findings agree with previous research, particularly, that too-frequent communication, by some media, like e-mail, may impact project performance in a negative way (Patrashkova-Volzdoska, McComb, Green, & Compton, 2003). Sometimes team members are insecure / not fully competent regarding the project activities, and may be less inclined to speaking up in the different team meetings. In those cases, the team collaboration environment may be helpful in resolving knowledge gaps, helping understand the bigger picture and the status of the different development activities. Some examples were found of insufficient communication resulting in failures and re-work. Those results will be further studied during the on-line survey. The survey will be comprised of three parts: Demographics Project Communication Methods Mapping Project Communication Effectiveness As a result of the on-line survey we expect to find answers to the research questions, in particular, to map the most popular communication artefacts, to identify the key communication channels in agile projects, to characterize usage of rich communication (two-way interaction involving more than one sensory channel), and to understand the impact of informal communication in agile projects. We expect that computer and smartphone aided communication, both formal and informal, will prove as the most effective, but for large scale project the use of collaborative communication environment should prove to be very effective as well. As a result of answering the research questions, a set of practical guidelines for effective communication methods in large scale agile projects will be suggested. 6 Next Steps The research continues, with the next step being performing the on-line survey and analysing its results. References Agile Alliance®. (2001). Manifesto http://agilemanifesto.org/ for Agile Software Development. Retrieved from Ambler, S. W. (2009). The Agile Scaling Model (ASM): Adapting Agile Methods for Complex Environments. Environments, 1-35. Charette, R. N. (2005). Why software fails. IEEE Spectrum, 42, 42-49. ILAIS 2019 3 Tel Aviv University Authors /Communication Methods in Agile Software Projects Chow, T., & Cao, D.-B. (2008). A survey study of critical success factors in agile software projects. The Journal of Systems and Software, 81, 961-971. Coughlan, J., & Macredie, R. D. (2002). Effective Communication in Requirements Elicitation: A Comparison of Methodologies. Requirements Engineering, 7, 47-60. Curtis, B., Krasner, H., & Iscoe, N. (1988). A field study of the software design process for large systems. Communications of the ACM, 31(11), 1268-1286. Patrashkova-Volzdoska, R. R., McComb, S. A., Green, S. G., & Compton, W. D. (2003). Examining a curvilinear relationship between communication frequency and team performance in crossfunctional project teams. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 50(3), 262-269. Pinto, M., & Pinto, J. (1990). Project Team Communication and Cross‐Functional Cooperation in New Program Development. The Journal of Product Innovation Management, 7(3), 20-212. Project Management Institute. (2017). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) (6th ed.). Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute. Serrador, P., & Pinto, J. K. (2015). Does Agile work? — A quantitative analysis of agile project success. International Journal of Project Management, 33, 1040-1051. Tenhunen, T. (2010, May). Challenges in scaling agile software development. Master’s thesis. Tampere: Tampere University of Technology. Yagüe, A., Garbajosa, J., Díaz, J., & González, E. (2016). An exploratory study in communication in Agile Global Software Development. Computer Standards & Interfaces, 48, 184-197. ILAIS 2019 4 Tel Aviv University Authors /Communication Methods in Agile Software Projects Appendix 1 – Main Communication Methods in Agile Projects Main communication methods used in the different channels: Synchronous (F2F) Communication: Meetings, Conference / Phone calls Asynchronous Communication: E-mails, Documents, Instant messaging, Project collaboration environment (system, intranet site) Senior Management Status, Documents for Approval, Open Issues Project Manager Project Customer / Product Owner Project Team Other Teams Figure 1. ILAIS 2019 5 Internal Communication: Development open issues, Requirements, Testing, Status, etc. Main Communication Methods. Tel Aviv University Organizational Interfaces Authors /Communication Methods in Agile Software Projects Appendix 2 – Communication Methods Summary Communication Method Communication artefacts (types of information) Text Messaging Issue Clarification Status Updates Spec Documentation Information about project meetings Management / Technical Participating Stakeholders Communication Frequency Relevant Types of Projects Both Any stakeholder of the project, depending on the context Any stakeholder of the project, depending on the context Daily – usually many times a day Waterfall & Agile According to the meeting frequency Waterfall & Agile Widely used, sometimes overwhelming Power point presentations Status Summaries (MS Word) Oral – review of the current user stories, plan for the current day Review of all user stories for the current spring (backlog grooming) Management Management Customer representatives Project team Project Team (mostly developers) SCRUM Master Weekly / Monthly Waterfall & Agile Few times a week Agile Very effective, helps solve open issues and resolve show stoppers Very effective and concise Once every 2 weeks Agile Very effective, essential for agile Sprint Retrospective Review and lessons learned for the completed sprint (Power point / MS Word) Both, Mostly Technical Once every 2 weeks (not performed for every sprint) Agile Very effective, essential for agile Demo Demonstration of the features developed for the current Technical Project manager Business Analysts Customer Representative SCRUM Master Testing Manager Project manager Business Analysts Customer Representative SCRUM Master Testing Manager Project Manager & team Once per release (3 months) Agile Effective. Due to the project size cannot be performed once Email Calendar Appointments Meetings: Project Status / Steering Committee Daily Stand-Up Sprint Planning ILAIS 2019 6 Management Both, Mostly Technical Technical Tel Aviv University Method Effectiveness (hypothesis) Widely used, sometimes overwhelming Authors /Communication Methods in Agile Software Projects Communication Method Communication artefacts (types of information) release, on the live product Management / Technical Instant Messaging (WhatsApp) Short text messaging, both private and group Management Tele- and VideoConferencing Text Messaging Issue Clarification Status Updates Presented documents – Power Point presentations Review of TFS / VSTS / JIRA All data regarding project scope – both managerial (Data regarding Epics / Features / User Stories) and the product code itself Management Collaboration Environment (TFS / VSTS / JIRA) Table 1. ILAIS 2019 7 Participating Stakeholders Communication Frequency Relevant Types of Projects Any stakeholder of the project, depending on the context Management Customer representatives Project team Daily, sometimes many times a day Waterfall & Agile Weekly / Monthly Waterfall & Agile Effective. Saves a lot of travel time Project team SCRUM Master Testers Project Manager Daily / On-going Agile Very effective. Used to manage most of the project’s artefacts. Customers & Representatives Both Communication Methods Tel Aviv University Method Effectiveness (hypothesis) per sprint (desired), but rather once per release Very effective. Helps solve open issues “on the go”
