Alignment of stakeholder expectations about user involvement in agile software development

Buchan, J; Bano, M; Zowghi, D; MacDonell, S; Shinde, A

Alignment of stakeholder expectations about user involvement in agile software development

Buchan, J Bano, M

Zowghi, D

MacDonell, S Shinde, A

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Publication Type:: Conference Proceeding
Citation:: ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, 2017, Part F128635 pp. 334 - 343
Issue Date:: 2017-06-15

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Buchan, J	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Bano, M https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1447-9521	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Zowghi, D https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6051-0155	en_US
dc.contributor.author	MacDonell, S	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Shinde, A	en_US
dc.date.issued	2017-06-15	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, 2017, Part F128635 pp. 334 - 343	en_US
dc.identifier.isbn	9781450348041	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/96585
dc.description.abstract	© 2017 Association for Computing Machinery. Context: User involvement is generally considered to contributing to user satisfaction and project success and is central to Agile software development. In theory, the expectations about user involvement, such as the PO's, are quite demanding in this Agile way of working. But what are the expectations seen in practice, and are the expectations of user involvement aligned among the development team and users? Any misalignment could contribute to conflict and miscommunication among stakeholders that may result in ineffective user involvement. Objective: Our aim is to compare and contrast the expectations of two stakeholder groups (software development team, and software users) about user involvement in order to understand the expectations and assess their alignment. Method: We have conducted an exploratory case study of expectations about user involvement in an Agile software development. Qualitative data was collected through interviews to design a novel method for the assessing the alignment of expectations about user involvement by applying Repertory Grids (RG). Results: By aggregating the results from the interviews and RGs, varying degrees of expectation alignments were observed between the development team and user representatives. Conclusion: Alignment of expectations can be assessed in practice using the proposed RG instrument and can reveal misalignment between user roles and activities they participate in Agile software development projects. Although we used RG instrument retrospectively in this study, we posit that it could also be applied from the start of a project, or proactively as a diagnostic tool throughout a project to assess and ensure that expectations are aligned.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	ACM International Conference Proceeding Series	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1145/3084226.3084251	en_US
dc.title	Alignment of stakeholder expectations about user involvement in agile software development	en_US
dc.type	Conference Proceeding
utslib.citation.volume	Part F128635	en_US
utslib.for	080309 Software Engineering	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Research)
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Research)/Graduate Research School
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/FASS Faculty Administration
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - HCTD - Human Centred Technology Design
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - STEM Education Futures
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	Part F128635	en_US

Abstract:

© 2017 Association for Computing Machinery. Context: User involvement is generally considered to contributing to user satisfaction and project success and is central to Agile software development. In theory, the expectations about user involvement, such as the PO's, are quite demanding in this Agile way of working. But what are the expectations seen in practice, and are the expectations of user involvement aligned among the development team and users? Any misalignment could contribute to conflict and miscommunication among stakeholders that may result in ineffective user involvement. Objective: Our aim is to compare and contrast the expectations of two stakeholder groups (software development team, and software users) about user involvement in order to understand the expectations and assess their alignment. Method: We have conducted an exploratory case study of expectations about user involvement in an Agile software development. Qualitative data was collected through interviews to design a novel method for the assessing the alignment of expectations about user involvement by applying Repertory Grids (RG). Results: By aggregating the results from the interviews and RGs, varying degrees of expectation alignments were observed between the development team and user representatives. Conclusion: Alignment of expectations can be assessed in practice using the proposed RG instrument and can reveal misalignment between user roles and activities they participate in Agile software development projects. Although we used RG instrument retrospectively in this study, we posit that it could also be applied from the start of a project, or proactively as a diagnostic tool throughout a project to assess and ensure that expectations are aligned.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/96585