Motivation and autonomy in global software development

John Noll, Sarah Beecham, Abdur Razzak, Bob Richardson, Ann Barcomb, Ita Richardson

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Global software development has become the norm rather than the exception for even the smallest companies. However, global software development is known to lead to numerous negative effects among distributed teams. This paper focuses on the effect of global software development on motivation. Specifically we ask: “Does increased autonomy, through the introduction of scrum, result in higher motivation among distributed developers?” We studied two distributed software development teams within one company headquartered in Ireland. Teams employ the scrum approach to software development which emphasizes, among other things, autonomy. We observed the teams during their scrum ceremonies, interviewed each team member and administered a motivation survey. We found that the difference in motivation levels before and after the introduction of scrum was slight and not statistically significant. Instead, there was a significant difference in the motivation levels of experienced team members, which were lower than less experienced members.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationGlobal Sourcing of Digital Services
Subtitle of host publicationMicro and Macro Perspectives - 11th Global Sourcing Workshop 2017, Revised Selected Papers
EditorsIlan Oshri, Julia Kotlarsky, Leslie P. Willcocks
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages19-38
Number of pages20
ISBN (Print)9783319703046
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Event11th Global Sourcing Workshop on Micro and Macro Perspectives, 2017 - La Thuile, Italy
Duration: 22 Feb 201725 Feb 2017

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Business Information Processing
Volume306
ISSN (Print)1865-1348

Conference

Conference11th Global Sourcing Workshop on Micro and Macro Perspectives, 2017
Country/TerritoryItaly
CityLa Thuile
Period22/02/1725/02/17

Keywords

  • Agile software development
  • Autonomy
  • Global software development
  • Motivation
  • Scrum

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