The increased flexibility that can be achieved through the use of an agile project management system, make it a popular management style within software development projects. Despite the many benefits of using agile teams, there are however also challenges that are likely to occur within these systems. By using an extended version of Dickinson and McIntyre's teamwork model, this study identifies possible teamwork challenges that may occur when an agile project management method is used, and discusses how a company can address them. The study is conducted through an interview-based case study of a software development company with self-governing agile teams. This study finds that a lack of shared mental models and inadequate team leadership are sources for teamwork challenges within agile teams. Furthermore this study identifies challenges in relation to team orientation, back-up functions and communication. By using existing theories on agile teams and teamwork, the paper explains why these challenges likely have occurred and how they are related to the use of an agile project management. Finally, the paper provides some suggestions for practice based on the discussion. The suggested solutions involve the provision of better key performance indicators to establish shared mental models and a rotation of team roles in order to increase redundancy and back-up functions.

The   agile methods are becoming increasingly more common to use in distributed   work, the globally growing IT market has led to IT-system development often   being distributed. The fact that many   teams today choose to work distributed and agile has brought with it some new   communication problems. There has been some research related to communication   problems in agile distributed teams before, but when examining the previous   research we have identified that that the individuals own experiences usually   do not fall into focus. This study has investigated how the individuals   themselves perceive the communication problems within their agile distributed   team and why they believe the problems arise, as well as what the consequence   of their occurrence is and also how they perceive the positive effects of   well-functioning communication.   In   order to investigate problems and solutions related to communication in agile   distributed teams, seven semi-structured interviews have been conducted with   various project members who work with software development in distributed   agile teams. Also two meetings have   been analyzed. The study is made with a qualitative method.   The individuals who acted as respondents in   the study all work at a global IT company that we have gained access to. The   study has been developed on-site at this global IT company in an office   located in Östersund. Respondents were selected based on recommendations from   the company according to the roles requested in the study. / De agila metoderna blir allt vanligare att   använda vid distribuerat arbete, den globalt växande IT marknaden har lett   till att systemutveckling ofta sker distribuerat. Att team som sitter   distribuerat väljer att arbeta agilt har fört med sig en del nya kommunikationsproblem.   Det har gjorts en del forskning inom kommunikationsproblem i agila   distribuerade team tidigare, men det som märks när man granskar den tidigare   forskningen är att individernas egna upplevelser oftast inte hamnar i fokus.   Denna studie har undersökt hur individerna själva uppfattar   kommunikationsproblemen inom sitt agila distribuerade team samt varför de   tror att de uppstår och vad som är konsekvensen av att de uppstår, även hur   de uppfattar de positiva effekterna av en väl fungerande kommunikation.   För att undersöka området så har sju stycken   semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts på olika projektmedlemmar som jobbar   med utveckling i distribuerade agila team, även två möten har analyserats,   detta har genomförts med en kvalitativ studie. Individerna som agerat som   respondenter i studien jobbar alla på ett globalt IT-företag som vi har fått   tillgång till. Studien har utvecklats på plats hos detta IT-företag på ett   kontor beläget i Östersund. Respondenterna valdes utifrån rekommendationer   från företaget efter de roller som efterfrågats i studien.

Syfte: Studiens syfte är att öka förståelsen för det agila ledarskapet och hur det främjar de anställdas motivation.  Metod: Vid genomförande av studien har en kvalitativ metod tillämpats där empiri samlats in med hjälp av tio semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Intervjuerna har, i kombination med insamlad teori från vetenskapliga artiklar, utgjort underlag för den data som har bearbetats i analysen och följaktligen lett fram till studiens slutsats.  Resultat & Slutsats: Studien visar att agilt ledarskap kan utövas i olika typer av roller med den gemensamma uppgiften att främja ett agilt arbetssätt. Agila ledare kan öka motivationen hos individen genom att delegera ansvar, uppmuntra till självständighet och se till att teamet strävar efter gemensamma mål som ligger i linje med organisationens mål.  Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Denna studie har fokuserat på ledarens perspektiv på ledarskapets relation till det agila arbetssättet. Liknande studier med medarbetarens perspektiv hade skapat ytterligare underlag för att dra slutsatser kring hur ledarens prestationer fungerar i praktiken. Det finns även ett behov av att sätta det agila ledarskapet i relation till organisatorisk agility. Med frågeställningar kring det agila arbetssättet ur ett organisatoriskt perspektiv kan nya insikter nås och forskningen inom området bli mer heltäckande.  Uppsatsens bidrag: Studien har bidragit med ökad förståelse för agilt ledarskap inom banksektorn samt hur agila ledare arbetar för att främja motivation hos de anställda. Studien riktar sig till forskare inom ledarskap som är intresserade av att erhålla en fördjupad bild av hur det agila ledarskapet inom banksektorn fungerar, samt vad det har för kopplingar till motivation. Studien är även av intresse för ledare som finner intresse för att lära sig mer om agila arbetssätt, agilt ledarskap samt motivation. / Purpose: The purpose of the study is to increase the understanding of the agile leadership and how agile leaders cultivate motivation for the employees.  Method: A qualitative method was used to collect data from ten semi-structured interviews. This data, in combination with relevant theory within the domain of the study, laid the foundation for the results and conclusions of the study.  Results and conclusions: The study shows that agile leadership can be applied in different roles with the common task of promoting agile workplaces. Agile leaders increase the motivation for individuals through delegating responsibilities, encouraging independence, and ensuring that the team strives for common goals that are in line with the organization's goals.  Future research: This study has focused on the leaders’ perspective on the leadership’s relation to the agile work method. A similar study with the employees’ perspective should contribute with additional research to draw conclusions about how well the leaders’ performance actually works in practice. We also find it interesting to put agile leadership in relation to organizational agility. With questions about the agile way of working from an organizational perspective, the research area can be enhanced with valuable insights.  Contribution: The study has contributed to an increased understanding of agile leadership in the banking sector and of how agile leaders work to promote motivation among employees. The study is directed towards the scholar who is interested in obtaining a deeper understanding of how the agile leadership in the banking sector works in practice and its links to motivation. The study is also of interest to leaders who find interest in learning more about agile working methods, agile leadership and motivation.

Agile principles for software development are now the industry standard for innovative projects. Agile is often hailed for being flexible, but there is also a commonly held 'truth' that agile principles and software security do not work well together. For this reason it is not uncommon to place all security responsibilities with a separate team, which goes against the agile principles of being team-centered and may affect flexibility or timeframe of a project. Additionally, software security is difficult and requires extensive experience and knowledge, something that varies a lot among software developers. This study presents a threat modeling process tailored for the specific needs and capabilities of the agile developer team. The process combines features of attack trees and abuser stories with other supplementary techniques in a pedagogical instruction manual to create an accessible and easy-to-get-started method intended to be driven by the developers themselves. The process has been developed through extensive review of extant threat modeling methods and the circumstances of the agile team, and trialed through user tests at an agile ITorganization in the financial services. / Agila principer för mjukvaruutveckling är nu industristandard för innovativa projekt. Agila metoder hyllas ofta för sin flexibilitet men det finns också en vidspridd uppfattning att agila metoder och mjukvarusäkerhet inte går bra ihop. Av den anledningen är det inte ovanligt att säkerhetsansvar och -uppgifter drivs av en separat säkerhetsgrupp, vilket går emot de agila principerna om fokus på utvecklarteamet. Detta kan få effekter både för projektets flexibilitet och dess tidsram. Dessutom är IT-säkerhet ett svårt ämne som kräver både erfarenhet och avsevärd kunskap, något som funnits variera mycket bland mjukvaruutvecklare. Den här studien presenterar en hotmodelleringsprocess som skräddarsytts för utvecklarteamets specifika behov och styrkor. Processen kombinerar funktioner från attackträd och abuser stories med andra, komplementära tekniker i en pedagogisk instruktionsmanual för att leverera en lättillgänglig och snabbstartad metod menad att drivas av utvecklarna själva. Processen har utvecklats genom omfattande studier av etablerade hotmodelleringsprocesser, samt den agila teammiljön, och testats och vidareutvecklats genom användartester hos en agil IT-organisation inom finansbranschen.

Product development is more complex than ever. Industries all over the world face intensified competition, forcing firms to improve their innovation performance. This involves integrating software development to a greater extent. As an effort to cope with such progression, agile project management methodologies have been adopted. These include methodologies that are tailored to fit large organisations, made to enhance communication and speed up decision-making. Moreover, such methodologies allocate time for joint planning sessions (such as Program Increment Planning) to foster coordination between teams. The need for extensive coordinating capabilities increases with firm size and product complexity, meaning that large, multinational manufacturers with integrated software- and hardware development face the greatest challenges. With difficult coordination challenges comes a demand for prominent organisational coordination capabilities. This includes capabilities to identify dependencies between agile teams in time, to avoid delays, budget overruns, and quality issues. Hence, firms must adopt sufficient project management procedures, as well as shape organisational artefacts, processes, and culture to maximise their organisational coordination capabilities. In this project, these artefacts, processes, and the organisational culture were defined as factors. Furthermore, the project aimed at (1) – identifying factors that positively contribute to organisations’ capabilities to find inter-team dependencies, and (2) – investigating how to favour those identified factors. The research was conducted at Volvo Car Corporation, a Swedish car manufacturer that undergoes a transition towards being a large-scale agile organisation. Theories concerning coordination, communication, and knowledge management were jointly deployed to construct a state-of-the-art theoretical framework. Thereafter, the conceptual model was the guiding lens for collecting and analysing empirical evidence. Consequently, this project was able to assess 26 factors for identifying inter-team dependencies. Furthermore, several of these factors are proven to be interconnected as they fuel each other and exist in symbiosis. Thus, this project advocates that large-scale agile organisations must understand these factors and their connection to each other — that is when incorporating coordination mechanisms to better identify inter-team dependencies.