Towards high performance software teamwork

Abstract

Context: Research indicates that software quality, to a large extent, depends on cooperation within software teams [1]. Since software development is a creative process that involves human interaction in the context of a team, it is important to understand the teamwork factors that influence performance.Objective: We present a study design in which we aim to examine the factors within software development teams that have significant influence on the performance of the team. We propose to consider factors such as communication, coordination of expertise, cohesion, trust, cooperation, and value diversity. The study investigates whether and to which extent these factors correlate with a performance of the team. In order to capture a variety of relevant teamwork factors, we created a new model extending the work of Hoegl and Gemuenden [2] and Liang et al. [3]. Method:The study is based on quantitative research by means of an online questionnaire. We invited more than 20 software development teams in the Netherlands to participate in our team performance assessment, evaluating the teamwork and performance of the team. Based on an average team size of five people, one would therefore expect at least 100 participants in total. Also, product stakeholders will be asked to give their independent assessments of the performance of the team.Expected result: By analyzing the correlation between teamwork factors and team performance, we expect to gain a deeper understanding of how teamwork factors influence team performance. We also expect to validate the implemented extensions of teamwork model with respect to earlier work.

Transformational leadership style: a boost or hindrance to team performance in IT sector

“…As per Salas,(2008); Sudhakar (2011), Weimar (2013, team performance is one of the multidimensional and common phenomenon for any organization. Although the concept of team performance has been studied a lot by different academicians and researchers, there is unanimous agreement on its definition and measurement criteria.…”

Information systems project team members: factors for high performance

“…There is a common agreement on the main features of a project team as being a group of people with complementary skills, roles and responsibilities, who interact in a broader organizational system in order to reach common goals through the performance of interdependent tasks (Kozlowski and Ilgen, 2006;Salas et al, 2008;Weimar et al, 2013). Often a project team is characterized by a common approach and by mutual accountability (Moura et al, 2014).…”

“…The outputs of performance represent judgments about effectiveness (toward quality) and efficiency (team's performance processes in achieving desirable standards) (Kozlowski and Ilgen, 2006;Salas et al, 2008). In IS projects, team performance can be assessed by the team's ability to attain the aimed level of product quality, time and costs (Sudhakar et al, 2011;Weimar et al, 2013).…”

“…Teamwork is fundamental to achieving high-productivity levels in information systems (IS) projects (Sudhakar et al, 2011), since these projects typically: (1) are complex and uncertain (Morcov et al, 2020); (2) involve creative processes and cross-functional tasks (Weimar et al, 2013); (3) require team capability, efficient use of resources (Tam et al, 2020) and involve significant investments (Kappelman et al, 2019); and (4) require substantial cooperation (Salas et al, 2008). Thus, human resources play a unique role in social-technical systems (Tao et al, 2020) because effective teamwork and productivity are closely related (Castka et al, 2001;Sudhakar et al, 2011;Salas et al, 2018).…”

Expertise Coordination for Agile Software Development Projects

“…Software development projects rely on expertise in producing quality software products [180,229]. Expertise is a critical resource and it is important to ensure the presence of sufficient knowledge and skills for software development teams [54].…”