Agile practices in startup teams

8/20/2019 Agile practices in startup teams

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1. Phenomenon of Interest:

With the rise of globalization and the development of communication channels offshoring rose

as a very attractive options to companies. Especially in terms of cost which can be the most

important factor for choosing off shoring for startup companies. With their little experience the

companies may find out about the challenges halfway through the projects and they are faced

with obstacles of extended cost or lagging behind their timeline. These obstacles can incur big

losses for startups companies due to their limited resources and fast moving market.

Nowadays there is a growing number of startups who are offshoring their software development

processes. anaging offshoring teams has its many challenges when the companies are using

!gile frameworks. "n order to have an effective distributed agile development there are many

challenges that face these companies. The literature is rich with studies focusing on

challenges# tools# best practices for $istributed !gile and %ffshore software development.

&owever there wasn't a big focus on the size of the companies in (uestion. !nother observation

is that in many cases the literature did not distinguish if the offshored development teams were

outsourced or in sourced . !ll of these factors can play an important role in determining the

types of challenges and the degree of complexity of the challenge to the company.

)tartups have a different nature and re(uirements than )Es and large companies* +or

example startup projects have backlog re(uirements that are continually evolving over short

time spans due to the nature of the market and the resources of the project. !nother point is that

startup projects sometime consist of very small teams , sometimes as small as -/ members0

in which each member can play multiple roles in the project. These factors and few other factors

that will be discovered from the literature gives startups a uni(ue characteristics in which it

might need to take a different approach in implementing distributed agile methodologies

2. Theoretical Foundation:

1eff )utherland the inventor of scrum has touched the development of distributed scrum from

multiple angles in his paper 2!gile 3an )cale4 "nventing and 5einventing )356 in +ive

3ompanies2 # ,)utherland# 78890 describes the origin of scrum process and its evolvement in



five companies with few key learnings along the way. the paper gives a comprehensive

background where scrum comes from.

in ,)utherland : )chwaber# 788;0 the authors describe the scrum as one set of core processes.

The inspect and the adapt rules of scrums can be possibly tuned to fit any organization. They

also add that there are - different type of scrum which are implemented in practice. "solated

)crums# $istributed )crums and Totally integrated scrums. The research case will focus on the

third Type 4 Totally integrated scrums. "n this case scrum teams are cross functional with

members distributed across different geographic locations. The book 2The scrum papers4 Nuts #

<olts and origins of !gile process2 by ,)utherland : )chwaber# 788;0 contains a compilation of

papers which provides good insight on different !gile processes and their evolvement.

! very good and deep understanding can be obtained from the book 2 ! practical guide of

distributed )crum2 by ,Woodward# )urdek# : =anis# 78980. The book first discusses the

evolution of )crum and the challenges faced by distributed teams. "n the later sections the

authors explain in detail all the steps of starting the scrum project # planning the sprints and the

meetings and how to effectively communicate in the distributed scrum model.

,<erczuk# 788;0 discusses four important lessons that were learned from cases operating in a

distributed !gile environment. first lesson that operating in distributed teams amplifies the

existing issues in the process itself and not as much as bringing new issues. )econd # that

management shall give the team the support it needs in order to improve and develop the

process to be well suited for the team. Third# good engineering practices are essential for agile

project to succeed and fourth he adds that agile is about people but in the case of $istributed

agile # good and effective tools are need to help people to communicate effectively over

distances

,)utherland# )choonheim# 5ustenburg# : 5ijk# 788>0 give a deeper insight on the challenges

faced by fully distributed scrum teams. The paper also draws the light on the offshoring

strategies for overcoming the geographic# language# and cultural barriers that impede

distributed development. The research was carried on 7 case studies of companies who have

implemented $istributed !gile methodology through )crum?@A practices.

"n ,&ildenbrand# =eisser# Bude# <ruch# : !cker# 788>0 the authors have put the light on @A

within the context of $istributed )oftware $evelopment . The paper has discussed how the @A

methodology is the suitability and effectiveness of available tools and techni(ues is discussed. "t



has also discussed the collaboration tools that were used during that time for collaboration. The

categories of tools that were used for collaboration ; years ago are still the same categories as

today# &owever# the functionality has been enhanced , for example to support mobile devices 0 #

<esides that many of these tools are available as open source software and don't need to pay

for . %pen source software is what startups are relying heavily on.

other papers that have been identified to be very useful source of knowledge for the case of

distributed agile are ,Aaasivaara# $urasiewicz# : Cassenius# 788D0 # ,)hrivastava : $ate#

78980 # ,&ossain# <abar# : Aaik# 788D0 # ,Cee : ong# 78980 # ,Aries&eje : Aries&eje# 78990

and ,<ode : ertens# 788F0

3. Research Question:

as mentioned by ,Aaasivaara et al.# 788D0 # $espite the fact that the scientific research on

distributed agile development ,$!$0# is scarce. There are only a few reported experiences in

applying $!$ to industrial projects# and even fewer case studies. Therefore# a knowledge gap

exists on the use of )crum in =)$ in industrial examples. That will be attempted to be

addressed within this case study research

The research will focus on answering the +ollowing (uestions. &ow are startup companiesimplementing $istributed !gile practicesG &ow is )crum and other methodologies satisfy their

projects and market needsG

what are the challenges faced by startup companies in this $istributed !gile methodologiesG

and what are the best practices that could be identified from their implementation and the

challenges faced by them G

4. Proposed Research Direction4

"n order to explore the challenges in the distributed agile environment . " am planning to follow

the research framework of ,&ossain# <annerman# : 1effery# 78990 in identifying the current

challenges of scrum practices in global scrum development. The framework identifies the



challenges categories as - main categories in which the research is to follow * 3ommunication #

3oordination and 3ontrol challenges.

+or collecting the re(uired data # the proposed direction is to conduct a case study on 7 startup

companies who are based in 3openhagen. The 7 companies are currently adopting $istributed

!gile practices , ainly scrum 0 with the management located in 3openhagen and development

teams located in Eastern Europe and !sia. The case study will follow the 2 =uidelines for

conducting and reporting case study research in software engineering 2 by ,5uneson : &Hst#

788D0. The case study will be an exploratory case study in order to find out the challenges faced

by the 7 startups in 3openhagen# triggers of change of the agile methodologies and how they

have adapted the scrum process in order to fit the needs of their development projects. )emi

spruced interviews will be conducted at the companies' offices in 3openhagen. "n the interview "

am planning to interview developers and project managers in order to gain a conclusive in sight

on the scrum process in the 7 companies. !dding to that it can be possible to examine the

collaboration workspace ,!sana0 in one of the companies ,Wiredelta0.

The first company is Wiredelta. Wiredelta specializes in developing web solutions ,ecommerce

and app0 to startup companies and small businesses. The development process happens

through using scrum methodology . The project management teams are located in 3openhagen

and the development teams are located in ysore in "ndia. The company has recently adopted

the scrum approach for its development. $ue to the nature of the projects # highly evolving

backlogs and other factors the scrum approach is tweaked and adapted in a way that fits the

development projects. !dopting and adapting the distributed scrum framework came with a lot

of benefits as well as some challenges specially from the project management side.

The second company is 3ylindo. 3ylindo is a 3openhagenbased startup that develops

software for the furniture industry that includes furniture visualization tools for consumers. The

software enable furniture retailers and manufacturers to visualize their products in ways never

before possible. The software is specifically designed to meet the challenges of the furniture

industry# from displaying furniture effectively on product pages# customizing complex modular

systems to viewing entire designs in realtime -$. 3ylindo has its development team in Eastern

Europe. They had another development team located in Ahilippines in which it was shutdown

last year due to anagement problems. 3ylindo is adopting the scrum methodology with some

adaptation in order to fit its project flow.



References

<erczuk# ). ,788;0. <ack to basics4 The role of agile principles in success with an distributed

scrum team. Proceedings - AGILE 2007 # ->7I->;. http4??doi.org?98.998D?!="CE.788;.9;

<ode# !.# : ertens# A. ,788F0. =lobalization and offshoring of software. Informatik-Spektrum #

29,-0# 9;9I9;-. http4??doi.org?98.988;?s887>;88F88>7z

&ildenbrand# T.# =eisser# .# Bude# T.# <ruch# $.# : !cker# T. ,788>0. !gile methodologies for

distributed collaborative development of enterprise applications. Proceedings - CISIS

2008 2nd Internationa! Conference on Comp!e"# Inte!!igent and Soft$are Intensi%e

S&stems# J/8IJ/J. http4??doi.org?98.998D?3")").788>.98J

&ossain# E.# <abar# . a.# : Aaik# &. A. &. ,788D0. 6sing )crum in =lobal )oftware

$evelopment4 ! )ystematic Citerature 5eview. 2009 'ourt( IEEE Internationa! Conference

on G!o)a! Soft$are Engineering # 9;JI9>/. http4??doi.org?98.998D?"3=)E.788D.7J

&ossain# E.# <annerman# A.# : 1effery# $. ,78990. )crum practices in global software

development4 a research framework. Product-'ocused Soft$are Process *# >>I987.

5etrieved from http4??link.springer.com?chapter?98.988;?D;>-F/779>/-DKD

Cee# ).# : ong# &.). ,78980. $istributed agile4 project management in a global environment.

Empirica! Soft$are Engineering # +, ,70# 78/I79;. http4??doi.org?98.988;?s98FF/88DD99D;

Aaasivaara# .# $urasiewicz# ).# : Cassenius# 3. ,788D0. 6sing )crum in $istributed !gile

$evelopment4 ! ultiple 3ase )tudy. 2009 'ourt( IEEE Internationa! Conference on

G!o)a! Soft$are Engineering . http4??doi.org?98.998D?"3=)E.788D.7;

Aries&eje# C.# : Aries&eje# 1. ,78990. !gile : $istributed Aroject anagement 4 a 3ase )tudy

5evealing Why )crum "s 6seful. European Conference on Information S&stems ECIS

20++.# Aaper 79;. 5etrieved from http4??aisel.aisnet.org?ecis7899?79;

5uneson# A.# : &Hst# . ,788D0. =uidelines for conducting and reporting case study research in

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http4??doi.org?98.988;?s98FF/88>D987>



)hrivastava# ). L.# : $ate# &. ,78980. $istributed !gile )oftware $evelopment 4 ourna! of

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)utherland# 1. ,78890. !gile 3an )cale4 "nventing and 5einventing )356 in +ive 3ompanies.

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)utherland# 1.# )choonheim# =.# 5ustenburg# E.# : 5ijk# . ,788>0. +ully distributed scrum4 The

secret sauce for hyperproductive offshored development teams. Proceedings - Agi!e 2008

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)utherland# 1.# : )chwaber# B. ,788;0. 1(e Scrum Papers uts # 3o!ts # and 4rigins of an Agi!e

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Woodward# E.# )urdek# ).# : =anis# . ,78980. A practica! guide to distri)uted Scrum. 5etrieved

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guidetodistributed)crum:amp*otsMWNTnJifh"w:amp*sigMgknnbskvsp;OO&hE3)"

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Agile practices in startup teams