Shreya Kumar
Charles Wallace
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we describe the practical considerations and challenges of studying an agile, co-located software development community by assimilating among them over many months. We have adopted a fully immersive ethnographic approach using semistructured and unstructured interviews. In many ways, the design choices in our study mirrored those faced by the development team, as we adjusted our methods on the fly to accommodate our richer knowledge of the work environment and adapted to changes on the ground. We share our process of determining and adjusting an operating procedure for the ethnographic observation and we reflect on the challenges faced in choosing subjects to study, getting them on board, planning questions and conducting interviews without disrupting the regular process of software development.
- T. N. Headland, K. L. Pike, and M. Harris. Emics and Etics: the Insider/Outsider Debate. Sage Publications, 1990.Google Scholar
- S. E. Hove and B. Anda. Experiences from conducting semi-structured interviews in empirical software engineering research. In 11th IEEE International Symposium on Software Metrics, pages 10--pp. IEEE, 2005. Google ScholarDigital Library
- H. Kniberg and A. Ivarsson. Scaling agile @ spotify. Available at ucvox.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/113617905-scaling-Agile-spotify-11.pdf, 2012.Google Scholar
- S. Kumar and C. Wallace. Communication strategies for mentoring in software development projects. In Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering, pages 111--114. ACM, 2014. Google ScholarDigital Library
- S. Kumar, C. Wallace, and M. Young. Mentoring trajectories in an evolving agile workplace. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Engineering, 2016. Google ScholarDigital Library
- B. L. Leech. Asking questions: techniques for semistructured interviews. Political Science & Politics, 35(04):665--668, 2002.Google ScholarCross Ref
- H. J. Rubin and I. S. Rubin. Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data. Sage, 2011.Google Scholar
- S. J. Tracy. Qualitative Research Methods: Collecting Evidence, Crafting Analysis, Communicating Impact. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.Google Scholar
- E. Wenger. Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge University Press, 1998.Google ScholarDigital Library
Index Terms
Among the agilists: participant observation in a rapidly evolving workplace
Recommendations
Mentoring trajectories in an evolving agile workplace
Agile approaches to software development offer flexibility and autonomy to developers, while demanding discipline and attentiveness. At its best, agile constitutes an idealized vision of Wenger's Community of Practice: one where the essence of the ...
Being in the thick of in-the-wild studies: the challenges and insights of researcher participation
We describe the insights and challenges offered by researcher participation in in-the-wild studies through the comparison of two prototype evaluations with varying levels of researcher participation. By reflecting on these studies we expose different ...
Challenges of applying ethnography to study software practices
Ethnography is about the adoption of a cultural lens to observe and interpret events, actions, and behaviors, ensuring that they are placed in a relevant and meaningful context. Using this approach, it is possible to capture and analyze software ...
Comments