Ambient Surfaces: Interactive Displays in the Informative Workspace of Co-located Scrum Teams

This paper contributes long-term findings on a custom ambient display solution (Ambient Surfaces) in the informative workspace of co-located agile (Scrum) software development teams. The study is based on the premise that displaying relevant information in a team's informative workspace is beneficial, as it readily provides information of common interest. However, existing research shows a lack of experience with software visualization tools in commercial settings. To our current knowledge, there is no study which examines ambient displays in Scrum teams with a longitudinal approach in order to address challenges in awareness and informal communication. A mixed-methods field study, which began in February 2014, is currently being conducted in cooperation with a medium-sized software company near Hamburg, Germany. Our current findings, which the following addresses, support the value of the Ambient Surfaces as a beneficial tool for Scrum teams.