The Influence of Agile Practices on Performance in Software Engineering Teams: A Subgroup Perspective

This research explores the influence of the agile practices daily stand-ups and retrospectives on negative effects of subgroups, i.e. of having several smaller groups within a team, on group conflict, satisfaction, and performance. Based on extant literature in agile software development (ASD) and group research, a model of effects of ASD practices and the constructs elaboration, i.e. direct sharing, of information and team reflexivity, i.e. how much teams reflect on processes and outcomes, is developed and assessed using a survey of agile teams. Previous findings on negative effects of subgroups on conflict and satisfaction are corroborated in an agile setting. Retrospectives enhance team reflexivity and elaboration of information. As expected, elaboration of information significantly attenuates effects on conflict. Surprisingly, reflexivity is seen to further exacerbate the negative effects of perceived subgroups on conflict and satisfaction.