Introducing Scrum into a large project: a case study and analysis of the acceptance factors

Neža Štrukelj (2016) Introducing Scrum into a large project: a case study and analysis of the acceptance factors. MSc thesis.

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Abstract

Customers' requirements are changing often and quickly in the information system development nowadays accommodate to user’ needs and market change. Information system development should reflect this constant change too. Current trends in information system development recommend agile methodologies that enable iterative and incremental development and are adaptable to changes in requirements during development. This work presents a case study analysis of the introduction of the Scrum methodology on a public administration project carried out by one of the major Slovenian software development companies. This case was the first use of the Scrum methodology by the software development company. Therefore, special attention is paid, firstly, to the level of adoption of Scrum practices, which means the stage to which the developers assimilated each practice after the end of the project; and secondly to the factors with greatest impact on the successful introduction of Scrum and its long-term acceptability according to developers and analysis of the positive and negative experiences / aspects. To analyze the adoption stage of each practice, we used the 6-stages Kwon-Zmud-Cooper Innovation assimilation stages model. To identify the most important factors, we used the Rogers’ Diffusion of innovation theory. To study the positive and negative aspects, we performed a postmortem analysis. The results were compared with a similar study on the use of Scrum in a German insurance company. The data was collected by a questionnaire, which consisted of five parts. The first part included the general questions about the respondent. The questions in the second part referred to the degree of adoption of certain practices. In the third part we asked about the factors which influence long-term Scrum acceptance. The fourth part contained questions needed for a comparison with Overhage-Schlauderer hypotheses and the last part of the questionnaire included questions relating to the characteristics of the project. To confirm or clarify the results of the questionnaire semi-structured were carried out. It was established that some things need to be improved and others to be kept and maintained. Therefore, recommendations are provided for improving the selection process of the Scrum group members, the client inclusion in the Scrum process, monitoring workflow and user stories estimation. Things that should be nurtured in the future are a joint office and modern infrastructure, individual personal and professional growth and the possibility to work with Scrum methodology in the future.

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