Job satisfaction and motivation in a large agile team

  • Authors:

  • Bjørnar Tessem;Frank Maurer

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway;Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

  • Venue:
  • XP'07 Proceedings of the 8th international conference on Agile processes in software engineering and extreme programming
  • Year:
  • 2007

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Abstract

Agile software development processes emphasize team work in small groups as one of the features that contribute to high software quality and knowledge dispersion among developers. Research supports claims that agile methods also lead to higher motivation and job satisfaction among developers. Research in workplace psychology indicates that factors like autonomy, variety, significance, feedback, and ability to complete a whole task are significant factors to ensure satisfaction and motivation among workers. In this case study, we show, through the analysis of semi structured interviews with software developers and business representatives, that large teams continuously adapting the SCRUM methodology are able to ensure these empowering factors, and thus ensure a staff of motivated and satisfied software developers. The study presented is based on data from an agile project involving 70 people (including 30 developers) building a software product for the oil & gas industry.