The connections between group maturity, software development velocity, and planning effectiveness

Abstract

Empirical evidence regarding the connection between group development (maturity) and the success of software development teams is lacking. The purpose of this research is to gain a qualitative and quantitative understanding of how velocity and planning effectiveness of software teams connect to a group development model. The Group Development Questionnaire was given to 19 software developers from 4 work groups to assess their group development maturity. The work groups' responses to the survey were checked for correlation with development velocity and planning effectiveness. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 16 individuals from the same 4 work groups to explore issues about their group maturity and to validate the responses of the interviewees in the Group Development Questionnaire. The measurement of the fourth stage of group development had a strong association with the planning effectiveness measurement, which means that a team with less issues in the fourth phase of group development is more effective in adhering to its plans. On the other hand, group development and velocity showed no significant convergent validity. We conclude that the dynamics within software development teams might correlate to their ability to deliver the expected outcome as planned but not to their ability to develop tasks faster. KEYWORDSgroup maturity, software engineering, velocity, planning effectiveness, performance INTRODUCTIONGroups, like humans, move through successive phases; they tend to advance and regress. 1 A group is sometimes defined as 3 or more members that interact with each other to perform a number of tasks and achieve a set of common goals. 2 A team, on the other hand, has developed both the goals and the means to achieve these tasks effectively. 3 The emphasis on the importance of arranging work in a group form emerged, in part, from the growing awareness of the role of groups in facilitating or blocking individual and organizational effectiveness, and more work can be achieved in well-functioning teams than dividing work to individuals only. 4 As a result, organizations are counting on teams as the main asset for accomplishing goals. 5 Group development can be defined as the process in which a group navigates a number of stages until it becomes a mature team. Consequently, the term "group maturity" refers to the level of development a group has acquired over the course of its lifespan. Wheelan et al 3 reported that 83%of teams that were assessed in a study were found to be work groups without effective means to reach their common goals. A team, therefore, is here defined as one that has successfully navigated the earlier stages of group development and has emerged as a mature, high performing unit capable of achieving common goals. 6 The work of Susan Wheelan on group development research helped determine the common threads among group development models and postulate the basis for the Integrated Model of Group Development (IMGD). In this model, a group is believed to go through 5 successive ...

Group maturity, team efficiency, and team effectiveness in software development: A case study in a CMMI‐DEV Level 5 organization

“…Al‐Sabbagh and Gren found that the fourth stage of group development was strongly correlated with planning effectiveness, and they did not find any important correlation between group maturity and velocity. The correlations between aspects of group maturity and the effort to develop UCPs were not found to be statistically significant in the present work; however, some correlations between team efficiency and aspects of group maturity were found to be strong and statistically significant.…”

“…Al‐Sabbagh and Gren suggested that, to increase the performance of software teams, groups must clarify roles and communicate process‐related issues. Strong correlations between efficiency and clarity of roles and goals, and between communication and effectiveness, were found in the present work.…”

“…The results suggested a relationship between stages of group maturity and agility because these variables were correlated; nevertheless, authors stated that more research is needed to understand the role of group maturity in software development. Later, Al‐Sabbagh and Gren studied how the velocity and planning effectiveness of software teams were connected to group development. They used the IMGD and found a strong association between the fourth stage of group development and planning effectiveness; however, the IMGD is not useful for a deep study of specific aspects of group maturity such as effective communication, mutual trust, and cohesiveness.…”

Impacts of process audit review and control efforts on software project outcomes

“…responsiveness to requests for information, prior relationship history, etc. ), technical and group proficiency of the team members, and the capabilities of the technologies used [16]. The team is extremely conscious of any delays in the project timeline as delays in project delivery have a career, pay and reputational implications for the developers concerned.…”

Social Identity in Software Development

“…Therefore, this paper looks closer into the planning effectiveness of social groups within software development due to effectiveness being more tangible than group performance. We measure team effectiveness in this study as estimated effort divided by spent effort, just like in Al-Sabbagh and Gren [15].…”