The perceived effects of group developmental psychology training on agile software development teams

TL;DR

This study investigates how group developmental psychology training impacts agile software development teams, showing positive perceptions and potential for widespread organizational benefits.

Contribution

It is the first to empirically evaluate agile team members' appreciation of group development psychology training and its perceived effects on teamwork.

Findings

Teams view the training positively.

Teams gained new teamwork perspectives.

Teams acquired new tools for team problems.

Abstract

Research has shown that the maturity of small workgroups from a psychological perspective is intimately connected to team agility. We, therefore, tested if agile team members appreciated group development psychology training. Our results show that the participating teams seem to have a very positive view of group development training and state that they now have a new way of thinking about teamwork and new tools to deal with team-related problems. We, therefore, see huge potential in training agile teams in group development psychology since the positive effects might span over the entire software development organization.