Context: In the last decades, large-scale agile development has received increasing attention, as also organizations with many stakeholders and large systems aim for higher development speed and focus on customer value. A recognized research challenge in large-scale agile development relates to inter-team coordination. To coordinate effectively, organizations need to identify what knowledge is required across team borders and how it can be managed over time. Knowledge is potentially manifested in boundary objects – artifacts that create a shared understanding between teams (e.g., requirements or architecture descriptions). Traceability between artifacts is a key necessity to manage change in agile contexts. Moreover, agile practitioners aim to reduce the documentation effort to absolutely crucial artifacts and trace links.

Objective: This thesis aims to improve how practitioners can manage knowledge for inter-team coordination in large-scale agile development. We focus especially on how knowledge can be made explicit in artifacts and trace links that are evolved over time.

Method: We empirically investigated problems and developed solutions using a research approach that was inspired by design science. Case studies, an in-depth design science study, a mixed methods study, and surveys were performed. Using this mix of research methods, we leveraged both qualitative and quantitative data.

Results: We coined the concept of living boundary objects to manage knowledge for inter-team coordination. Living boundary objects are boundary objects that are traced to other artifacts, kept up to date, and serve for inter-team coordination. They should be established early in the lifecycle to create a common understanding of the product to be developed. We scrutinized architecture descriptions, interfaces, and requirements and traceability information models as examples of concrete boundary objects. We recommend establishing alignment using a common high-level structure, but also supporting diverse knowledge management practices to fulfill the individual needs of agile teams.

Conclusions: Our contributions help to establish knowledge management practices that are considered beneficial by practitioners and focus on the crucial aspects to align agile teams on. We suggest concepts and requirements for knowledge management tools that take the distinct role of living boundary objects into consideration and can be adjusted as organizations’ needs evolve.

More Information and Participation Link

View all events
We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. View more
Cookies settings
Accept
Privacy & Cookie policy
Privacy & Cookies policy
Cookie name Active
The WASP website wasp-sweden.org uses cookies. Cookies are small text files that are stored on a visitor’s computer and can be used to follow the visitor’s actions on the website. There are two types of cookie:
  • permanent cookies, which remain on a visitor’s computer for a certain, pre-determined duration,
  • session cookies, which are stored temporarily in the computer memory during the period under which a visitor views the website. Session cookies disappear when the visitor closes the web browser.
Permanent cookies are used to store any personal settings that are used. If you do not want cookies to be used, you can switch them off in the security settings of the web browser. It is also possible to set the security of the web browser such that the computer asks you each time a website wants to store a cookie on your computer. The web browser can also delete previously stored cookies: the help function for the web browser contains more information about this. The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority is the supervisory authority in this field. It provides further information about cookies on its website, www.pts.se.
Save settings
Cookies settings