A Quantitative Exploration of the 9-Factor Theory: Distribution of Leadership Roles Between Scrum Master and Agile Team

Simone V Spiegler,Stefan Wagner,Christoph Heinecke,Daniel Graziotin

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-49392-9_11

Simone V Spiegler, Stefan Wagner + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49392-9_11

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Abstract

A number of qualitative studies find that team leadership is one essential success factor for evolving into a mature agile team. One such qualitative study suggests the 9-Factor Theory of Scrum Master roles, which claims that the Scrum Master performs a set of 9 leadership roles which are transferred to the team over time [14].We aimed at conducting a quantitative exploration that examines the presence and change of the 9-Factor Theory in relation to team maturity. We conducted an online survey with 67 individuals at the conglomerate Robert Bosch GmbH. Descriptive statistics reveal that the Scrum Master and the agile team score differently on the 9 factors and that the Scrum Master role is most often distributed in teams that had been working between 3 and 5 months in an agile manner. Yet, we also find that the leadership roles predominantly remain with one dedicated Scrum Master.Based on our results we suggest to group the 9-Factor Theory into three clusters: the Scrum Master is rather linked to psychological team factors (1), while the team tends to be linked to rather product-related factors (2). Organizational factors (3) are less often present.Our practical implications suggest an extension of the Scrum Master description. Furthermore, our study lays groundwork for future quantitative testing of leadership in agile teams.

Highlights

Even though an increasing number of organizations aim at implementing agile teams, how to do so is not yet entirely clear [9,10]
Through descriptive statistics of the collected data, we found that the leadership roles are shared to a varying extent between one dedicated role keeper and the agile team
If at least five of the nine factors were found to be shared within the same team, we considered the Scrum Master role to be shared between the agile team and the dedicated Scrum Master

Summary

Introduction

Even though an increasing number of organizations aim at implementing agile teams, how to do so is not yet entirely clear [9,10]. The agile way of working suggests team leadership in which one dedicated Scrum Master and an agile team share leadership roles [9, 14,15]. Most studies have examined the Scrum Master role applying qualitative methods [1,9,14,15], while there is a lack in studies to explore these roles and to understand how much they change [14]. Studies have found that a Scrum Master influences the ability of a team to work in an agile manner [1,6,9,14,15]. Different qualitative studies suggest that the Scrum Master role changes while the team matures and that some aspects of it are transferred to team members [9,14,15]. While some studies suggest that the Scrum Master role is entirely transferred to developers in more mature teams [1,15], other studies find that one dedicated Scrum Master plays the role differently in more mature teams [5,9,14]. We still lack in quantitative support for a mature team predominantly playing the Scrum Master activities [14]

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