The effect of efficacious alignment on Pair Programming in large scale agile environments

  • G Lambrechts

Student thesis: Master's Thesis

Abstract

The adoption of agile practices in many large organizations is a logical result of its proven adaptability in software development. However, the initial design was not meant to operate in a larger environment with many dependencies, but to be used in a small and independent team with decision-making power. Subsequently, agile at a larger scale comes with its own series of challenges to overcome as they are hard to control by top down enforcement and should be engaged with interactions that also inform, legitimate and socialize. Using the complex adaptive system based model of Co-evolutionary Information System Alignment (COISA), this study aims to uncover from which alignment facilitators the usage of pair programming interactions in large scale agile environment can be influenced. COISA is a recent approach to understand business and IT alignment in complex environments, such as the case presented in this study. This study shows several effects from various facilitators presented in the COISA model by collecting data from participants that have engaged in such sessions in a large scale agile environment. Pair programming remains an interaction between technically involved stakeholders, as it’s only used within the operational context of IT implementations. This however does not mean it cannot influence or trigger other COISA processes such as IT usage or architecture as seen in the results.
Date of Award20 Aug 2022
Original languageEnglish
SupervisorPien Walraven (Examiner) & Rogier van de Wetering (Co-assessor)

Keywords

  • Large-scale Agile
  • Pair Programming
  • Co-evolutionary information system alignment
  • efficacious alignment

Master's Degree

  • Master Business Process management & IT (BPMIT)

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