Team Maturity in Software Engineering Teams

Abstract

Background: In Software Engineering (SE) the term maturity is often linked to the work process and product quality. In many cases, team maturity is seen as a backdrop to the process of SE, and sometimes as something that is known to exist, but which cannot be understood, neither measured accurately nor even dimension its value. Aim: In this article, we seek to understand the concept of mature teams in the context of SE, from the perspective of the software engineers themselves. Methods: We performed an exploratory qualitative research, collecting data from 26 practitioners, from 6 companies in 4 cities in Brazil. Data was analyzed using coding techniques from qualitative research. Results: Our findings pointed out three major dimensions of the concept of Team Maturity - Learning, Relationship and Technical Maturity - which, when kept in balance, can enhance the collective productivity, product quality and also the customer satisfaction. Conclusions: These results extend our current understanding of maturity of SE teams, shedding light on aspects that have been little explored so far in this field. The proposed model can serve as a guide for teams to enhance their approach of teamwork and for future research in this area.