Towards Better Understanding of Agile Teams through Behavior Change Models

Abstract

Agile software development welcomes changes throughout software development - but this implies that agile teams face several dilemmas. When to respond to a change; how to respond; how to manage the change. Our current understanding and support for agile teams during such change management is very limited. Psychological behavioral change models can be used to better understand the behavior of agile teams. Combining our understanding of agile teams and practices with a review of behavior change models, we propose several avenues for studying behavior and behavioral changes in agile teams. Our proposed interdisciplinary approach provides a much needed avenue to acknowledge and address the psychological and behavioral aspects of the humans central to the software engineering process, ultimately assisting with their wellbeing and productivity.