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Remote communication in Scrum teams - a COVID-19 preventive measure or work time optimisation?

Kamil Brodnicki

Abstract

The article presents the impact of remote work, resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, on the functioning of Scrum teams. Attempts have been made to analyse the positive and negative aspects of remote work. The article also looks at the impact of remote work on the level of communication and efficiency of Scrum teams. For this purpose, the author conducted research on a sample of 40 organisations that declared to use Scrum methodology, using 187 questionnaires as the research material. The study was carried out at the turn of April and May 2021 and was carried out using the CAWI technique. The obtained results were analysed using the Principal Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis methods, and enable defining a picture of an organisation's readiness to work remotely. In addition, they also allowed for an assessment of how the infrastructure used for remote work communication translates into the organisation of Sprint meetings. This paper presents conclusions aimed at counteracting the observed irregularities detected during the tests. At the end, the author proposes solutions that could improve communication within Scrum teams, with remote work in mind.

Keywords: Scrum Team, remote communication, agile, communication channel, COVID-19

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AUTHOR

Kamil Brodnicki

The author is an assistant at the Faculty of Management and Economics of the Gdańsk University of Technology and he is also the Head of IT in a facility management company. In addition, the author works as a Scrum Master, with PSM I and PSM II qualifications. His research interests concern agile project management methods and the development of a knowledge-based economy, with particular emphasis on spin-off companies.

About the article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15219/em92.1546

The article is in the printed version on pages 81-90.

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How to cite

Brodnicki, K. (2021). Remote communication in Scrum teams - a COVID-19 preventive measure or work time optimisation? e-mentor, 5(92), 81-90. https://doi.org/10.15219/em92.1546