Improving Developer Feedback Quality and Quantity in Sprint Retrospectives using Nudging
Authors
Bjerring, Nicolai Steen ; Sørensen, Christopher Kirkegaard ; Jacobsen, Frederik Borre
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2022
Submitted on
2022-05-31
Pages
13
Abstract
Sprint-retrospektiver er regelmæssige møder i agile softwareteams, hvor man ser tilbage på arbejdet og aftaler forbedringer. Mange udviklere mangler dog motivation til disse møder. Vi undersøgte, om nudging—små påmindelser og designgreb i et værktøj—kan få udviklere til at dele mere og bedre feedback. I et mixed-methods-studie over otte uger gennemførte deltagerne to retrospektiver uden nudging og to med nudging aktiveret. Med nudging steg mængden af indsendt feedback med 37%, og den gennemsnitlige semantiske værdi (et mål for feedbackkvalitet) steg med 40%. Interviews viste, at et flertal følte sig mere motiverede med nudging og generelt var tilfredse med platformen. Resultaterne tyder på, at nudging kan gøre sprint-retrospektiver mere effektive ved at øge deltagelse og kvaliteten af feedback.
Sprint retrospectives are regular meetings in agile software teams to reflect on recent work and agree on improvements. Developers often feel low motivation for these meetings. We tested whether nudging—gentle prompts and design cues in a tool—could encourage developers to share more and higher-quality feedback. In a mixed-methods study over eight weeks, participants held two retrospectives without nudging and two with nudging turned on. With nudging, the amount of submitted feedback increased by 37%, and the average semantic value (an indicator of feedback quality) increased by 40%. Interviews showed that a majority felt more motivated when exposed to nudging and were generally satisfied with the platform. These findings suggest nudging can make sprint retrospectives more effective by boosting participation and feedback quality.
[This summary has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]
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