Articulating everyday actions: An activity theoretical approach to Scrum

Brian J. McNely, Paul Gestwicki, Bridget Gelms, Ann Burke

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this paper, we detail findings about the use of Scrum-a widely adopted agile software development framework-among a student game development team. Looking closely at six weeks of Scrum practices from a larger fifteen-week ethnography, we describe how Scrum strongly mediates everyday actions for the thirteen participants we studied. In analyzing our data, we deployed activity theory in concert with genre theory to better understand how participants repeatedly articulated and coarticulated finite, goal-directed, individual actions in the service of a broader, ongoing, shared objective. We offer, therefore, a way of understanding the Scrum process framework as a powerful orienting genre that facilitates collective development practice by stabilizing and intermediating a host of related, dynamic genres and artifacts.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSIGDOC'12 - Proceedings of the 30th ACM International Conference on Design of Communication
Pages95-103
Number of pages9
DOIs
StatePublished - 2012
Event30th ACM International Conference on Design of Communication, SIGDOC 2012 - Seattle, WA, United States
Duration: Oct 3 2012Oct 5 2012

Publication series

NameSIGDOC'12 - Proceedings of the 30th ACM International Conference on Design of Communication

Conference

Conference30th ACM International Conference on Design of Communication, SIGDOC 2012
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySeattle, WA
Period10/3/1210/5/12

Keywords

  • Activity theory
  • Mediation
  • Orienting genres
  • Scrum
  • Writing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Networks and Communications

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