Fostering effective inter-team knowledge sharing in agile software development

Agile methods have different practices that ultimately foster intra-team knowledge sharing (KS). However, they do not provide recommendations about coping with inter-team KS. Supporting inter-team KS is fundamental in scaling agility across the entire organization, and is regarded as the new horizon for agile software development. This study seeks to understand inter-team knowledge sharing effectiveness in agile software development organizations. Using grounded theory, we analyzed data from four Brazilian organizations and also from an expert in agile methods implementation. We observed that the companies employ different work practices that allow knowledge sharing to occur across team boundaries. Our main contribution is a conceptual model that explains how effective knowledge sharing across agile teams depends on applying purposeful practices, along with organizational conditions and stimuli. This understanding represents an innovative focus within the context of agile methods and suggests what one needs to take into account when striving on this path. Yet, it yields opportunities for further studies in refining and extending the model to other organizational contexts. Inter-team knowledge sharing reflects the way agile software development organizations are coping with enterprise agility and the way they consider knowledge as a resource for competitiveness.