Understanding Decision-Making in Agile Software Development: A Case-study

A challenge with introducing agile software development is changing the way decisions are made. In this paper, we discuss the decision making processes used in Scrum teams. We found that a prerequisite for introducing Scrum is the alignment of decisions on a strategic, tactical and operational level. In addition, specialisation can be a barrier for the decision-making process on the operational level, and that daily meetings are important for preventing decision-hijacking. Also removing the hold-up problem makes it easier for developers to participate in the decision-making process.