Scrum som möjliggörare för kunskapsöverföring? : - en studie om kunskapsöverföring mellan utvecklare på ett mjukvaruföretag

Knowledge is most useful when it has influence and is shared with others. Therefore, employees of an organization should have the opportunity to learn from each other. When an individual share his or her knowledge to another, this is termed knowledge transfer.The purpose of this study is to investigate whether and how knowledge transfer between software developers is made possible when an organization in the software industry is using Scrum as a working method. The study also intends to examine whether the method in any way prevents knowledge transfer. In order to answer the purpose the following main questions were addressed: How does Scrum enable knowledge transfer between developers? This question further consists of three parts: (i) Where does knowledge transfer take place? (ii) What type of knowledge is transferred in Scrum? (iii) What can prevent the knowledge transfer when Scrum is used as a working method?Based on theories of knowledge, knowledge transfer, the context for knowledge transfer, and the theoretical description of Scrum, a specific framework was designed. The framework shows the expected support for knowledge transfer by Scrum. The collected empirical data consists of observations and interviews, which were conducted during a ten-week case study at a software company that recently implemented Scrum as a working method. The company has adapted Scrum to business needs with the help of three scrum teams, as opposed to the theory that describes Scrum based on only one scrum team.The results show that two of Scrum ceremonies and co-location constitutes direct support for knowledge transfer, and three ceremonies constitute an indirect support. One ceremony constitutes both direct and indirect support. The study also shows that several scrum teams can prevent knowledge transfer between developers in different scrum teams. In conclusion, the study indicates that Scrum partly contributes a context that allows for certain types of knowledge transfer.