Purpose of Study

• Grounded Theory study of process was used to understand the

challenges associated with Contracting in the real world of Agile
Software Projects.
• As a part of Grounded Theory, interview was done and those data are
analysed.
Process of Data collection
• No. of people interviewed- 32
1. Project Managers-26 (19- Supplier side, 4- Customer Side, 3-
Company conducting In-House Development)
• Organizations these interview recipients are from- Consulting
Organization to In-House Development Organizations.
• Experience of Recipients- 3 to 40 years in Software industry
• To include multiple perspective semi-structured interviews was done.
Continued..
• Inductive case study approach was used to understand the purpose
of study and understanding the contracting process in the real world
of agile software projects.
• Descriptive case study for research is used as it helps to describe a
phenomenon in its real context.
It also helps to develop informative conclusions.
• Non-probability sampling technique was used for the research.
• Anonymity of interviewees and their organizations was maintained.
Continued..
• Data was collected not with specific project cases but with the
collective experiences of the informants.
Research question should be defined in a grounded theory study be
like:
• Open-ended
• Look into the phenomenon and try not to make any assumptions
about it.
• Never use existing theories as a basic construct.
• Investigate the action and process rather than the states and
condition.
Continued..
Procedure Adopted for Interview Analysis:
• First step was the collection of data, which was performed through
interviews.
• Open coding for research was done.
• Developed codes were compared with the previous codes from the
same interview and from other interviews.
• Constant comparison method for data analysis was used for grouping
the codes into concepts.
Continued..
• Concepts were then combined on a higher level of abstraction called
categories.
• Following concepts were generated:
Formal documentation, unequal sharing of risk, using agile with the
waterfall mindset, a fixed scope versus fixed objectives, contract
selection based on preferences, and inadequate customer
collaboration.
• Other set of concepts gave rise to a category called contracting
process management.
How are the results reported ?
• To present the result grounded theory was used.
• Glaser’s six Cs coding family was used to illustrate the theory of contracting process
management to present the results.
• Glaser’s Six C’s are:
Context
Condition
Causes
Consequences
Contingencies: Strategies for Contracting Process Management
Covariance
Theory of contract process management depicted
using the Six C’s model