Abstract
Background: Agile software projects involve a high degree of coordination between project members to manage complexity and frequent change. There is a need to understand what coordinating mechanisms are valuable for project and team coordination. Coordination mechanisms, such as meetings and Slack, can foster a smooth workflow but also fragment work by interrupting the focused work of developers. Objective: This study aimed to investigate valuable coordination mechanisms and how they can be balanced against the need for uninterrupted work periods. Method: We conducted 30 interviews and observed 109 meetings in five companies using agile software development methods. We used coordination-dependency mapping to identify valuable coordination mechanisms. Results: Valuable coordination mechanisms included instant messaging tools, daily stand-up meetings, boards, open work area, Scrum of Scrums, bug crush days, BizDev meetings, and Make it Happen meetings. Conclusion: We advise companies to identify valuable coordination mechanisms using coordination-dependency mapping and then to bundle, schedule, and substitute these coordination mechanisms to reduce interruptions to development work.