Teamwork and Project Success in Agile Software Development Methods: A Case Study in Higher Education

Teamwork is vital for agile projects’ success from project inception to delivery. Despite the importance of teamwork within agile development teams, little is known about how teamwork affects agile teams within the higher education environment. This research studied the case of honors students in Information Systems from the University of Cape Town by testing the relationship between teamwork, team members' success, and team performance. Simple linear regression analysis was followed to determine teamwork's influence on team members' success and team performance. The results show that teamwork possesses a strong positive relationship with team members' success and a medium positive relationship with team performance. These findings confirm the vital role of teamwork in agile teams to achieve successful team performance and team members' success. This research contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the influence of teamwork in agile software methods in the higher education environment. Understanding such a relationship will help students recognize the importance of teamwork in delivering a good product that will benefit their grades. Moreover, it would contribute to a better design of curriculums for the Information Systems discipline.