Understanding modern project management frameworks’ impact on trust in distributed teams: A Case Study on the Shape Up framework and trust

Abstract: There can be a lack of trust in distributed workplaces. Former studies have shown how agile frameworks can increase trust, and how to do it further. These studies mostly investigate scrum, but in this study, a modern framework called Shape up, is investigated. The study aims to answer the question “How can modern IT project management frameworks increase perception of trust, coworker to coworker, and towards the process, in distributed software development?” and does so through semi structured interviews on participants from an american software company, Ambassador Labs, and then analyzed through thematic analysis. The goal, and delimitation of the study, will be on personal experience and perceived trust, rather than measurements. This is partly due to the scarcity of participants and lack of time. Questions in the interview template are inspired by former similar studies, a definition of trust, and different types of trust. In total, 5 themes were found. This being, how the company applies Shape up and what additions they have, group and individual accountability and autonomy, communication and collaboration, pressure, stress, and focus, and shape up and trust. The most frequent topics of discussion being the flexibility of shape up, and how it gives increased accountability, autonomy and good group dynamics, and the lack of communication cross teams and regarding the future. Further studies could be qualitative or quantitative and have larger samples to strengthen dependability of the result. Furthermore, the results of this study can be used as a guide to what should be investigated and measured in a quantitative study. Lastly, continuous studies on how different variables, beyond using a flexible framework in a distributed workplace, affects trust should be done.