3:1 Research and theory

Selection of journal and paper

This journal "Information technology and libraries" contains sub topics especially relevant to media management such as usability, identity management, intellectual property rights, emerging technologies, technical standards and digital humanities.

Although the journal is American, I chose it partly on basis of the information being applicable and/or relevant globally. Partly, because I have a particular expertise within SEO, social networking and mobile services which are also included in the scope. From the same journal, I chose to analyze the paper “Digital collections are a sprint, not a marathon: Adapting Scrum project management techniques to library digital initiatives”.

Critical examination of study

This exploratory, qualitative, predictive case study uses applied research to explore how digital collections of data can benefit from using Scrum. Scrum, known as an agile project management tool, is here used in context of updating digital collections.

The aim with the study was for librarians to publish large collections quicker and to more effectively multitask production of multiple high priority collections. One team member identified the opportunity to enhance how large projects were handled by using Scrum at a conference.

In the paper, Scrum is first described. Main emphasis is placed on its focus on communication over documentation, offering a potentially new perspective for librarians. Other important concepts within Scrum are sprints; focused team work on one project at the time, Scrum master (facilitator) and Scrum product owner (team lead).

Second, Scrum as chosen project management tool is motivated by describing the team and their current setup. The study supports the fact that Scrum is successfully used as a project management tool within programming (200+ studies).

Three members were involved in the case study to avoid disruption to organisational structures; digital initiatives librarian, metadata librarian and digitization manager. The team only adopted aspects of Scrum deemed most likely to improve outcomes at the pilot stage. Daily meetings were excluded. Sprint periods were shortened to two weeks.

Applying Scrum resulted in increased team spirit and individual accountability, ability to publish large collections incrementally and flexibility with planning/managing large or small projects.

Although Scrum supports the team size (3-9), it could be argued that the study is potentially biased. It is mentioned that one member motivated Scrum, but not whether or not other team members had a say. The fact that one team member may have written the research or influenced it is not addressed.

It could be criticised that the study is weaker proof of Scrum being successful in other fields than programming, because the team did not apply basic Scrum techniques. The role of the Scrum master is to ensure that the Scrum rules are followed; it seems like no Scrum master (nor product owner) was appointed. The hybrid they created of Scrum planning and review seemed like a result of not being supplied with proper resources and avoiding hindrances to complete sprints. This would also be the responsibility of the Scrum master.

Further, the paper could have benefited of more supportive sources. Especially arguing for removal of certain Scrum rules; the reason given was "too many other distractions" rather than "source A suggests that a hybrid solution is more effective, because...". There was in other words no valid argument to cut out the techniques.

Despite weaknesses in the study, the results points to the increased communication and flexibility which is at the core of what Scrum is about. It has an indication of Scrum being applicable to other fields than programming, but this study has too many pitfalls to support that in itself.

If I would design the study differently, a crucial point for validity would be to plan for and adhere to basic Scrum roles such as Scrum master and product owner as well as using daily meetings.

Questions

1. Briefly explain to a first year university student what theory is, and what theory is not.

References, data, variables, diagrams and hypothesis are not theory. They do not, on their own, argue, explain or describe why this information leads to a new or unanswered theoretical question. Although there is no consensus on what theory is, in contrast to the above it is commonly said that theory answers the question "why".


2. Describe the major theory or theories that are used in your selected paper. Which theory type (see Table 2 in Gregor) can the theory or theories be characterized as? Which are the benefits and limitations of using the selected theory or theories?

The predictive theory in the paper is limited as the author already had a mindset from the start, expecting the outcome. This could miss out on learning from other potential outcomes. An advantage with the setup is that it is possible to highly target it, which may not be as easy for applied research where ROI needs to be motivated for.