  Context: Social aspects are of high importance for being successful using
agile methods in software development. People are influenced by their cultural
imprint, as the underlying cultural values are guiding us in how we think and
act. Thus, one may assume that in multicultural agile software development
teams, cultural characteristics influence the result in terms of quality of the
team work and consequently, the product to be delivered. Objective: We aim to
identify barriers and potentials that may arise in multicultural agile software
development teams to provide valuable strategies for both researchers and
practitioners faced with barriers or unrealized potentials of cultural
diversity. Method: The study is designed as a single-case study with two units
of analysis using a mixed-method design consisting quantitative and qualitative
methods. Results: First, our results suggest that the cultural characteristics
at the team level need to be analyzed individually in intercultural teams,
Second, we identified key potentials regarding cultural characteristics
providing key potentials such as a individual team subculture that fits agile
values like open communication. Third, we derived strategies supporting the
potentials of cultural diversity in agile software development teams.
Conclusion: Our findings show, that a deeper understanding of cultural
influences in multicultural agile software development teams is needed. Based
on the results, we already prepare future work to validate the results in other
industries.
