  A number of methods for large-scale agile development have recently been
suggested. Much of the advice in agile methods focuses on teamwork. Prior
research has established that teamwork quality influences project success both
for traditional software development teams and agile teams. Further, prior
studies have also suggested that teamwork quality may play out differently in
large projects compared to small. We investigated the relationship between
teamwork quality and project success with a survey of 196 project participants
across 34 teams in four projects, replicating a previous study on single teams.
The new data do not fit the previously established theoretical model, which
raises several concerns. The observed effect of teamwork quality on project
success operates differently across projects. We discuss possible reasons,
which include disagreements on what characterises success in large-scale agile
development, "concept drift" of teamwork quality factors, the possibility that
interteam factors might have more influence on project success than intrateam
factors, and finally, that our study design does not capture all relevant
levels and functions. We conclude with a call for more studies on the quality
and frequency of interaction between teams in addition to internal team factors
to further advance theory and practice within large-scale agile software
development.
