Leadership Challenges in Agile Environments

Abstract

Several companies in the information technology field are progressively adopting Agile methodologies. This change necessarily transforms the management paradigm and poses new challenges to the leadership process. In this sense, this study seeks to explore the challenges perceived by leaders and perceive the competencies they should have to manage projects and teams in an Agile environment. The study used a survey to obtain data from 387 professionals in the information technology sector. The findings reveal the most important skills include the ability to have people skills, team management competencies, provide feedback on employee performance, and have problem-solving skills. Additionally, this study reveals people's management dimension is key to increasing productivity in Agile environments, and furthermore, respondents' years of experience proved to be discriminating in perceiving the importance of these skills. The outcomes of this study are relevant for companies that are migrating to the agile paradigm and are facing challenges in managing the leadership of these projects.