The impact of agile practices on communication in software development M. Pikkarainen & J. Haikara & O. Salo & P. Abrahamsson & J. Still Published online: 23 May 2008 # Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2008 Editor: Tore Dybå Abstract Agile software development practices such as eXtreme Programming (XP) and SCRUM have increasingly been adopted to respond to the challenges of volatile business environments, where the markets and technologies evolve rapidly and present the unexpected. In spite of the encouraging results so far, little is known about how agile practices affect communication. This article presents the results from a study which examined the impact of XP and SCRUM practices on communication within software development teams and within the focal organization. The research was carried out as a case study in F-Secure where two agile software development projects were compared from the communication perspective. The goal of the study is to increase the understanding of communication in the context of agile software development: internally among the developers and project leaders and in the interface between the development team and stakeholders (i.e. customers, testers, other development teams). The study shows that agile practices improve both informal and formal communication. However, it further indicates that, in larger development situations involving multiple external stakeholders, a mismatch of adequate communication mechanisms can sometimes even hinder the communication. Empir Software Eng (2008) 13:303–337 DOI 10.1007/s10664-008-9065-9 M. Pikkarainen (*) : O. Salo : P. Abrahamsson Technical Research Centre of Finland, Kaitoväylä 1, Box 1100, 90571 Oulu, Finland e-mail: minna.pikkarainen@vtt.fi O. Salo e-mail: salo.outi@vtt.fi P. Abrahamsson e-mail: pekka.abrahamsson@vtt.fi J. Haikara Polar Electro Oy, Professorintie 5, FIN-90440 Kempele, Finland e-mail: jukka.haikara@polar.fi J. Still F-Secure Corporation, Elektroniikkatie 3, 90570 Oulu, Finland e-mail: Jari.Still@f-secure.com