Self-assignment, a self-directed method of task allocation in which teams and individuals assign and choose work for themselves, is considered one of the hallmark practices of empowered, self-organizing agile teams. Despite all the benefits it promises, agile software teams do not practice it as regularly as other agile practices such as iteration planning and daily stand-ups, indicating that it is likely not an easy and straighforward practice. There has been very little empirical research on self-assignment. This Grounded Theory study explores how self-assignment works in agile projects. We collected data through interviews with 42 participants representing 28 agile teams from 23 software companies and supplemented these interviews with observations. Based on rigorous application of Grounded Theory analysis procedures such as open, axial, and selective coding, we present a comprehensive grounded theory of making self-assignment work that explains the (a) context and (b) causal conditions that give rise to the need for self-assignment, (c) a set of facilitating conditions that mediate how self-assignment may be enabled, (d) a set of constraining conditions that mediate how self-assignment may be constrained and which are overcome by a set of (e) strategies applied by agile teams, which in turn result in (f) a set of consequences, all in an attempt to make the central phenomenon, self-assignment, work. The findings of this study will help agile practitioners and companies understand different aspects of self-assignment and practice it with confidence regularly as a valuable practice. Additionally, it will help teams already practicing self-assignment to apply strategies to overcome the challenges they face on an everyday basis.

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敏捷团队如何让自我分配发挥作用：一项扎根的理论研究

自我分配是一种自我指导的任务分配方法，在这种方法中，团队和个人为自己分配和选择工作，被认为是获得授权、自组织敏捷团队的标志性实践之一。尽管它承诺了所有好处，但敏捷软件团队并没有像迭代计划和每日站会等其他敏捷实践那样定期地实践它，这表明这可能不是一个简单而直接的实践。关于自我分配的实证研究很少。这项扎根理论研究探讨了自我分配如何在敏捷项目中发挥作用。我们通过与来自 23 家软件公司的 28 个敏捷团队的 42 名参与者进行访谈来收集数据，并用观察补充这些访谈。基于扎根理论分析程序的严格应用，例如开式、轴向、和选择性编码，我们提出了一个使自我分配工作的综合扎根理论，解释了（a）背景和（b）引起自我分配需要的因果条件，（c）一套调解条件如何启用自我分配，(d) 一组约束条件，这些条件可以调节自我分配如何受到约束，并且可以通过一组 (e) 敏捷团队应用的策略来克服，这反过来导致 (f)一系列后果，所有这些都是为了使中心现象，自我分配，起作用。这项研究的结果将帮助敏捷从业者和公司了解自我分配的不同方面，并定期将其作为一种有价值的实践充满信心地实践。此外，