Adoption of agile practices has increased in IT workforces. However, there is a lack of comprehensive studies in the African context on employee performance when implementing agile practices. This study addresses this gap by exploring employee performance in agile environments for IT workforces in South Africa. An interpretivist mono-method qualitative approach was used, with the use of interviews as a research strategy. Seventeen semi-structured interviews were conducted with agile practitioners from various roles. Our results indicated that agile practices influence employee performance significantly, with participants reporting on aspects which included planning, communication, employee development and well-being, collaboration, team culture and progress. Additionally, our results reported obstacles when using agile practices that included adoption, team engagement, leadership and instilling an agile mindset. Agile practices influence employee performance in IT workforces by fostering improved team dynamics, enhanced collaboration, improved efficiencies, risk management, planning, continuous improvement, learning, personal development and well-being. Conclusively, our findings suggest that if agile challenges are addressed and additional support is provided, employee performance can be significantly improved.

翻译：敏捷实践在IT从业人员中的采用率日益增长。然而，在非洲背景下，关于实施敏捷实践时员工绩效的综合性研究仍较为缺乏。本研究通过探讨南非IT从业人员在敏捷环境中的绩效表现，填补了这一空白。研究采用解释主义的单一方法定性研究路径，以访谈作为研究策略。我们对来自不同岗位的17名敏捷实践者进行了半结构化访谈。研究结果表明，敏捷实践对员工绩效具有显著影响，参与者报告了包括规划、沟通、员工发展与福祉、协作、团队文化及进展在内的多个方面。此外，我们的研究还揭示了采用敏捷实践时遇到的障碍，包括实践采纳、团队参与度、领导力以及敏捷思维模式的培养。敏捷实践通过促进团队动态改善、协作增强、效率提升、风险管理、规划优化、持续改进、学习机制、个人发展与福祉，从而影响IT从业人员的员工绩效。最终，我们的研究结果表明，若能解决敏捷实践中的挑战并提供额外支持，员工绩效有望得到显著提升。