Social Capital in Software Product Management: A Case Study From a Large-Scale Agile Context

Although large-scale agile software development increasingly is being organized in product areas, little research has to date looked into the skills needed for central roles to succeed with software product management (SPM) in a large-scale setting. Addressing this research gap, this paper provides insights into the skills and competencies deemed essential among Product Managers and Product Owners in ScanBank, a Scandinavian fintech organization counting over 10,000 employees. Our findings reveal that establishing and maintaining social networks are found to be paramount for successfully performing SPM-related tasks in a large-scale agile organizational context. We utilized a model for social capital consisting of three different dimensions to analyze our data material and highlight the value of social capabilities in enhancing collaboration and efficiency within large-scale agile SPM.