Agile Journal Globally Distributed Development

Agile Journal

Agile Journal is an online magazine and e-newsletter focused on providing readers with the need-to-know information and resources they need to develop software for an agile business. For over three years Agile Journal has delivered thought leadership and pragmatic advice from a wide range of industry experts, as well as direct feedback from hands-on developers and project managers.

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Globally Distributed Development - July 08
Volume 3 Number 7

The Agile movement has impacted software development and application lifecycle management in so many ways that it was challenging to decide which articles should represent the “Best of Agile” in this issue. Globally distributed Agile poses such a difficult challenge that many of these articles came to mind during our review and are now in this excellent issue. Agile adoption is especially difficult in large globally distributed teams and Agile’s future success will depend upon achieving positive results in these and other challenging environments. Many development teams embrace the transition to becoming Agile – only to be thwarted when reminded that they need to include their offshore colleagues as well. Accommodating globally distributing teams may very well turn out to be one of Agile’s core benefits. The flexibility that Agile offers can help development managers to coordinate their offshore resources in more flexible and effective ways than with more traditional waterfall development methodologies.

Brent Carlson brings us right into the trenches as he shares his company's experiences for product development with an offshore partner. Adam Finder offers his own insight and best practices necessary to support an offshore Agile environment. Ross Pettit presents an agile approach to managing distributed development that provides operational flexibility in even the most complex delivery programs. Kevin Parker discusses the intensity of collaborating and communicating with a development team that spans all 24 hour time zones. Dean Leffingwell completes his "7+7 Agile Practices For Enterprise Agility" article with seven best practices that help achieve agility at the enterprise level. Finally, we have Katie Playfair suggesting a framework for Agile focusing on SCRUM that can add value and innovation to traditional Agile approaches. This is a great issue and we’re glad that you are joining us!

Bob Aiello
Assistant Editor
Agile Journal

Featured Articles...

Tackling Offshore Agile Development
As an analyst, I have spoken with hundreds of software developers and managers struggling to improve their delivery capabilities. Many are turning to Agile processes as a means to deliver high quality solutions and at the same time improve time to benefits. And, at the same time, these teams need to work with ever-shrinking budgets. Of all the questions they asked about Agile development in 2005, the most common - and the toughest - was: "Can we take advantage of offshore resources and still use...
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When 'General Agile' Isn't Enough - Why Scrum Wins in the Enterprise
Each week, I find myself using Jenga, Hasbro's wooden building block game, as an analogy for introducing agile into the enterprise. Few topics are more hotly debated throughout the software development community than how to apply the simple values of agile to big business. Many approaches favor knocking down the entire Jenga tower to start from scratch with an entirely new foundation of values and practices. Others opt for the comfort of traditional management processes, with some agile practice...
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An Agile Approach To Managing Distributed Development
Traditional approaches to distributed development impair flexibility: they don't expose what's actually happening on the ground in different locations, they lack common and effective communication channels, and they substitute "hope" for "managed process" when reconciling work. Distributed development should be as responsive to change as co-located teams. A program managing distributed development requires behaviors that engender agility. Three contributing factors are release cadence, tran...
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More articles...

Achieving Agility in Globally Distributed Software Development
In today's business climate there exists an ever-increasing demand to achieve more from less. More return from less investment, faster time to market from shrinking resources, higher quality from collapsing timelines. The impact of these pressures on the software development industry has meant that organizations have had to look for new avenues such as offshore development to reduce costs yet still satisfy these increasing demands. Simply incorporating an offshore development strategy to realize...
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Agile at Scale: 7+7 Practices for Enterprise Agility
Part II of II - Seven Additional Practices For Enterprise Agility In part I of this Article, we noted that the benefits of agile software methods, including faster time to market, better responsiveness to changing customer needs and higher quality are undeniable to those who have mastered these practices. However, these practices have been developed and refined in circumstances characterized by small, co-located teams with ready access to a customer. Can enterprises building applications that ...
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Outsourcing Experience Report LogicLibrary and EPAM
LogicLibrary, provider of Logidex, has had an ongoing relationship with EPAM Systems, the largest Eastern European technology outsourcing vendor, for over three years to develop its Logidex technology. This experience report discusses the approaches and tools used by LogicLibrary and EPAM to ensure effective communication and coordination between LogicLibrary's Rochester, MN-based development team and EPAM's Minsk, Belarus-based development team. ...
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Stretched to the Limit
If the "World is Flat" how come we still have bumps in the road of collaboration and communication? When serendipity taps you on the shoulder I've found it best not to ignore the intrusion. I recently got back from an intense trip to India, speaking at several seminars and to a number of our leading customers. On my return I picked up "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman and this book provided me with a deeper perspective on what I had just learned, face-to-face, with the same groups of peop...
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FEATURED BOOK: Collaboration Explained: Facilitation Skills for Software Project Leaders
Numerous Agile methods and principles emphasize the value of collaboration and self-organization. Most books on the subject of Agile development discuss principles and practices related to planning and development practices. Yet few Agile books delve deeply into the How To's of collaboration, facilitation and project leadership. Collaboration Explained, by Jean Tabaka, does exactly this: it takes the essential skills, methods, and proven practices of successful team leaders and group facilitat...
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