Effectiveness of agile practices in global software development

Abstract

Global software development (GSD) has become a customary way of developing software whereas distributed agile software development is now gaining popularity. However, effectiveness of agile practices in GSD is a contradictory issue that needs to be explored in detail. The paper intends to investigate the effectiveness of agile practices in GSD. The research is conducted in two phases. Firstly, literature is explored to extract benefits and challenges of agile practices in GSD. Supporting practices, tools, and modifications to agile practices are also unearthed. Secondly, we have performed a survey to validate the outcome of literature review. We have identified 19 benefits and 14 challenges of distributed agile practices, and also discovered 16 supporting practices and various tools. The results of the literature review and survey both indicate that most of the agile practices can be adapted for distributed projects. Supplementary practices and tools further alleviate the incongruity between GSD and agile methods.