An observational study of a distributed card based planning environment

Abstract

Providing support for distributed agile teams as they conduct planning meetings is tricky. In distributed settings, the use of paper index cards for planning isn't convenient, as some of the team members do not have access to the physical cards. We present the results of an observational study where a distributed card based planning tool was evaluated against planning with physical cards. The feedback we received from the participants was encouraging. Results indicated that teams were excited to use the tool in part because telepointers made knowledge of the other participants actions easier. We also found that communication was improved as the tool kept teams interested in the meeting and conversations on topic. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2008.