Distributing a lean organization: Maintaining communication while staying agile

Abstract

Distributed software development teams are common-place today. One good reason for distribution is the need to combine special skills or competencies from different locations. However, integrating skills flexibly is both a technical and a communication challenge. Lean and agile projects depend on direct communication. In this contribution, we investigate how agile teams can be distributed by adding a "remote partner" - and still maintain agile advantages. We analyze communication using the goal-question-metric paradigm (GQM) and apply it to a programming project, part of which was distributed. We discuss our insights on the minimal set of additions (technical and organizational) that are required to turn distributed while staying agile. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.