Agile Software Development in Virtual Collaboration Environments

Abstract

Agile processes are gaining popularity in the software engineering community. We investigate how selected design practices and the mind-set they are based on can be integrated into Agile software development processes to make them even stronger. In a first step, we compared Agile methodologies with interaction and product design methodologies and discovered that both fields have much in common with respect to their underlying principles and values. Based on our findings and by applying both methodologies, we improved collaboration support for geographically-dispersed software development teams. We designed and implemented ProjectTalk and CodeTalk as part of our XP-Forums platform. Independently of their geographical location, team members can create and maintain user stories with ProjectTalk. CodeTalk enables team members to efficiently communicate their concerns regarding development artifacts in an informal manner.