Distributed Agile: An oxymoron? © ThoughtWorks 2008

Agile = Co-located © ThoughtWorks 2008

Agile Manifesto Principles © ThoughtWorks 2008 Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. On-site customer Collective Code Ownership XP Practices Osmotic Communication Easy access to expert users Crystal Clear (principles) Active user involvement DSDM (principles) Unnecessary Movement Lean Software Development Waiting Unnecessary Transportation

Agile = Co-located © ThoughtWorks 2008 Distributed = Different locations Distributed Agile = An Oxymoron?

Enterprise Software © ThoughtWorks 2008 Large Sometimes Distributed Complex Heavily dependent Business critical

Our experience… © ThoughtWorks 2008 Large Complex Heavily dependent Business critical Sometimes Distributed

© ThoughtWorks 2008 Distributed development looks easy (a slightly fictional story)

Once upon a time… © ThoughtWorks 2008

there was a team… © ThoughtWorks 2008

working together on the same project… © ThoughtWorks 2008

… … … … … … … … Same project at the same location

everyone understood each other… © ThoughtWorks 2008

some people wanted the project distributed… © ThoughtWorks 2008

= ££££££ + = ££ + $$$$ = ½ £££

(of course, it might be more than just £££s) © ThoughtWorks 2008

they started work with new people in another place... © ThoughtWorks 2008

New

life was great! © ThoughtWorks 2008

they would talk over the phone... © ThoughtWorks 2008

… … … … … … … …

and send ... © ThoughtWorks 2008

type type type…

sometimes things would take some time... © ThoughtWorks 2008

I wonder what Jane meant by that. I better send an ... … whats the gobbleflux about …

© ThoughtWorks 2008 Thats an easy one. Here you go. … Gobbleflux? On the left …

© ThoughtWorks 2008 On the left? … on the left of what? …

something that should have been ten minutes © ThoughtWorks 2008

stretches to several days... © ThoughtWorks 2008

!!! … To the left of the widget …

© ThoughtWorks 2008 Theres a widget? … What widget are you talking about? … Shes not even trying...

© ThoughtWorks 2008 Why doesnt he understand? … The breadcrumbs widget …

things continue like that for three months... © ThoughtWorks 2008

until... © ThoughtWorks 2008

I cant wait to see... Theyre going to be impressed by this...

A KEY LESSON © ThoughtWorks 2008 every physical boundary increases noise

© ThoughtWorks

© ThoughtWorks 2008

cost of distributed development (is more than just people)

A more realistic formula © ThoughtWorks 2008 = ££££££ + = ££ + $$$$ ½ + Cost of (timely response and shared understanding) On-shoreDistributed

© ThoughtWorks 2008 Challenges of Distributed Development Look familiar? Shared understanding Timely decisions Trust and rapport Visibility into progress Working in the same way Its (almost) the same as co-located development... just much harder. Overcoming the

Division by role Functional teams Must haves for successful distributed development © ThoughtWorks 2008 Analysts Developers Testers Infrastructure

Must haves for successful distributed development © ThoughtWorks 2008 Cross functional teams Division by feature, not by role

Must haves for successful distributed development © ThoughtWorks 2008 Excellent relationship with the business

Must haves for successful distributed development © ThoughtWorks 2008 Speedy Escalation Paths

Must haves for successful distributed development © ThoughtWorks 2008 Shared Culture

© ThoughtWorks 2008 Example: Sharing culture

Must haves for successful distributed development © ThoughtWorks 2008 Shared Environments

Must haves for successful distributed development © ThoughtWorks 2008 Shared sense of 3 Ps (Purpose, Priority, Plan)

Must haves for successful distributed development © ThoughtWorks 2008 Frequent software demos

Must haves for successful distributed development © ThoughtWorks 2008 Continuous Reflection and Improvement

Must haves for successful distributed development © ThoughtWorks 2008 Frequent visits

Must haves for successful distributed development © ThoughtWorks 2008 Cross functional teams Excellent relationship with the business Speedy Escalation Paths Shared culture Shared environments Shared purpose, priority, plan Frequent showcases Continue Reflection and improvement Frequent visits

Good practices still hold © ThoughtWorks 2008 Visibility and transparency of information Face to face time Tools that support distributed teams Agile development practices Frequent rotation Principles of good teams JIRA

Conclusion Distributed Agile: An oxymoron? © ThoughtWorks 2008

Questions and Comments?

Flickr Creative Commons Alarm: Masonic handshake: Plane: East meets west: Free wallpaper Matrix wallpaper: Photo Credits © ThoughtWorks 2008