1. Distributed Agile: An oxymoron? elizabeth.keogh@thoughtworks.com patrick.kua@thoughtworks.com © ThoughtWorks 2008

2. Agile = Co-located © ThoughtWorks 2008

3. 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

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

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

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

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

8. Once upon a time… © ThoughtWorks 2008

9. there was a team… © ThoughtWorks 2008

11. working together on the same project… © ThoughtWorks 2008

12. … … … … … … … … Same project at the same location

13. everyone understood each other… © ThoughtWorks 2008

15. some people wanted the project distributed… © ThoughtWorks 2008

16. = ££££££ + = ££ + $$$$ = ½ £££

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

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

19. New

20. life was great! © ThoughtWorks 2008

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

22. … … … … … … … …

23. and send email... © ThoughtWorks 2008

24. type type type…

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

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

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

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

29. something that should have been ten minutes © ThoughtWorks 2008

30. stretches to several days... © ThoughtWorks 2008

31. !!! … To the left of the widget …

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

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

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

35. until... © ThoughtWorks 2008

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

37. A KEY LESSON © ThoughtWorks 2008 every physical boundary increases noise

38. © ThoughtWorks 2008 http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/communication.htm

39. © ThoughtWorks 2008

40. cost of distributed development (is more than just people)

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

42. © 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

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

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

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

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

47. Must haves for successful distributed development © ThoughtWorks 2008 Shared Culture

48. © ThoughtWorks 2008 Example: Sharing culture

49. Must haves for successful distributed development © ThoughtWorks 2008 Shared Environments

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

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

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

53. Must haves for successful distributed development © ThoughtWorks 2008 Frequent visits

54. 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

55. 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

56. Conclusion Distributed Agile: An oxymoron? © ThoughtWorks 2008

57. Questions and Comments? elizabeth.keogh@thoughtworks.com patrick.kua@thoughtworks.com

58. Flickr Creative Commons Alarm: http://flickr.com/photos/chidorian/7666930/http://flickr.com/photos/chidorian/7666930/ Masonic handshake: http://flickr.com/photos/gaetanlee/159591865/http://flickr.com/photos/gaetanlee/159591865/ Plane: http://flickr.com/photos/volodimer/400350015/http://flickr.com/photos/volodimer/400350015/ East meets west: http://flickr.com/photos/evanosherow/2280507811/http://flickr.com/photos/evanosherow/2280507811/ Free wallpaper Matrix wallpaper: http://www.wallpaperbase.com/wallpapers/movie/matrix/matrix_5.jpghttp://www.wallpaperbase.com/wallpapers/movie/matrix/matrix_5.jpg Photo Credits © ThoughtWorks 2008