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Implementing Extreme Programming in Distributed Software Project Teams: Strategies and Challenges

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Agility Across Time and Space

Abstract

Agile software development methods and distributed forms of organizing teamwork are two team process innovations that are gaining prominence in today’s demanding software development environment. Individually, each of these innovations has yielded gains in the practice of software development. Agile methods have enabled software project teams to meet the challenges of an ever turbulent business environment through enhanced flexibility and responsiveness to emergent customer needs. Distributed software project teams have enabled organizations to access highly specialized expertise across geographic locations. Although much progress has been made in understanding how to more effectively manage agile development teams and how to manage distributed software development teams, managers have little guidance on how to leverage these two potent innovations in combination. In this chapter, I outline some of the strategies and challenges associated with implementing agile methods in distributed software project teams. These are discussed in the context of a study of a large-scale software project in the United States that lasted four months.

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References

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Further Reading

  1. Beck, K. (2000). Extreme programming explained. Reading: Addison-Wesley.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA

    Likoebe M. Maruping

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  1. Likoebe M. Maruping
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Correspondence to Likoebe M. Maruping .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Ronneby, 372 25, Sweden

    Darja Šmite

  2. Dept. Information & Communication, Technology (ICT), SINTEF, Trondheim, 7465, Norway

    Nils Brede Moe

  3. Dept. Information Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, 751 20, Sweden

    Pär J. Ågerfalk

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Maruping, L.M. (2010). Implementing Extreme Programming in Distributed Software Project Teams: Strategies and Challenges. In: Šmite, D., Moe, N., Ågerfalk, P. (eds) Agility Across Time and Space. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12442-6_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12442-6_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-12441-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-12442-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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