Communication and Quality in Distributed Agile Development: An Empirical Case Study
Through inward perceptions, we intuitively expect
distributed software development to increase the risks associated with
achieving cost, schedule, and quality goals. To compound this
problem, agile software development (ASD) insists one of the main
ingredients of its success is cohesive communication attributed to
collocation of the development team. The following study identified
the degree of communication richness needed to achieve comparable
software quality (reduce pre-release defects) between distributed and
collocated teams. This paper explores the relevancy of
communication richness in various development phases and its
impact on quality. Through examination of a large distributed agile
development project, this investigation seeks to understand the levels
of communication required within each ASD phase to produce
comparable quality results achieved by collocated teams. Obviously,
a multitude of factors affects the outcome of software projects.
However, within distributed agile software development teams, the
mode of communication is one of the critical components required to
achieve team cohesiveness and effectiveness. As such, this study
constructs a distributed agile communication model (DAC-M) for
potential application to similar distributed agile development efforts
using the measurement of the suitable level of communication. The
results of the study show that less rich communication methods, in
the appropriate phase, might be satisfactory to achieve equivalent
quality in distributed ASD efforts.
[1] R. Baskerville, R. Balasubramaniam, L. Levina, J. Pries-Heje, and S.
Slaughter, "Is internet-speed software development different?," IEEE
Software, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 70-77, 2003.
[2] B. Boehm, "Get ready for agile methods, with care," Computer, vol. 35,
no. 1, pp. 64, Jan. 2002.
[3] E. Carmel and R. Agarwal, "Tactical approaches for alleviating distance
in global software development," IEEE Software, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 22-
29, Mar. 2001.
[4] R. L. Daft and R. H. Lengel, "Organizational information requirements,
media richness and structural design," Management Science, vol. 32, no.
5, pp. 554-571, May 1986.
[5] R. L. Daft, R. H. Lengel, and L. K. Trevino, "Message equivocality,
media selection, and manager performance: Implications for information
systems," MIS Quarterly, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 355-366, Sept. 1987.
[6] J. Galbraith, Strategies of Organizational Design, Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley, 1973.
[7] J. Highsmith and A. Cockburn, "Agile software development: the
business of innovation," IEEE Computer, 2001.
[8] P. Hinds and S. Kiesler, Eds., Distributed Work. Cambridge, MA:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002.
[9] C. Larman, Agile & Iterative Development: A Manager-s Guide. Boston,
MA: Addison-Wesley, 2004.
[10] A. MacCormack, R. Verganti, and M. Iansiti, "Developing products on
internet time: the anatomy of a flexible development process,"
Management Science, Jan 2001.
[11] R. Pressman, Software Engineering: A Practioner-s Approach, 2nd ed.
New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1987.
[12] R. Ram, "Is your IT project OA?," InformationWeek, pp. 162,
November 29, 1999.
[13] The Standish Group International, Inc. (2009). "Extreme chaos."
[Online]. Available:
www.vertexlogic.com/processOnline/processData/documents/pdf/extre
me_chaos.pdf (accessed August 13, 2009).
[14] S. Townsend, "Over the waterfall," ITNow, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 9, 2007.
[15] C. Vrasidas and M. S. McIsaac, "Principles of pedagogy and evaluation
for web-based learning," Educational Media International, vol. 37, no.
2, pp. 105-111, 2000.
[16] K. Schwaber and M. Beedle, "Agile software development with Scrum,"
in Series in agile software development, Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall, 2002, pp. xvi-158.
[17] K. Schwaber, Agile project management with Scrum. Redmond, WA:
Microsoft Press, 2004.
[18] R. Holler (2006). "Mobile application development: a natural fit with
agile methodologies." [Online]. Available:
www.versionone.com/pdf/MobileDevelopment.pdf. (accessed June
2009).
[19] "Manifesto for agile software development." (2001) [Online]. Available:
www.agilemanifesto.org
[20] E. Carmel, Global Software Teams: Collaboration Across Borders and
Time Zones. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1999.
[21] M. Mah, How Agile Projects Measure Up, and What This Means to You.
Arlington, MA: Cutter Consortium, 2008.
[22] R. Barkhi, V. S. Jacob, and H. Pirkul, "An experimental analysis of face
to face versus computer mediated communication channels," Group
Decision and Negotiation, vol. 8, pp. 325-347, 1999.
[1] R. Baskerville, R. Balasubramaniam, L. Levina, J. Pries-Heje, and S.
Slaughter, "Is internet-speed software development different?," IEEE
Software, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 70-77, 2003.
[2] B. Boehm, "Get ready for agile methods, with care," Computer, vol. 35,
no. 1, pp. 64, Jan. 2002.
[3] E. Carmel and R. Agarwal, "Tactical approaches for alleviating distance
in global software development," IEEE Software, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 22-
29, Mar. 2001.
[4] R. L. Daft and R. H. Lengel, "Organizational information requirements,
media richness and structural design," Management Science, vol. 32, no.
5, pp. 554-571, May 1986.
[5] R. L. Daft, R. H. Lengel, and L. K. Trevino, "Message equivocality,
media selection, and manager performance: Implications for information
systems," MIS Quarterly, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 355-366, Sept. 1987.
[6] J. Galbraith, Strategies of Organizational Design, Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley, 1973.
[7] J. Highsmith and A. Cockburn, "Agile software development: the
business of innovation," IEEE Computer, 2001.
[8] P. Hinds and S. Kiesler, Eds., Distributed Work. Cambridge, MA:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002.
[9] C. Larman, Agile & Iterative Development: A Manager-s Guide. Boston,
MA: Addison-Wesley, 2004.
[10] A. MacCormack, R. Verganti, and M. Iansiti, "Developing products on
internet time: the anatomy of a flexible development process,"
Management Science, Jan 2001.
[11] R. Pressman, Software Engineering: A Practioner-s Approach, 2nd ed.
New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1987.
[12] R. Ram, "Is your IT project OA?," InformationWeek, pp. 162,
November 29, 1999.
[13] The Standish Group International, Inc. (2009). "Extreme chaos."
[Online]. Available:
www.vertexlogic.com/processOnline/processData/documents/pdf/extre
me_chaos.pdf (accessed August 13, 2009).
[14] S. Townsend, "Over the waterfall," ITNow, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 9, 2007.
[15] C. Vrasidas and M. S. McIsaac, "Principles of pedagogy and evaluation
for web-based learning," Educational Media International, vol. 37, no.
2, pp. 105-111, 2000.
[16] K. Schwaber and M. Beedle, "Agile software development with Scrum,"
in Series in agile software development, Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall, 2002, pp. xvi-158.
[17] K. Schwaber, Agile project management with Scrum. Redmond, WA:
Microsoft Press, 2004.
[18] R. Holler (2006). "Mobile application development: a natural fit with
agile methodologies." [Online]. Available:
www.versionone.com/pdf/MobileDevelopment.pdf. (accessed June
2009).
[19] "Manifesto for agile software development." (2001) [Online]. Available:
www.agilemanifesto.org
[20] E. Carmel, Global Software Teams: Collaboration Across Borders and
Time Zones. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1999.
[21] M. Mah, How Agile Projects Measure Up, and What This Means to You.
Arlington, MA: Cutter Consortium, 2008.
[22] R. Barkhi, V. S. Jacob, and H. Pirkul, "An experimental analysis of face
to face versus computer mediated communication channels," Group
Decision and Negotiation, vol. 8, pp. 325-347, 1999.
@article{"International Journal of Information, Control and Computer Sciences:62325", author = "R. Green and T. Mazzuchi and S. Sarkani", title = "Communication and Quality in Distributed Agile Development: An Empirical Case Study", abstract = "Through inward perceptions, we intuitively expect
distributed software development to increase the risks associated with
achieving cost, schedule, and quality goals. To compound this
problem, agile software development (ASD) insists one of the main
ingredients of its success is cohesive communication attributed to
collocation of the development team. The following study identified
the degree of communication richness needed to achieve comparable
software quality (reduce pre-release defects) between distributed and
collocated teams. This paper explores the relevancy of
communication richness in various development phases and its
impact on quality. Through examination of a large distributed agile
development project, this investigation seeks to understand the levels
of communication required within each ASD phase to produce
comparable quality results achieved by collocated teams. Obviously,
a multitude of factors affects the outcome of software projects.
However, within distributed agile software development teams, the
mode of communication is one of the critical components required to
achieve team cohesiveness and effectiveness. As such, this study
constructs a distributed agile communication model (DAC-M) for
potential application to similar distributed agile development efforts
using the measurement of the suitable level of communication. The
results of the study show that less rich communication methods, in
the appropriate phase, might be satisfactory to achieve equivalent
quality in distributed ASD efforts.", keywords = "agile software development (ASD), distributedsoftware teams, media richness theory, software development.", volume = "4", number = "1", pages = "149-7", }