How Did We Adapt Agile Processes to Our Distributed Development?

Today, many software projects are being developed by collaborating programmers working across multiple locations. Whatever the reason may be, outsourcing, organizational structure, or external collaboration, these projects often suffer from the physical separation of developing across the city, across the country, or around the world. Such distances intensify challenges such as peer communications, shared understanding between teams, and systems integration. This paper describes how three organizations adapted agile processes to overcome barriers such as multiple time zones, mixed cultures, mismatched schedules, and limited travel budget to frequently deliver successful software releases.