Temporal Distance Challenges in Distributed Agile Software Development: Case Study of a Global Company

Over the last decade, distributed software development (DSD) becomes very popular for most of the major companies. According to the effects of globalization, software development methodologies and practices are also impressed. Because of the underlying philosophy of agile, agile teams concentrate on communication that is mostly applicable for collocated teams. Most of the companies that apply distributed development, adopted Agile software methodology into their software development lifecycle to mitigate challenges. Regarding this, DSD brings along various challenges to be conducted by the distributed development team and also difficulties to apply Agile practices at different locations. In this paper, the findings from a case study on temporal challenges in three small, one medium and one large distributed agile software development projects are presented. In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 interviewees who are working for a German-based global company that operates more than twenty countries