No abstract

Software development teams need highly valuable knowledge to carry out knowledge-intensive development activities. Agile teams are cross-functional teams that promote sharing of projectspecific knowledge through frequent face-to-face interaction, effective communication and customer collaboration. Knowledge sharing is difficult for distributed Agile teams due to spatial, temporal, and cultural barriers, which negatively affect face-to-face interaction, communication and collaboration. There seems to be very few studies that focus on knowledge management in distributed Agile teams. Through a Grounded Theory study that involved 45 participants from 28 different software companies in the USA, India and Australia, we investigate distributed software development from the specific perspective of Agile teams. In this paper, we describe how Agile teams gather, store, share and use knowledge in distributed software development.

Team dynamics are patterns of interaction among team members that determine the performance of the team. Success of Agile software development depends on team interaction. Team interactions are, however, affected in distributed teams. We conducted a Grounded Theory study to investigate team interaction in distributed Agile teams involving 40 Agile practitioners from 24 different software companies in the USA, Western Europe, Australia and India. We present six eminent strategies that promote team interaction in distributed Agile teams.

No abstract

Background: Trust fuels team performance and contributes to build an effective and cohesive team. The self-organizing and collaborative nature of Agile teams increases the importance of trust in software development teams. Trust is, however, affected in distributed teams. Aim: Through a Grounded Theory study we investigate the impact of trust in distributed Agile teams. Method: We interviewed 45 Agile practitioners from 28 different software companies in the USA, India and Australia, over a period of 3 years, using semi-structured open-ended questions. Results: In this paper, we present the reasons for lack of trust and its adverse effects in distributed Agile teams that emerged from the analysis, using the causal-consequences theoretical model. Conclusion: Understanding the causes and consequences of lack of trust can develop awareness of the importance of trust in distributed teams and pave ways for effectively building trust in project-oriented contexts.