AGile Up

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2. Theoretical Foundation:

Jeff Sutherland the inventor of scrum has touched the development of distributed scrum from

multiple angles in his paper "Agile Can Scale: Inventing and Reinventing SCRUM in Five

Companies" !Sutherland ##$% describes the origin of scrum process and its evolvement in

five companies &ith fe& 'e( learnings along the &a() the paper gives a comprehensive

bac'ground &here scrum comes from)

in !Sutherland * Sch&aber ##+% the authors describe the scrum as one set of core processes)

,he inspect and the adapt rules of scrums can be possibl( tuned to fit an( organi-ation) ,he(

also add that there are . different t(pe of scrum &hich are implemented in practice) Isolated

Scrums /istributed Scrums and ,otall( integrated scrums) ,he research case &ill focus on the

third ,(pe : ,otall( integrated scrums) In this case scrum teams are cross functional &ith

members distributed across different geographic locations) ,he boo' ",he scrum papers: 0uts

1olts and origins of Agile process" b( !Sutherland * Sch&aber ##+% contains a compilation of

papers &hich provides good insight on different Agile processes and their evolvement)

A ver( good and deep understanding can be obtained from the boo' " A practical guide of

distributed Scrum" b( !2ood&ard Surde' * 3anis #$#%) ,he boo' first discusses the

evolution of Scrum and the challenges faced b( distributed teams) In the later sections the

authors e4plain in detail all the steps of starting the scrum pro5ect planning the sprints and the

meetings and ho& to effectivel( communicate in the distributed scrum model)

!1erc-u' ##+% discusses four important lessons that &ere learned from cases operating in a

distributed Agile environment) first lesson that operating in distributed teams amplifies the

e4isting issues in the process itself and not as much as bringing ne& issues) Second that

management shall give the team the support it needs in order to improve and develop the

process to be &ell suited for the team) ,hird good engineering practices are essential for agile

pro5ect to succeed and fourth he adds that agile is about people but in the case of /istributed

agile good and effective tools are need to help people to communicate effectivel( over

distances

!Sutherland Schoonheim Rustenburg * Ri5' ##6% give a deeper insight on the challenges

faced b( full( distributed scrum teams) ,he paper also dra&s the light on the offshoring

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strategies for overcoming the geographic language and cultural barriers that impede

distributed development) ,he research &as carried on case studies of companies &ho have

implemented /istributed Agile methodolog( through Scrum789 practices)

In !ildenbrand 3eisser ;ude 1ruch * Ac'er ##6% the authors have put the light on 89

&ithin the conte4t of /istributed Soft&are /evelopment ) ,he paper has discussed ho& the 89

methodolog( is the suitabilit( and effectiveness of available tools and techni<ues is discussed) It

has also discussed the collaboration tools that &ere used during that time for collaboration) ,he

categories of tools that &ere used for collaboration + (ears ago are still the same categories as

toda( o&ever the functionalit( has been enhanced ! for e4ample to support mobile devices %

1esides that man( of these tools are available as open source soft&are and don=t need to pa(

for ) >pen source soft&are is &hat startups are rel(ing heavil( on)

other papers that have been identified to be ver( useful source of 'no&ledge for the case of

distributed agile are !9aasivaara /urasie&ic- * ?assenius ##@% !Shrivastava * /ate

#$#% !ossain 1abar * 9ai' ##@% !?ee * ong #$#% !9riesBe5e * 9riesBe5e #$$%

and !1ode * Mertens ##%

3. Research Question:

as mentioned b( !9aasivaara et al) ##@% /espite the fact that the scientific research on

distributed agile development !/A/% is scarce) ,here are onl( a fe& reported e4periences in

appl(ing /A/ to industrial pro5ects and even fe&er case studies) ,herefore a 'no&ledge gap

e4ists on the use of Scrum in 3S/ in industrial e4amples) ,hat &ill be attempted to be

addressed &ithin this case stud( research

,he research &ill focus on ans&ering the Follo&ing <uestions) o& are startup companies

implementing /istributed Agile practicesD o& is Scrum and other methodologies satisf( their

pro5ects and mar'et needsD

&hat are the challenges faced b( startup companies in this /istributed Agile methodologiesD

and &hat are the best practices that could be identified from their implementation and the

challenges faced b( them D

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4. Proposed Research Direction:

In order to e4plore the challenges in the distributed agile environment ) I am planning to follo&

the research frame&or' of !ossain 1annerman * Jeffer( #$$% in identif(ing the current

challenges of scrum practices in global scrum development) ,he frame&or' identifies thechallenges categories as . main categories in &hich the research is to follo& E Communication

Coordination and Control challenges)

For collecting the re<uired data the proposed direction is to conduct a case stud( on startup

companies &ho are based in Copenhagen) ,he companies are currentl( adopting /istributed

Agile practices ! Mainl( scrum % &ith the management located in Copenhagen and development

teams located in astern urope and Asia) ,he case stud( &ill follo& the " 3uidelines for

conducting and reporting case stud( research in soft&are engineering " b( !Runeson * Gst

##@%) ,he case stud( &ill be an e4plorator( case stud( in order to find out the challenges faced

b( the startups in Copenhagen triggers of change of the agile methodologies and ho& the(

have adapted the scrum process in order to fit the needs of their development pro5ects) SemiB

spruced intervie&s &ill be conducted at the companies= offices in Copenhagen) In the intervie& I

am planning to intervie& developers and pro5ect managers in order to gain a conclusive in sight

on the scrum process in the companies) Adding to that it can be possible to e4amine the

collaboration &or'space !Asana% in one of the companies !2iredelta%)

,he first compan( is 2iredelta) 2iredelta speciali-es in developing &eb solutions !ecommerceand app% to startup companies and small businesses) ,he development process happens

through using scrum methodolog( ) ,he pro5ect management teams are located in Copenhagen

and the development teams are located in M(sore in India) ,he compan( has recentl( adopted

the scrum approach for its development) /ue to the nature of the pro5ects highl( evolving

bac'logs and other factors the scrum approach is t&ea'ed and adapted in a &a( that fits the

development pro5ects) Adopting and adapting the distributed scrum frame&or' came &ith a lot

of benefits as &ell as some challenges speciall( from the pro5ect management side)

,he second compan( is C(lindo) C(lindo is a CopenhagenBbased startup that develops

soft&are for the furniture industr( that includes furniture visuali-ation tools for consumers) ,he

soft&are enable furniture retailers and manufacturers to visuali-e their products in &a(s never

before possible) ,he soft&are is specificall( designed to meet the challenges of the furniture

industr( from displa(ing furniture effectivel( on product pages customi-ing comple4 modular

s(stems to vie&ing entire designs in realBtime ./) C(lindo has its development team in astern

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urope) ,he( had another development team located in 9hilippines in &hich it &as shutdo&n

last (ear due to Management problems) C(lindo is adopting the scrum methodolog( &ith some

adaptation in order to fit its pro5ect flo&)

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References

1erc-u' S) !##+%) 1ac' to basics: ,he role of agile principles in success &ith an distributed

scrum team) Proceedings - AGILE 2007 .6H.6+) http:77doi)org7$#)$$#@7A3I?)##+)$+

1ode A) * Mertens 9) !##%) 3lobali-ation and offshoring of soft&are) Informatik-Spektrum

29!.% $+$H$+.) http:77doi)org7$#)$##+7s##6+B##B##6B-

ildenbrand ,) 3eisser M) ;ude ,) 1ruch /) * Ac'er ,) !##6%) Agile methodologies for

distributed collaborative development of enterprise applications) Proceedings - CISIS

2008 2nd Internationa! Conference on Comp!e"# Inte!!igent and Soft$are Intensi%e

S&stems #H) http:77doi)org7$#)$$#@7CISIS)##6)$#

ossain ) 1abar M) a) * 9ai' ) 9) ) !##@%) Using Scrum in 3lobal Soft&are

/evelopment: A S(stematic ?iterature Revie&) 2009 'ourt( IEEE Internationa! Conference

on G!o)a! Soft$are Engineering $+H$6) http:77doi)org7$#)$$#@7IC3S)##@)

ossain ) 1annerman 9) * Jeffer( /) !#$$%) Scrum practices in global soft&are

development: a research frame&or') Product-'ocused Soft$are Process * 66H$#)

Retrieved from http:77lin')springer)com7chapter7$#)$##+7@+6B.BB$6.B@K@

?ee S) * ong )BS) !#$#%) /istributed agile: pro5ect management in a global environment)

Empirica! Soft$are Engineering +, !% #H$+) http:77doi)org7$#)$##+7s$#B##@B@$$@B+

9aasivaara M) /urasie&ic- S) * ?assenius C) !##@%) Using Scrum in /istributed Agile

/evelopment: A Multiple Case Stud() 2009 'ourt( IEEE Internationa! Conference on

G!o)a! Soft$are Engineering ) http:77doi)org7$#)$$#@7IC3S)##@)+

9riesBe5e ?) * 9riesBe5e J) !#$$%) Agile * /istributed 9ro5ect Management : a Case Stud(

Revealing 2h( Scrum Is Useful) European Conference on Information S&stems ECIS

20++. 9aper $+) Retrieved from http:77aisel)aisnet)org7ecis#$$7$+

Runeson 9) * Gst M) !##@%) 3uidelines for conducting and reporting case stud( research in

soft&are engineering) Empirica! Soft$are Engineering +/!% $.$H$)

http:77doi)org7$#)$##+7s$#B##6B@$#B6

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Shrivastava S) L) * /ate ) !#$#%) /istributed Agile Soft&are /evelopment : ourna! of

Computer Science and Engineering +!$% $#H$+)

Sutherland J) !##$%) Agile Can Scale: Inventing and Reinventing SCRUM in Five Companies)

Cutter I1 ourna! +/!$% H$$)

Sutherland J) Schoonheim 3) Rustenburg ) * Ri5' M) !##6%) Full( distributed scrum: ,he

secret sauce for h(perproductive offshored development teams) Proceedings - Agi!e 2008

Conference ..@H.) http:77doi)org7$#)$$#@7Agile)##6)@

Sutherland J) * Sch&aber ;) !##+%) 1(e Scrum Papers uts # 3o!ts # and 4rigins of an Agi!e

Process) 4rigins)

2ood&ard ) Surde' S) * 3anis M) !#$#%) A practica! guide to distri)uted Scrum) Retrieved

from http:77boo's)google)com7boo'sD

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AGile Up