The Critical Communication Challenges between Geographically Distributed Agile Development Teams: Empirical Findings

Alzoubi, Y; Gill, A

The Critical Communication Challenges between Geographically Distributed Agile Development Teams: Empirical Findings

Alzoubi, Y Gill, A

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Publisher:: IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 2021, 64, (4), pp. 322-337
Issue Date:: 2021-12-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Alzoubi, Y
dc.contributor.author	Gill, A https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6239-6280
dc.date.accessioned	2022-04-06T01:57:06Z
dc.date.available	2022-04-06T01:57:06Z
dc.date.issued	2021-12-01
dc.identifier.citation	IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 2021, 64, (4), pp. 322-337
dc.identifier.issn	0361-1434
dc.identifier.issn	1558-1500
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/155967
dc.description.abstract	Background: Although a number of empirical studies have investigated communication challenges during recent years, we still need to discover the most critical challenges that face communication when agile development is geographically distributed. We also need to discover how successful geographically distributed agile development (GDAD) organizations deal with these challenges. Literature review: Most previous studies reported that the critical challenges facing GDAD communication can be categorized into five themes: differences in cultures, different time zones, different spoken languages, different personal skills, and the efficiency and effectiveness of communication tools used. Research questions: 1. What are the challenges of communication between GDAD teams? 2. How can the impact of GDAD communication challenges be mitigated? Methodology: Data were collected by interviewing 12 members of a three-team organization using distributed agile development. These teams are distributed over three countries; the main team located in Australia, the developers' team located in China, and the testers' team located in India. A thematic analysis technique was used to identify communication challenges and practices used to mitigate the effect of these challenges. Results: Our findings reveal that the five challenges are still critical to GDAD. Moreover, we report a new critical challenge of communication in GDAD, the insufficient documentation provided by distributed teams and members. In addition, we recommend several practices to mitigate the impact of these challenges. Conclusions: Communication among distributed agile development teams still faces several critical challenges, and the solutions to these challenges provided in recent years have not been sufficient. This fact prompts the need for more research on how the impact of these challenges can be lessened.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC
dc.relation.ispartof	IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1109/TPC.2021.3110396
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.subject	0806 Information Systems, 0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering
dc.subject.classification	Information Systems
dc.title	The Critical Communication Challenges between Geographically Distributed Agile Development Teams: Empirical Findings
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	64
utslib.for	0806 Information Systems
utslib.for	0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - GBDTC - Global Big Data Technologies
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology/School of Computer Science
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
dc.date.updated	2022-04-06T01:57:04Z
pubs.issue	4
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	64
utslib.citation.issue	4

Abstract:

Background: Although a number of empirical studies have investigated communication challenges during recent years, we still need to discover the most critical challenges that face communication when agile development is geographically distributed. We also need to discover how successful geographically distributed agile development (GDAD) organizations deal with these challenges. Literature review: Most previous studies reported that the critical challenges facing GDAD communication can be categorized into five themes: differences in cultures, different time zones, different spoken languages, different personal skills, and the efficiency and effectiveness of communication tools used. Research questions: 1. What are the challenges of communication between GDAD teams? 2. How can the impact of GDAD communication challenges be mitigated? Methodology: Data were collected by interviewing 12 members of a three-team organization using distributed agile development. These teams are distributed over three countries; the main team located in Australia, the developers' team located in China, and the testers' team located in India. A thematic analysis technique was used to identify communication challenges and practices used to mitigate the effect of these challenges. Results: Our findings reveal that the five challenges are still critical to GDAD. Moreover, we report a new critical challenge of communication in GDAD, the insufficient documentation provided by distributed teams and members. In addition, we recommend several practices to mitigate the impact of these challenges. Conclusions: Communication among distributed agile development teams still faces several critical challenges, and the solutions to these challenges provided in recent years have not been sufficient. This fact prompts the need for more research on how the impact of these challenges can be lessened.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/155967