Case Study: ThoughtWorks Makes Distributed Agile Work

January 27th, 2011

Dave West

With contributor:

Mike Gilpin

Summary

Many people believe that you cannot run distributed Agile projects. The Agile Manifesto itself points to colocation as a key characteristic of Agility. But ThoughtWorks is an Agile systems integrator, applying the practices of Agility on large, distributed projects. To survive in a distributed world while delivering great software using Agile, ThoughtWorks has had to concentrate on adding practices to Agile to ensure that distribution does not get in the way of success. ThoughtWorks has concentrated on sharing context, building the right team and tools, and making sure that face-to-face communication is not totally ignored. The result? Distributed projects that have a strong degree of intimacy, shared knowledge, and collective culture.

Want to read the full report?

This report is available for individual purchase ($1495).

Forrester helps business and technology leaders use customer obsession to accelerate growth. That means empowering you to put the customer at the center of everything you do: your leadership strategy, and operations. Becoming a customer-obsessed organization requires change — it requires being bold. We give business and technology leaders the confidence to put bold into action, shaping and guiding how to navigate today's unprecedented change in order to succeed.